<p>Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like almost everyone on CC wants to major in engineering. Have other people noticed this or am I going crazy? There just seems to be a lack in diversity when it comes to majors.
… I guess the good thing is that I know ALL the best engineering schools now 
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<p>$ duh…</p>
<p>Yeah and of course I get the money aspect, but there’s more to making a career choice than just money. Are that many people really just so passionate about engineering?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-18.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-18.pdf</a> indicates that, for people age 25 and up with bachelor’s degrees, 7.9% were engineering majors (which may include engineering technology majors the way that table breaks down the majors).</p>
<p>7.9% is far from “everyone”. Even on these forums, engineering may not be as common as medicine as a major and career aspiration among the high school students.</p>
<p>Worry not… many that start in engineering switch to other majors.</p>
<p>Why does it bother you? It’s not as if everyone will continue in engineering.</p>
<p>lim engineering major as gpa-> 0 = businees major</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just the pragmatist in me, but, I chose to get a degree in engineering (after getting a degree is psychology) because I wanted to do something that actually mattered. I wanted skills, something more focused than the humanities and social sciences can even begin to give. Your road may vary.</p>
<p>Our society is one of innovation and the technology that we surround ourselves with is enough to inspire anyone to take part in it. Engineering is for sure one of the top 5 majors valuable to society. Medicine and Physics would be up there as well. Liberal arts, psychology, communications, are over saturated and chances are you will be employed in a entry level job unless you choose a major that is marketable and valuable to society. $ is a great motivator as we live in capitalist society so shame on you for stigmatizing it. Anyone who is in it for the money will be a lousy engineer. It takes a passion for the subject to truly succeed. From my experience, those who are trying to pursue only money are generally business majors and I laugh as they believe their degree is a ticket to a 6 figure salary after graduation.</p>
<p>I do notice that at my CC too and it kinda annoys me a little because I know most of them, and they are all just going for the money. I am a business major and enjoy math and ppl are always telling me to switch to engineering and I get it, but anything can make you rich as well as anything can’t make you rich these days. However engineering does have different branches so maybe at your school peeps are going for that? One of the best math tutors at my CC is a civil engineer and he wishes he had done electrical engineering, so yeah.</p>
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<p>In choosing a career, what would be considered would mostly be:</p>
<p>How much does it pay
Stress Level/Working hours
Accessibility of the career path (how easy is it to get into the field)
And how interesting the work is</p>
<p>I’d say I’d evaluate it in that order but others might have a different order. I think most people would put pay at the top though. </p>
<p>On pay, you’ve only got a few things ahead of engineering.
On stress level/work hours, none of those things that pay more will rank better than engineering.
On accessibility engineering might be the easiest “career” there is. Almost anyone who wants to be an engineer can be, save for a few that are in low demand right now like Civil. Fast food might be an easier job to get but no one wants to make a career at flipping burgers.
The interest of the field is dependent on the person. </p>
<p>Engineering stacks up very well against most fields in 3 out of 4 metrics. So it makes sense that a lot of people would want to go into it.</p>
<p>The better question is, why does everyone think they’re going to major in engineering?</p>
<p>It’s hard not to take an interest in science so dedicating four years of college and a life-time career to a field that works to optimize a means to an end using science is not a bad career at all. So the money would only be a bonus for me :]</p>
<p>Why I’m doing it: I absolutely love physics, and I’m good at it. It’s fun, it makes sense, there’s so much you can do with it. But that’s exactly it: you can do so much with it. Engineering explores everything you can do with science. I still get to learn the physics, but I also get to make things! I’m really into materials engineering as a possible major which is a whole other level of cool: nanoscale stuff is fascinating to me. I want to know cool science and do something with it.</p>
<p>@RedEyeJedi
My intentions were never to stigmatize engineering and I’m sorry if that’s what you got and if anyone was offended by this. I’m honestly just curious as to why so many people choose this path. So thank you everyone that gave me an actual, non-snarky comment.</p>
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<p>Well, a lot of people find it inaccessible (cannot handle the rigor of the major, or cannot handle the level of math and science required), and/or do not have that much interest in doing it. That likely keeps the actual numbers of students in engineering low.</p>
<p>In my opinion the students on CC typically are at the top of their HS classes, normally quite good at math and science in HS and are more likely to see engineering and the sciences as more interesting. The starting salaries may be a motivation, however, if you didn’t have the aptitude or interest there are other fields that could ultimately be as lucritive.</p>
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<p>What career type job would you say is easier to get than an engineering job? Sure, it’s not automatic in engineering. You have to pass classes and then go out and find a job, but it’s easier than anything I can think of off the top of my head.</p>
<p>Look, once you’ve paid/loaned tens of thousands for college, you have to be realistic. Everybody has passion, so saying that you’re “passionate” about a certain low-demand field is is silly. Unemployment rates and starting salaries do matter. And this is from someone who has no interest whatsoever in engineering.</p>