<p>In my casual perusal of CC, it seems like a huge percentage of threads are about engineering majors or schools. A high percentage of my daughter's friends (the "smart kids" in her school) are going to school for engineering. Why so insanely popular? </p>
<p>High cost of college
Poor economy
Presumed good job prospects
Current push for more STEM majors</p>
<p>CC is also extremely unrepresentative, and many of the supposed engineering majors will end up changing majors after realizing that they either can’t handle the subject or just don’t like it. I think about 450 freshmen come to my school thinking they’ll major in petroleum engineering (to name the field of engineering I’m most familiar with), but only about 90 of them will ever graduate with that degree.</p>
<p>Also the potential to get a good paying job right out of undergrad without the need for an advanced degree. Although there are some exceptions to this with respect to certain subfields.</p>
<p>Thanks, you confirmed my guess- I assumed it was just the job prospects. I truly hope that all these kids actually LIKE engineering 
I’ve always felt that college is where people should explore the things they’re passionate about in order to find the right career path. </p>
<p>Maybe if my generation weren’t so indebted and terrified about our job prospects, we’d be more inclined to study majors without immediate practicality, but as it stands, most of my peers have to worry about paying back their college loans. </p>
<p>As it stands, engineering, while a popular course of study, is by no means the most common major. Well over 3.5X the number of students graduate with a degree in some form of business than graduate with a degree in engineering. Additionally, almost the same number of students graduate with a degree in the visual and performing arts as do graduate from engineering programs.
<a href=“Bachelor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2009-10”>https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_286.asp</a></p>
<p>I’m pushing my kid away from a LA major and to Engineering (she has the math/sci skills) b/c it seems to be one of the few degrees that kids seem to get jobs right out of college making a reasonable salary. And, it seems like there are actually jobs to be had. Many LA degrees can be risky (if significant debt is incurred to achieve them), have low starting salaries or require grad school to become an expert in the field—JD, MBA, MD, PhD. And, you can always choose to go to professional/grad school with an engineering degree. It feels like a versatile degree with a safety net—if you don’t know if you want to continue on to grad school and you don’t think business/accounting is your thing.</p>
<p>Also, nationwide, about as many students graduate with bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences as all kinds of engineering put together.</p>
<p>It is certainly a trend…growth in engineering. And for those of us in rural states, growth in ag related majors. Nearly one half (2900/6000) of the freshman are either ag or or engineering majors at my son’s school. The College of Ag has a 98% placement rate with an avg salary of about $45,000 per year. They are following the jobs. Some of these people will wash out of engineering and ag but about 40% of their recents graduates were in engineering or ag.</p>
<p>My theory is similar to whenhen. CC’s students are very unrepresentative of the general population of college-bound seniors, and tend to be more math/science types with extraordinary grades. CC’s students also tend to be extremely money-driven (I’m not sure what that’s about). Engineering is generally known as a career with job stability and high starting salaries. Combine that with the fact that most college-bound seniors are only familiar with a handful of careers, and you get about 70% of the CC population wanting to be either a doctor, an engineer, or some kind of banker/financier.</p>
<p>I think the problem with this is that people assume (as Skrunch voiced succinctly) that your job is determined by your major and that thus engineering is one of the few jobs that you can make a “reasonable” salary, especially if they have inflated ideas about what “reasonable” is. I think the average starting salary of a college graduate with no experience is probably around $35,000 right now, which is probably less than a new engineer could make but honestly is a decent, livable salary in the vast majority of the country. I lived a middle-class lifestyle on less than that in NYC, and eventually your salary does go up. Also, you can major in anything - yes, even psychology and philosophy - and do anything else. I know a psychology major who works at a major marketing firm and a philosophy major who manages at a for-profit corporation. If you don’t want a grad degree you are not limited to becoming an engineer or an accountant (what a world that would be, ew). What matters are <em>internships</em> and <em>skills</em> and <em>experience</em>.</p>
<p>I also have to agree with whenhen - I’m an older Millennial and I started college right before the recession and graduated about 6 months before it hit; when it started getting really bad, I was already in a social science PhD program. I actually have a low debt load relative to my peers, but I’ve noticed that our generation (late teens to early 30s) is pretty preoccupied with being frugal and practical. In high school that manifests as picking a practical degree and an inexpensive college. At my age, that manifests as buying a house that you can afford with one income even if you have two, living with your parents even when you don’t want to (and I don’t mean living in the basement with mom doing laundry - all of the people I know who live with their parents are employed full-time and pay rent. They’re helping their parents pay off the mortgage, many of whom are upside down on their houses), and driving an old beater rather than a newish car. </p>