Engineering: It’s a tough major

The just-released National Survey of Student Engagement shows that North American Engineering majors study more, get paid less and frequently don’t get their work done on time.

No matter how you slice it, college Engineers get the short end of the stick. Just ask ‘em.

If the latest poll of 537,000 students from 751 institutions (I like that word) in North America can be trusted, Engineering majors spend more time preparing for classes than any other major. They’re also most likely to come to class “without completing assignments.” Not only do they work more and produce less, they also spend the least amount of time working for pay.

It ain’t fair.

Every year the National Survey of Student Engagement asks freshmen and seniors in the US and Canada to take a test that gauges how much they’re participating in scholastic pursuits. The 2011 poll contains some interesting results, particularly for those of you who have been exposed to the, uh, applied side of academia.

Engineering seniors spend an average of 19 hours per week getting ready for class. Folks majoring in Social Sciences and Business only spend a self-reported 14 hours per week. Or to look at it a different way, 42 peercent of all Engineering seniors say they spend 20 hours or more per week studying, while only 19 percent of all Business majors say they do.

The way Engineers study is different, too. 55 percent of Social Science seniors reported that they “frequently create their own examples to help study course material.” Engineers didn’t bother making things up: only 35 percent of them said they made their own examples.

When it comes to learning about the rest of the world, Engineers just don’t have the time. 49 percent of all Business majors say they took “substantial amounts of coursework encouraging understanding of other cultures.” Engineers scored at the bottom of the pile with 21 percent. Perhaps the folks who wrote the test didn’t understand that Engineering is a different culture.

Engineering students average 9 hours per week in paying jobs. Business majors rack up 16 hours a week.

Hmmmm… Less work. More accomplished. And they get paid for it.

Maybe the Business majors have this college game figured out, ya think?