<p>I know people that are anti-social because they have no social skills, and they don't to be put in awkward situations while they develop them.</p>
<p>The Eng students at my University are not antisocial by any means (some are, but it's the same as every faculty). I mean, there are quite a few "nerds," but most of the people seem easy enough to get a long with.</p>
<p>I <em>have</em> taken a walk in the bowels of MIT. Yes, there were a lot of nerds there. I didn't smell any foul personal odors, though, and in fact, in my <em>one</em> social MIT situation, I saw a sneak preview of "The Aristocrats" with a whole squadron of MIT folk on their campus. Everyone laughed uproariously and had a fantastic time. In fact, afterwards, I went to a bar with a bunch of them and had drinks until the wee hours of the morning.</p>
<p>My Harvard friend who I was staying with (a very social person who was president of the choir and is perpetually popular) was incredibly cheesed off that I'd stayed out most of the night without calling her and telling her where I was, not because she'd wanted to come along (she was too tired to go to the movie) but because she thought I was dead in a gutter somewhere.</p>
<p>Score one for the "anti-social" nerds, thankyouverymuch.</p>
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And you seems to think being social means 'hanging out with large group of so-called main stream people every night in parties'. I think there are many engineering students, who are social by participating clubs and having close friends with similiar interests.
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<p>I would venture to say that 'social' means being able to hold their end of a normal conversation, and engaging in normal social behavior (like showering, shaving, combing their hair, etc.) Let's face it. A lot of engineers, especially at MIT, won't do that. Come on, you gotta admit, not bathing for months on end is pretty antisocial.</p>
<p>Meh, anecdotal evidence at best. A lot of engineers, especially at MIT, are perfectly capable of holding a conversation, showering, shaving, and combing their hair -- 50% of males in the class of 2009 pledged fraternities (I think the numbers for the classes of 2006-2008 are similar, although I don't know them off the top of my head). I think you have to be somewhat socially capable to successfully rush a frat.</p>
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somewhat socially capable to successfully rush a frat.
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<p>Oh, I don't know about that. That depends on the frat. Heh heh.</p>
<p>yea...MIT frats must be a joke.</p>
<p>engineering seems to me a "school plus two-and-a-half" affair--you can do school, plus be strongly committed to two other things, or moderately committed to three other things. A "thing" means a frat/sorority, research, a political movement, a club, a non activity based social life, etc.</p>
<p>"Is engineering a social life killer?" Hell no! You will have tons of group projects in which you have to work with other people. You will have to spend most of your time in computer lab, most likely with most of your classmates. You will be 'socializing' when doing problem sets in the library or in the department lounge. You may even spend nights with them working together on tough problems. So is engineering killing your social life? The answer is no. Quite the contrary, you will probably be socializing the whole time...</p>
<p>normally, i would be the last person to agree with Sakky, but I have experienced numerous times firsthand, how majoring in engineering can dampen, if not destroy, your social life.</p>
<p>a few times when i was talking to a girl i just met, and she's clearly interested in me or the conversation (she's smiling and talking), as soon as they ask me what i'm studying, and i say it's engineering, they get this glazed over look on their eyes. in their mind, they're like [edited out] "WHY's this guy stdying engineering? another called me a dork playfully, but there was truth behind that jest".</p>
<p>when i was in my circuit analysis class last yr as an EE major, i switched out because i lacked any passion or interest in that field, so i can see objectively how non-engineering majors see engineers. </p>
<p>this is what i saw:<br>
we would be making circuit boards and plugging the capacitors, and wires and the voltmeters and stuff. since i wasn't passionate about EE, i would just go about figuring the circuit board like a logic problem.</p>
<p>contrast this to the reactions of the other classmates (90% male, i kid you not)</p>
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it's hard to convey their ecstatic joy at making those circuits work, but man it was WEIRD</p>
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it's hard to convey their ecstatic joy at making those circuits work, but man it was WEIRD
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<p>Yeah, how much would you give to be that passionate about something? How much would you give to be that happy not giving a damn what others thought about you? Admit it, we're all just jealous of nerds. That's why we defined the "socially acceptable": to pat each other on the back, stroke each other's egos, and together ostracize and deride those that have found a happiness we're sorely lacking. It's miserable to chase fads and brood over the silent-rejections dealt to us by girls we just met who subscribed to stereotypes and looked down on what made us truly happy. Yeah, our dream girl. How much would you give to be free of that?</p>
<p>Don't feel bad for nerds. They're in a much better place than we are.</p>
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a few times when i was talking to a girl i just met, and she's clearly interested in me or the conversation (she's smiling and talking), as soon as they ask me what i'm studying, and i say it's engineering, they get this glazed over look on their eyes. in their mind, they're like [edited out] "WHY's this guy stdying engineering? another called me a dork playfully, but there was truth behind that jest".
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<p>In fairness to engineers, I would point out that there are other majors out there that are basically considered to be joke majors within the campus, for which the basic undercurrent is that "this guy is lazy or not very bright". At certain schools, these majors are sometimes called 'football majors', as they seem to have an unusually large number of football players majoring in them. If you're not a football player, and you're in one of these majors, you don't exactly have a whole lot of bragging rights either, simply because of the laziness stigma.</p>
<p>Note, that doesn't mean that everybody in those majors is lazy. However, it would simply be a lie to say that those majors don't carry a certain stigma. Fair or not fair, that's how it is.</p>
<p>Try being a GIRL who studies engineering and see what guys say.</p>
<p>Biggest conversation killer with men: "I used to be a nanotechnologist." They turn around and try to find a dumb blonde, knowing that they failed on one of those two counts with me. Sigh.</p>
<p>Reminds me of a story I saw on 60 Minutes where Leslie Stahl was interviewing a bunch of women who were attending Harvard Business School who were relating the story that mentioning their school(i.e. "dropping the H-bomb") on guys proved to be a great way to have them never call you back. Guys would get intimidated by the name and find any reason to get the heck out of there. </p>
<p>The story also talked about how guys who go to HBS would not hesitate in the least in dropping the name of their school onto local women they were picking up in local bars. The H-bomb is a great way for guys to pick up women, but not vice versa.</p>
<p>engineering is a social life killer. </p>
<p>I am doing electrical engineering and this is really hard. I feel like I am discarded from the society. I dont have life anymore. It seems as if I am trying to solve a puzzle for which it will take me years to get the right answer.</p>
<p>I used to have a good time in my highschool , but engineering will kick your ass out(this doesnt imply to people who are very smart like I know people who are really really smart they are born to do this) </p>
<p>I dont think doing engineering is a better idea for a person who wants to have a social life.</p>
<p>I think a lot of it has to do with where you go.</p>
<p>Here at U of I, at least in the civ department, social lives abound. There are bar crawls and people throw parties on a weekly basis.</p>
<p>At Rice, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an engineer, and the social scene was fabulous. Tons of parties, tons of fun all the time. Work hard, play hard.</p>
<p>I think that whether or not engineers have a social life is sort of directly proportional to the general attitude of the university.</p>
<p>Yeah funny nerd story. So on Sunday I was working on differential equations hw due the next day (all figured out and done thank god) and there was this date auction going on at my building that night. This guy was going around the floor asking people if they wanted to go and when he got to my room I was in the middle of a diff eq problem and couldn't get it so he asked and I busily rebuffed him ("uhhh no!") while furiously scribbling away at the problem and when he shut the door I was like:</p>
<p>"Good Lord I have become the people I've always hated! The damn nerds that are always so rude when interrupted and are always scribbling away at something. I'm becoming an arrogant NERD!" It was a low moment in my life. But funny and I laughed for a while til I realized I was talking to myself (conveying another stereotype) and got on with my work. Sometimes I'm sad haha.</p>
<p>yeah thats what i m these days . i am doing 20h on campus job along with double e.
I hadnt ever dreamt to be a nerd but i was made one.</p>
<p>Oh, c'moooooon! Laaaaame! My senior year, I took nineteen hours of structural eng and made dean's list, held two part-time jobs, AND was drum major of the band, and still managed to throw some killer parties! ;)</p>
<p>(Back in MY day, we had to walk uphill, two hour each way, in the snow, with no shoes!! And we didn't complain about it, neither! You kids and your "cars"! <strong>shakes walking stick</strong>)</p>
<p>hey **** off u ******* I am just telling my story, you dont have to be so arrogant </p>
<p>ok so you want me to tell you that you are very smart I very dumb coz I couldnt make to the parties</p>
<p>Woah woah woah....</p>
<p>I was totally kidding! Chill! I know it's rough! There were more times than I can count that I totally bit my roommate's head off because she came in whining about this course that we were both taking (it was my easy course, but it was her hardest course).</p>
<p>Yeesh. Winkies mean sarcasm.</p>