Berkeley's Grade "Deflation" Is A Myth?

Ramblinman
Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:43:58 +0000

I agree mostly with you regarding the exams (keeping in mind I haven’t started at Berkeley engineering yet, and I really get a kick out of difficult exams).

The one thing I don’t agree with is your constant reference to the “actual job” that engineers do. Engineers have such a variety of jobs they can pursue that you can’t make it overly vocational. In hazardous situations, I can only hope that the engineers would be trained for that specific job. You don’t get an engineering degree so that right when you graduate you have all of the knowledge to do a job.

At least I’m getting an engineering degree because I am interested in all of the material and I’m extremely interested in all of the possible paths I can go into with that knowledge. You may not apply all of the concepts, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn them. For example, I wouldn’t not take Quantum Mechanics, even if I don’t pursue research in quantum computing.

So, what I’m trying to say is that I’d definitely want to preserve the balance of theoretical and practical. I agree that practicality is a lot of what engineering is about, but without the theoretical side it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable, imo.

Sorry I just really dislike the idea of learning to get a job. I can’t imagine wanting to go to college to get a job. I’m going to college because I want to learn about things I’m passionate about, and I will go into a career that interests me, definitely not so I can get a good job, so that I can have lots of money, etc…