<p>The College Board just published a study about higher education. I saw links to it on threads discussing the value of a college degree. I browsed the entire thing, and was surprised by the data on the Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) degrees, starting on page 46.</p>
<p>Overall, 23% of students enroll in STEM programs, but only 6% of students earn a bachelor's degree in a STEM field. That means that a whopping 73% of the students who start STEM programs don't finish them. That percentage is overstated somewhat, since an additional 3% get some type of Degree or Certificate, so some of them entered a CC Associate's Degree program and completed it. So, overall 41% get some sort of STEM credential, and 59% don't. </p>
<p>I knew a lot of students drop out of engineering and pre-med programs, but I didn't realize it was quite so high. I guess the message for students selecting colleges based on tech majors is to be sure that the college also has good non-tech options.</p>
<p>The College Board study doesn't provide, but I am curious, if the STEM completion rates vary by type of school - public vs. private, 2-yr vs. 4-yr.</p>
<p>H was a math major at Queens College (NYC) decades ago - before they had honors programs. My male friends at Columbia who finished their math majors were geniuses. The key is to find colleges that nurture their STEM students and to find colleges where the student isn’t in over their heads.</p>
<p>We asked about this when D attended accepted student days, as we worried about weeder courses that force a decision on students before they have have time to really adjust to college life and develop good study habits and realistic expectations. The figure we got was that about half of students change majors from STEM majors. I imagine that numbers are much higher for pre-meds, though, since it is significantly more difficult for a pre-med who struggles freshman or sophomore year to make up for poor grades by excelling in later courses in a sequence or re-taking a course for a higher grade. </p>
<p>In fact, freshman weeder courses with strict curves that pit students against each other are often made more difficult than would otherwise be the case by the presence of large numbers of students who have already mastered a fair chunk of the material in AP or IB classes, but who are not in higher classes because their school discourages it or because they are pre-med and medical schools will not count a high school AP class to have fulfilled their requirement. </p>
<p>Some schools do provide options for freshmen to re-take these classes rather than move on, but offer a continuum of placements for students with differing backgrounds. Even so, a pre-med might choose the less challenging placement to pad their GPA. At some top schools, freshman chem is totally dominated by students who have already earned a 5 on the AP exam, who compete with each other to stay ahead of the curve and earn above a C.</p>
<p>There is also a worry that since STEM GPA’s are usually significantly lower than average GPA’s at just about any school (even though STEM majors generally have higher stats both coming in and on GRE’s), students will be penalized by employers or grad schools that draw from many types of majors.</p>
<p>DH and I both have engineering degrees. We well know that it harder to switch into engineering (as he did) that to switch out. If students are on the fence about an enginerring major, we encourage them to start there. Often engineering courses can be used for free elective credits in other majors. Engineering requires many sequences of courses and has few free electives.</p>
<p>So the numbers may mean that students are doing just the kind of thing we suggest.</p>
<p>Is psychology considered a STEM subject? At my daughter’s school, it is considered a natural science, as opposed to a social science. She’ll graduate with a B.S.</p>
<p>In computer science, the weeding out is a natural phenomenon. To succeed, you need enough aptitude for programming and enough work ethic to make your programs work. Lots of students find out they can’t hack it. I’m sure it’s similar in engineering and physics.</p>
<p>I should think that Psychology is not usually considered a STEM discipline. It is usually considered a social science, although experimental psych might be more on the natural science side.</p>
<p>None of this is big news, is it? Most STEM majors contain rigorous strenuous courses that are not for the faint of heart. Virtually all STEM majors require math up through calculus and usually beyond. It is therefore no surprise that students who thought it might be cool to be an engineer or physicist, when confronted with taking a year of calculus, a year of calc-based physics, and a year of majors-level chemistry, change their minds. Some of these courses may be perceived as so-called ‘weeder’ courses, but the fact of the matter is they are just plain demanding, both in terms of conceptual understanding and workload. Most students are not willing to pursue this path unless they are well-motivated and well-prepared.</p>
<p>Smith has psych under " hard sciences" although most schools do not.
Science majors require starting course work in the discipline freshman year- usually you have to hit the ground running taking bio & chem right away.
Its harder to complete a science degree in four years if you don’t.</p>