<p>I actually have no clue how it is here at Caltech for undergrad engineering; I’m a grad student here. I did my undergrad in Materials Science & Engineering at a different school. Most of our labs would take a few sessions to do and we’d have to write up the results like an actual research paper. I remember one of the hardest assignments I had was a lab that lasted the entire semester and we only had six pages to write our findings. It was brutal.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve found that STEM people tend to be pretty well rounded, as many of them will play an instrument in their free time (you don’t need a degree in guitar performance in order to be able to play enough to enjoy it), read, or write. To me, taking classes in many liberal arts fields seems kinda…pointless since all you do are readings and take notes. There’s not a whole lot I remember having to ask questions about or having a difficult time hashing through on my own. Trying to teach myself solid state physics or thermodynamics on the other hand…</p>