This is typical at many liberal arts institutions like Brown, Yale, Princeton, NESCAC schools, etc. For every 1 student who actually pursues a career in engineering, there will be 3-5 who go into banking, consulting, professional school, etc. A student's major at one of these schools often has little to nothing to do with their career aspirations, and that's a feature of a liberal arts education, not a bug.

I was a chemistry major at and I'm now in a design management role at a manufacturing company after spending the first decade of my career in very different roles. None of my college friends who majored in engineering are engineers now.

All of the professional engineers who I work with went to schools like VT, Texas A&M, MIT, Michigan State, etc. and they have masters', too.

*is not a capital E Engineer

My husband has two electrical engineering degrees, but only worked officially as engineer for two years. Now he does energy efficiency work and his technical background is a huge asset and why people hire him. But he is an capital E Engineer because those people are certified and can draw out plans for objects that they design.

I feel there are three ways to be an engineer:
1. Engineering degrees, which give you certain technical skills
2. A certified Engineer, who can design
3. An engineer in ones soul and spirit.

My husband is 1 and 3. My Dad was 1, 2, and 3. But I think all can exist.

Anonymous wrote:lots of kids i know majored in engineering and then went on to medial and dental school. the engineering degree contains most, if not all, of the required pre-reqs.

i don't think this is the best idea, since you want the highest gpa possible, but i have seen it work.

my daughter majored in ChemE. her goal was pharmacy, PA, anesthesiology assistant or med school. changed her mind senior year. decided no more school. ended up on wall street.

her goal was to have a marketable degree at the end so she could support herself and have a nice salary, and she does.

If you can maintain a high gpa as a BME/CHemE major, you definately have a leg up for med school. They know it's hard. Much different than a psychology major that takes the med school pre requisites. It also opens more doors for you should medical school no longer be your thing

Anonymous wrote:Parental pressure -I was steered towards engineering so that I could “always earn enough to take care of myself.”

I did not do this to my kids. Studying something extremely hard, that you don’t love, is a grind. I did it, but wouldn’t ask my kids to do it.

This 100%. We helped our kids figure out what they like and how that might translate to "jobs after undergrad". One kid loved chemistry and math, but not a fan of Labs. So they realized (with direction) that a chem/biochem degree would not be there thing. They don't want medical school, they don't want to work as a grunt in a lab (and that's what many Chem majors do, you need MS/PHD to manage your own lab and not be a grunt and to actually get paid decently---chem majors in lab work make $35-40K, not a lot for a BS degree relatively speaking). So our kid decided on Chem Engineering, as they love to problem solve and love math. Turns out it was the right path....they would have switched out of a chemistry degree by sophomore year. Instead they love the ChemE courses, and know that they have a bright future with only a BS. In fact it's better to work a few years before decided to get an MS, so you can focus on what you really want to focus on
But for that kid, they were always headed to something STEM---it's just them. They can do Humanities and writing, but it's not something they like. They were the kid 2-3 grades ahead in math in 1st grade, all without any tutoring or extra focus or pushing from us. It's their forte, so only natural that they take a STEM path

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An engineering degree gets you some technical chops clout. Shows you can do higher order math and analysis then if you were just a business major. Two friends are top finance guys in NYC making crazy money. They have masters in engineering disciplines and did that before getting MBAs and going into finance.

+1

Also, engineering major and then pivoting to med school will give you advantages. If you can maintain a high gpa with engineering major, you will most likely do exceedingly well in med school. Engineering majors are some of the most difficult undergrad majors, it teaches critical thinking and analysis. You can apply this to any job and employers know that

In my opinion you need different skills set for engineering and medicine. Engineering requires very little memorization and medicine is a lot of memorization followed by regurgitation.

A BME or ChemE undergrad is a very strong applicant to Medical school. They have taken most of the Med school prerequisites as part of their major, plus more advanced science courses. You have memorization skills as well as application. If you can do a ChemE/BME and maintain a 3.85+ I believe you will go far in medical school.

Anonymous wrote:lots of kids i know majored in engineering and then went on to medial and dental school. the engineering degree contains most, if not all, of the required pre-reqs.

i don't think this is the best idea, since you want the highest gpa possible, but i have seen it work.

my daughter majored in ChemE. her goal was pharmacy, PA, anesthesiology assistant or med school. changed her mind senior year. decided no more school. ended up on wall street.

her goal was to have a marketable degree at the end so she could support herself and have a nice salary, and she does.

interesting-what does she do on WS with a CE degree? what are the salaries
Have DD interested in both E and premed

Anonymous wrote:People go feel compelled to go college before they know what career they are going to have. Many go into engineering because they want to build a time machine to solve this exact problem.

Love this, thanks PP!

lots of kids i know majored in engineering and then went on to medial and dental school. the engineering degree contains most, if not all, of the required pre-reqs.

i don't think this is the best idea, since you want the highest gpa possible, but i have seen it work.

my daughter majored in ChemE. her goal was pharmacy, PA, anesthesiology assistant or med school. changed her mind senior year. decided no more school. ended up on wall street.

her goal was to have a marketable degree at the end so she could support herself and have a nice salary, and she does.

Anonymous wrote:Mathematics learned in engineering can be used in financial modeling.

Yes. This also relates to the recent modest uptick in BS Physics degrees — which require similar reasoning and math skills. A fair number of folks with ugrad Physics degrees now take jobs in private equity or other financial sector positions.

Anonymous wrote:Why would someone major in biology if they don’t want to be a biologist?

Often, it is a choice for a would-be Pre-Med student. Ditto for Chemistry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An engineering degree gets you some technical chops clout. Shows you can do higher order math and analysis then if you were just a business major. Two friends are top finance guys in NYC making crazy money. They have masters in engineering disciplines and did that before getting MBAs and going into finance.

+1

Also, engineering major and then pivoting to med school will give you advantages. If you can maintain a high gpa with engineering major, you will most likely do exceedingly well in med school. Engineering majors are some of the most difficult undergrad majors, it teaches critical thinking and analysis. You can apply this to any job and employers know that

In my opinion you need different skills set for engineering and medicine. Engineering requires very little memorization and medicine is a lot of memorization followed by regurgitation.

Medicine and medical school are different. AI, NPs, med students, and PAs can all regurgitate what they've read on up-to-date, but being an excellent physician requires critical thinking.

Why would someone major in biology if they don’t want to be a biologist?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because their parents told them to?

And we have a winner. At least in Western Fairfax County. Many parents expect engineering or CS.

NP. I don't expect it for my kids, but as someone who majored in CS (and husband in engineering) it *is* a degree I'd encourage, with its fabulous versatility, financial stability, and low unemployment rates. And I have told my kids this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An engineering degree gets you some technical chops clout. Shows you can do higher order math and analysis then if you were just a business major. Two friends are top finance guys in NYC making crazy money. They have masters in engineering disciplines and did that before getting MBAs and going into finance.

+1

Also, engineering major and then pivoting to med school will give you advantages. If you can maintain a high gpa with engineering major, you will most likely do exceedingly well in med school. Engineering majors are some of the most difficult undergrad majors, it teaches critical thinking and analysis. You can apply this to any job and employers know that

In my opinion you need different skills set for engineering and medicine. Engineering requires very little memorization and medicine is a lot of memorization followed by regurgitation.

Smart kids can do both. I'm great at memorization, but you're right. I didn't have to use it much in engineering.