Getting an undergrad degree in engineering is hard. The course material is complex, competition is fierce, the time commitment is great, and the grades are generally on the low side of the bell-shaped curve. Put it all together, and it can make for a pretty grueling four-year experience. So when The Princeton Review came out with its annual edition of "The Best 377 Colleges," I wasn't surprised to again find that engineering schools did poorly in the area of student happiness.
We've written about this before. Year after year, The Princeton Review publishes its "unhappiest students" list, and every year it is disproportionately clogged with engineering schools. This year, six of the worst eight on that list were schools whose student bodies have a high percentage of engineers. On the happiness side, none of the top 20 were engineering schools.
The "least happy students" list in The Princeton Review's "Best 377 Colleges" book is again clogged with schools that have a high percentage of engineering students. (Source: The Princeton Review)
The question is: Why?
The answer: Getting an engineering degree can be painful.
"Engineering, math, and science are some of the more challenging fields, and perhaps students are translating that into unhappiness," William Kline, dean of innovation and engagement at Rose-Hulman Institute, said in an interview. "But I don't think there's anything about the field of engineering that makes students inherently unhappy."
The results might be different if The Princeton Review ran a survey asking the same questions a few months after the students graduated. I suspect the happiness ratio might rise at that point, especially among the engineering students who received multiple, high-paying job offers.
It's also worth noting that engineering schools aren't showing up on some of The Princeton Review's other notable lists. The book's well-known "party schools" list, for example, has nary an engineering entrant. Engineering schools are also absent in categories titled "lots of beer," "lots of hard liquor," and "reefer madness." Although I'm sure many engineering students drink their share of beer and liquor in college, they apparently aren't achieving quite as much in that area as their non-engineering counterparts.
Of course, that doesn't mean we should give a pass to those schools that keep landing on the unhappiness list every year. Engineering educators admit that some schools are too focused on research, and not focused enough on teaching. They say too many schools use language-challenged grad students as instructors. And they say theoretical course material is too seldom complemented by design experience.
"You have to focus on hands-on experience, so as the students learn the material in class, they have opportunities to put it into practice," Kline told us. He points out that schools that focus on teaching, rather than research, never seem to end up on unhappiness lists.
Even with that emphasis on teaching, however, we're never likely to see a day when engineering schools are described as fun and easy. Engineering curriculums will always be hard; the question is whether students are mentally and emotionally prepared for that kind of academic rigor. "It's challenging," Kline said. "It's a lot of work. But the world always needs engineers, mathematicians and scientists."
The Princeton Review's "Least Happy Students" List
You raise some good points, dbull. I've always suspected that some of the engineering schools do poorly because of their gritty urban locations. IIT's setting isn't exactly pastoral and it takes some students a longer time to appreciate it, especially given stories like the one you've told here. As you also point out, however, downtown Chicago is close by. I suspect many of the senior engineering students learn to appreciate the setting.
I couldn't agree more, edgyone. The happiest day of my college career was the final day. I know people who cried when they finished college. I certainly didn't.
Good points, bonjengr, especially with regard to "most of the professors wanting it that way." A few years ago, I interviewed an engineering professor who had previously worked at a major university in the Southeast. That university always asked students to rate their teachers. When her students gave her good reviews, she was called on the carpet by the college's administration. They told her,"If your students are that happy with your class, then it must not be rigorous enough."
I suppose I was one of the lucky ones. I knew during my junior year in high school I wanted to be an engineer. I suspected mechanical but that took some consideration after I entered the university. I will tell you what I did not expect. Classes were held MWF AND TuThursSat. Yes, we did have classes one-half day on Saturday. They were a bit more lay-back but we did have them. My three boys were absolutely amazed that anyone would conduct a class on Saturday. I found engineering to be remarkably time consuming and just down right hard. You all know that when others were partying, we were in studying. That's just the way it was and that's what you had to do to survive. One other thing, there were no 4 point guys in any of my classes. I feel most of the professors wanted it that way. With that being said, I would not trade my engineering degree for any other degree nor any other profession
Chuck, thanks for the clarification. I was wondering whether students in those top 10 schools were working so hard they didn't have time to notice they were unhappy, or working so hard they didn't have time to take surveys :)
Greg, I think you make an important distinction. Engineering, as a discipline, is exacting and requires a significant investment of time to do it well. But like all great endeavors hard work carries a high degree of satisfaction, especially if done well. It would be interesting to ask, say five to ten years down the road, of this same group how they fare in terms of job satisfaction. The answer to that question would be very revealing.
I agree many students in engineering school may not be as happy as their non-engineering friends. Engineering school is tough. It's not for the faint at heart. You don't have nearly as much free time as many of the other students do. However, if you have the unique personality type that matches this role, it can lead to great job satisfaction for many years to come. I know a several engineers in their 60's who still find great satisfaction in going to work and solving technically challenging problems every week. Yes, like many endeavors in life, engineering school is hard (and sometimes you can feel unhappy), but if you are one of the few who have a true passion for this field, it can be very rewarding long after college is over.
This brings to mind what my daughters's 9th grade peers are facing, namely having been pressured into the STEM track by pony-tailed liberal science teachers. 2/3 of the applicants to the local high school's Biotech "Academy" -- honors-level science, math etc. with pared-back curriculum in non-STEM subjects -- are girls, fulfilling the progressive agenda of displacing males from those disciplines.
My kid has known since 6 she was going to tell stories as writing or in movies, and has been allowed to pursue this, despite getting very good math & science grades, winning top honors in two science fairs, and having an encouraging engineer father. She has zero interest in STEM, and after the bruising tech job market since 2008, I'm alright with that.
We aleady know the unintended consequences of this forced approach: huge dropout rate, shortened careers, lower productivity, bad to no home or family life, and (bringing it back home) Unhappiness At Work, not only for the larger percentage of women for whom it's tragically wrong, but also for the men bumped off the technical track as boys.
@dbull--I can only wholeheartedly agree with your statements. Mediocrity is far easier to reach than technical excellence, even if all the specs are met. I have been stifled from creativity from the corporate side, and agree that leadership is something we and future engineers should consider as a valuable tool in our box of knowledge
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