<p>And to extend sakky’s argument, science and engineering aren’t just difficult during the undergraduate years, they’re always difficult – both in terms of subject matter and in terms of the sheer number of hours you have to put in to succeed. </p>
<p>For example, I’ve been talking to biology graduate students during my interviews, and most of them are putting in 50-60 hour weeks in the lab. Then they get their PhDs and move to postdoctoral positions, at which they’re putting in 50-60 hour weeks as well (according to a recent survey in the journal Nature). There’s obviously a pretty serious burnout problem in academic science – it’s fine to work that hard for a few months, or a few years, but many people just lose the desire to put up with it after a few years.</p>
<p>Of course, changing grading in undergraduate courses is something which can actually be done. I’m not sure that anything can be done about the attrition rate in higher levels of the science/engineering career path.</p>