One reason bigger than all the reasons mentioned here: So many students choose engineering for the wrong reasons and simply aren't cut out for stem.

On my way to a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering!

My high school, the best in the state, had no physics class. Boy did that screw me big time. When I got to college, i made a 30 percent on the first physics exam. However, while working at McDonald’s my Senior year, one worker had a brother majoring in Physics at University of Kentucky. I got tutoring lessons from him at 4 times the minimum wage per hour, and recovered and got an A in calculus based physics.

I strongly agree. My nearly 14 yr old son wants to go into civil engineering. I home school him, so I'm able to gear his upcoming high school to prepare him. He'll be skipping 9th grade next year and going right into 10th. His math is prepared for that as he's already taking grade 10 math this year. I'll be adding 8 courses to his high school for personal development and critical thinking (including formal rhetoric for his classical education, as he's already taken two years each of Latin and Logic) to extend his high school to finish at the normal time with the skipped year. And by the time he's done, he'll have gotten his Microsoft Office certificate, cross-enrolled with our local public high school for three years of architectural drafting, studied Python coding this coming summer on KZfaq, and taken AP Calculus. That's the plan. He's motivated, so I'm confident he'll do great. Thanks for the encouraging video!

I am a retired Professor of Mechanical Engineering. I fully agree that the high schools of the US do not prepare students to take an engineering curriculum. You highlight Mathematics and Sciences. I think there is one more area of concern: vocational training in electronics, automotive engineering and hands on creation in metals and wood. I note a big difference in the ability to understand engineering concepts in students that have had vocational training versus those that did not. Most US high schools once had mandatory vocational training but had either downgraded these or completely eliminated these courses. In my experience, students that did take these courses had a much better grasp of engineering concepts and could apply their knowledge far better on course design projects. In general, our high schools are failing country in preparing students; this is yet another subject area that you should add to your lists. I also found that students who grew up on farms did much better as they were exposed to this kind of training.

I took a pretty significant break in between high school and college. I joined the military because I didn't know what I wanted to do so I just kind of gave up in school and just worked all the time. I worked on a dairy farm everyday from as soon as I got out of class until 10:00 at night. I graduated high school with a 2.2 GPA. 7 years after the fact, I decided it was time for me to get back into school and I really enjoyed the work that I did with engineers. I had to remediate a lot of math, but he is absolutely right about learning discipline. That will carry you. I've noticed that I am absolutely dominating my coursework compared to students coming straight from high school because my time in the military was very demanding, so the transition was easy. I'm currently sitting at a 3.7 entering my second year of college while working full time. You can do it! Nothing is impossible!

The amount of people I talk to in my classes that say “I don’t have time for homework” or don’t even do it in the first place immediately came to mind with the self discipline part. So many American students aren’t disciplined enough to do homework

In my experience as an engineer, it’s about aptitude for engineering, for thinking and problem solving as an engineer and a tenacity when it comes to solving problems. Not everyone is cut from engineering cloth. Preparation. In high school is secondary.

I taught EE for 38 years. In general, my students were some of the best and brightest. Overall, they never complained, never cut class or were distracted by phones, etc. I believe that most of them were truly interested in the subject material too. I tried to make my lectures as engaging and enjoyable as possible as well. Honestly, it was a great experience for me and them too. Many did struggle initially because of poor preparation in high school and poor study habits, but if they were motivated they overcame those deficits. And, if anyone reading this is interested, I’ve posted some decent transistor circuit analysis stuff here that you might enjoy.

Yes I have noticed that foreign students do very well in classes, but that is also a bias sample. Obviously the top performers out of a country are the ones that manage to procure financial aid to study here in the states. But what about the rest? Cherry picking the top students of a country will lead to skewed perceptions.

I am currently a senior in aerospace engineering at a highly ranked school for the undergrad AE program, and I have to say that you’re spot on with your analysis. Most people that have finished high school in America just do not have the discipline to complete their homework. 50% of the freshman class ends up dropping out after or within the first year because they simply do not want to deal with the increased coursework of the program. What helped me breeze through the first 2 years was going to a STEM school, which used the IB program instead of the AP program. Our schoolwork was hard and there was a lot of it, and I felt that this gave me the work ethic that I would need for college. I have spent many weekend nights doing homework instead of going out with friends and as much as it sucks now, the thing that really keeps me going is that in the end, the degree will be worth it. I feel like if we can just instill the principle of delayed gratification amongst the high school population today, our engineering graduation rate would skyrocket. As much as education in math and physics is important, having resilience and grit is equally as important as well.

Luckily Khan Academy offers decent math help for me anyway, just need to put more time into it. Besides coding, I am interested in the Mathematica, AutoCAD, and Solidworks software packs.

I had a French kid in my calculus class in senior year of high school. Needless to say, he could do the tests with his eyes closed.

this is definitely my experience right now (I just finished my 2nd year for mechanical engineering). I was top of my class at a public high school, and took the highest level math and science classes my school offered. When I first got to college I was barely passing in several of my classes while more often than not the international students were leagues ahead of me. I've finally figured it out for my 4th semester, but high school definitely didn't prepare me for the course load.

I was a Physics Major in the 80's, and the attrition rate was about 50% or so. My classmates who didn't continue with the Physics Degree typically completed Math or Computer Science, and couple did Chemistry. During my first Quarter, taking Calculus concurrently with Calculus-based Physics was a challenge, so I spent a lot of time at the TA's and Professor's Office Hours and attending discussion sessions.

The highest math and science scores in countries are Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan and South Korea.

Im asian american (half chinese and japanese), born and raised in the US and went through the American public school system. The high school I went to was a charter school that offered quality AP education in all subjects. I double majored in physics and math and went to grad school for EE. I had anglo saxon american peers that did the same and they did much better than me and are now profs in universities now. I think the main issue is a combination of talent and the education system. A lot of people had the same preparation as me but failed at the upper division courses in physics and math and ended up dropping out. You need both talent and preparation. Having gone through the american public school education system. If you take AP it suffices. I think these statistics are relatively the same for a lot of schools in the world. Preparation can only take you so far in physics and math, it depends more on innate talent, just look at issac newtoon he was self taught.

Your analysis is well received, especially when it comes to self discipline. The day after having a highly productive day hitting the books, and understanding mathematical concepts, is the hardest from being mentally exhausted. However, even you’re less motivated to study more the next day, you are still acclimating yourself to new material, whether it feels good or not. It’s a lonely journey to graduate with an engineering degree because you need to spend hours at a time studying in the library, missing out on summertime activities. It is certainly a grind. In the end, it’s worth the effort.

I have never been good at Math all throughout school. It wasn't until I reached college it helped me understand how math relates to the real world instead of just formulas you need to memorize. Probably because in college you have to read the textbook to learn the material rather than a teacher just telling you how to do it. My first college math class was functions and modeling, and the professor really emphasized the concept of thinking 2 dimensionally. And an introduction to a fixed vs. growth mindset which really changed the game for me. This video really made me consider the math classes I took in high school. My most memorable was my geometry class sophomore year. We had a coach as a teacher who would just quickly rush through the lesson then go back to whatever she was doing. That was the first time in my life I ended the school year with a D on my transcript. And I never received any remedial classes or even a word from the teacher like "hey I know you're struggling what can I do to help?" nothing at all. I've had an interest in physics for a while now but granted that I'm not the best when it comes to math, I'm not too sure how well I'd do in it. Calculus wasn't even a course I took in high school, it was not mandatory and only if you've taken advanced math classes already would you be able to take Calculus. I did not even learn about AP classes until my sophomore year of high school.

I'm from Paraguay. This happens almost in the entire country. The students have to do a big jump from school to college. Usually people take private courses for the admission exam. And that's what I'm going to do probably.

Really good video. Thanks. Stay blessed and cant wait to see another excellent video from your creative mind! ❤❤😇😃😃

Great video!!! Huge Thank You!!!

Emphasizing the need to learn math and science on your own! In high school, we did NOT go above and beyond the keynotes of the class. Commit!

In my school, a big chunk of the people who said they were going to college for engineering didn’t even take “engineering classes”. The Counsellors who make the schedules would suggest for them to take an honors physics course and a pre-calculus course however they would end up taking no science courses and a regular level statistics course as they chose the easier options for their last year in high school. I knew of many people who said they wanted to go into engineering and weren’t taking these classes and I know that when the first semester starts in a few weeks they’re going to be definitely confused while everyone who took the basic preparatory classes for math and physics are going to be a lot better off. Also the classes that prepare you for engineering often count for college credit (pre calculus counts for college credit at my school) and are taught and graded like a college class. A lot of high schools give students the choice to pick their classes and if they aren’t taking the best classes for what they plan on doing in the future then no one can really stop them.

I graduated high school in 2014, got a gen Ed associate from 2018-20, took a break, and went into Engineering Physics last year. The hurdle it took for me was almost insurmountable. My brain was rotting away for the last 10 years while in the military and working. I came back to college with a 5th grade level of math skills. I barely remembered algebra. Even if I came fresh from high school, I would have still been struggling. The silver lining is when I compare my highschool education from 10 years ago to students coming out of high school now. They're getting a way better education than I did. Sucks for me, but it's good for America, at least. But the foreign student just dominates the classrooms when it comes to grades. Almost all of my physics/engineering teachers are all foreign as well. I think it takes just 2 traits to make it through school. Mental fortitude and Passion. The Mental fortitude will waiver at times, but you need the Passion to keep you putting one step in front of the other.

I’m goin to Auburn in August! Glad they’re using ur book for us first years!

i was not prepared academically, my highest math was pre calc, however I have always been interested in building/ designing things and knew what i was getting in to. so i worked my ass off and am extremely disciplined. I was able to average a 3.6 for my freshman year.

I was an art student in college that became interested in science and engineering. That transition took some effort. A big help for me was a book called Thinking Physics. I graduated with a degree in studio art and mechanical and aerospace engineering. It was a lot of fun!

Very good vid. I went to an internationally recognized engineering school in the central US. Very competitive and challenging; before you walked the stage you had 2 or 3 job offers. 90% of us were in the top 10% of our HS graduating class. And HS did not challenge us enough. Not as good in math and science as we could be but those to stayed to graduation rose to the challenge. I can't tell you how many were valedictorians and salutatorians who didn't make it to their junior year because they weren't willing to work, compete and overcome failure at such a higher level. I graduated with degrees in math and geology & geophysics and loved working with my engineering buddies. Those EE, ChemE, GeolE and ME were brilliant. Great engineers learned to approach a problem from multiple areas with all they had. And they were real human beings, not automatons.

I went into electronics from not passing any high school exams. I succeeded because I was willing to put the time in to not only learn electronics but also the maths required. I came out of college with distinctions in my exams.

this is totally right, especially about taking responsibility for your own math/science education. when i was applying for college, SAT 2 (subject SATs) were still required, and since i was applying for engineering i wanted to take the math and physics SATs. the problem was i had never taken a physics class beyond algebra-based kinematics, and the SAT covered electricity and magnetism. teaching myself that physics for sure helped prepare me for college.

Long time engineer here, was not great in high school but I was fortunate enough to attend junior college to prepare myself for transferring to a four year university. Actually it took me four years at JC to prepare even though I still struggled later at the university. And yes I spent a lot of time on math and science that I should have done earlier years which makes sense of those students that tackled such subjects earlier would then not get so hung up on basic concepts in advanced classes. I also feel I should have better prepared myself with English classes such as reading and writing. Because engineering classes demand be able to read high level textbooks and able to write good reports. And as a working engineer I have to read a lot of reports and data sheets plus write tons of emails and reports.

It's amazing how many students that have a problem with calc physics (let only the non-calc {business} physics), and think they can do a better job in engineering mechanics or thermodynamics. I helped to set the curve in my thermodynamics course (which my ME department used as one of the final weed-outs), and probably ended the dreams of a few students right then & there.

This is what I did. Six years in the Navy as a nuclear welder working on subs. Got out and got a job as a heat treater. Eight years of that and going at junior college (3.5 GPA) and saving money. Got accepted to University of Florida. Graduated in 1994 with a degree in Material Science and Engineering (3.5 GPA). Had enough savings to cover it all. Worked as a metallurgist for the Navy for 30 years (retired). I think that going to engineering school without some real experience is a great disadvantage. I would not have done it any other way. I also stayed in the Navy reserves and retired as a Chief Petty Officer. Not rich but I have really enjoyed my life.

I TOTALLY agree with you about High School College Prep!! I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree 45 years ago and high school preparatory classes were no better at that time. I spent much of my freshman year taking remedial math classes because my high school did not offer analytic geometry or calculus 1 (this caused my BSEE to be extended to almost five years instead of four). I seriously doubt if any of the so-called math teachers in that school could even teach those classes anyway. Most kids can't even balance a checkbook after graduating from an American high school.

I didn't make it 09. I've just finished up my first year back and while my math skills have deteriorated over the last 15 years, my life skills have improved so much that I feel more equipped than last time. I was that kid in high school that never developed study skill because HS was so easy to me and that just absolutely did not work once I started college.

Wow that’s crazy, I bought your book about 3 months ago and the algorithm has brought me to you through KZfaq as well. Also crazy that the school that conducted this study is the school I’m going to next year for electrical engineering. Very wild set of coincidences that I will interpret as me being successful in engineering lol.

I was watching a different video and KZfaq algorithm suggested me this one to watch. I love engineering and anything related to it. I am graduated now with a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to come to the US and finish my education. One of the best country in the world. Like the author of the video say it takes a lot of effort and determination to be successful in engineering. The math is strongly heavy in Electrical engineering. One of the reasons I was successful was because I love mathematics and I was not bad at it. Also I did not stop learning things on my own. Anything that I thought that would help me to be successful I would a way to study it. If you are from the US knows that you are living in a great country. The only left is just have a goal about type of engineering you want to be and study real hard for it you won’t regret it. Even after you got done you will be still learning and tested at job place. You will be a given a project that your organization will rely on you to deliver. So take it seriously and know that the journey is long and you can be a great engineer if you are dedicated. Be strong in mathematics and understand it.

I didn’t study engineering, but astronomy. I definitely wasn’t prepared for college coming out of high school. I struggled a lot during college and I failed many classes. I eventually graduated and I think what helped me was that I was on the xc/track team and I was given many chances to get back up to stay on the team.

calc and phys for eng gauntlet. so many people quit because of that, but once you get past that, it was fun

Letsgo another post!

This is really interesting to me because I was homeschooled for ten years before making the questionable decision to go to public school Junior and senior year of high school. When I enrolled, I had never heard of AP classes and so I took the “regular” classes at “regular” school. This was a huge waste of time, but gave some insight into what many students my age perceived school to be. 3/4 of classes ended up as a show up, check a box, and leave kind of situation. Especially in Spanish and trigonometry class for some reason, 9/10 people in the class had no interest in the subject matter. It felt like a HUGE step down in difficulty from being homeschooled. Senior year I took AP calculus BC, AP Physics 2 and AP Physics 1, which were definitely a big step up from “regular” classes, but about on the same level as freshmen or sophomore homeschool classes.

Discipline is important. Commitment is, too. Passion and curiosity underlie both. Find out what fuels you.

At the start of my junior year in ChE, we were told only 1/3 of the students would be allowed to proceed to being a senior. Those of us who survived that culling proved we were smart but it was the senior year that taught us to be engineers. I’m not sure of what to think about letting more than 50% of freshman engineering students graduate. Your school should want above average talent graduates.

I had problems with the significant increase in requirements in Maths at University, My High School was not up to standard at all. However, I managed to graduate with a BE(Elect) but with a struggle due to lack of fundamental education at High School

Everything you said is straight facts

I'm from a rural US school high school and too all of the science and math I could. I blew through HS. The first quarter in college was a disaster. I figured out that I had to work twice as hard as every one else to accomplish the work. I probably had a learning disability and just got through HS on being smart. My biggest strength was being stubborn. When i was almost kicked out of college, I decided they weren't going to stop me.

From my experience, you're right. Public high school didn't prepare me for engineering in a top 10 university. Failed my first course ever in the first semester. I've gotten used to it though and I'm mostly caught up to everyone else who found things obvious I've never heard of. Why does no one try to help american high school students get caught up to the rest of the world though?

My son was the valedictorian at a public high school and still had to "dual-enroll" with a local college and take college level calculus classes while in 12th grade and got in to Cornell. Graduated in Elect. & Computer Engineering in 2012.

This resonates with me. Just uploaded the final revision of my Masters Thesis - in Artificial Intelligence about two weeks ago (at age 57). Last serious school work before this as MSc CS from Boston University in 1993. If anyone had really explained how much math was in the AI program before I had started, that would have been a hard no. While I wait on final grades from University of Leeds, I can say it was really different from years ago. Everything remote, no doubt enabled by COVID.

I'm about to wrap up sophmore year in computer engineering. I went to a private highschool, but i got absolutely shafted on mathematics. My algebra foundation is terrible and let me tell you, I have suffered greatly because of it. Going to work through an algebra book this summer while on internship. I have no idea how ive passed my math classes, its basically just been memorization for me because I don't understand whats going on. Make sure your algebra is bulletproof and anyone can get that engineering degree. Higher level math is conceptually pretty easy, its just all that algebra that destroys you.

This was along time ago, but I wonder if it still relevant? When I applied to Glasgow university to study engineering, the entry standards were quite high. Then I took a one year break. When I started, I found the entry standards had dropped significantly. I asked why and was told that, with the higher standards, the number of acceptable applicants was too low so they had dropped the standards to fill seats. Sure enough, 100 of the 200 students in my first year class dropped out. I was quite shocked that a university could arbitrarily do this to keep the money rolling in, while wasting a year for 100 young people.

This is gonna be helpful

When I entered engineering school in the 80’s the graduation rate was about 30% so it is getting better. The number one issue was the students couldn’t pass the calculus and differential equations. Physics and chemistry were also difficult for the freshman. Once you made it to your junior year you probably had it made. I think the availability of online tutoring is helping students today.

The foreign kids I’m aware of are doing very well. A lot of the preparation for the college classes myself has come from self study outside of school.

Most education focused families read to their kids, right? Starting as infants? Over time, we spend how much time reading to our kids? What if we spent as much time playing math games? I’m not talking flash cards…I mean genuinely enjoyable games involving math. As the kids get older, there are always ways to show math in our lives…shopping, estimating tip for dinner out, predicting when we will get there on a trip… Always being aware what kids are learning in school, and reinforcing that. Always making sure HW and classwork gets done. I recall discussions with other parents about HS, when my kids were in grade school. They talked about how stressed their kids were. It scared me, I did not want my kids to suffer due to stress. I figured the best way to prevent stress was to make sure they were prepared. Once kids are confident in math, they want to be in the advanced classses. For math, engineering and science, AP courses and college dual enrollment are a necessity. There is no substitute for preparation, and it literally starts when you have a child, if not before. There is no substitute. It’s 18 years of preparation. The American school system can get you there, but not by default. You need to take advantage of every opportunity, and there are many. Best of luck to those who want the best education for their children - it’s easy if you start early, and stay with it.

I'm in Australia and was doing a mechanical engineering degree, but had to drop out in the 2nd year as I just couldn't do the maths. And it wasn't even the the more difficult stuff. 😢

i went to university of toronto in 1979 . back then we had high school to grade 13 not 12 . i was in electrical engineering . first semester was not too hard because of gr13 in high school. it was mostly a rehash . but the work load was greater and by second semester it got much harder. back then technology was primitive. my introduction to computing was fortran and using punch cards. i can't imagine what it's like today with everyone having laptops and computing having revolutionized engineering. i'm sure the work load is much higher but, it can be, due to technology making so much more knowledge available and digestible.

What are some hands on jobs I can get with a bachelors degree in any engineering? I can't work at a desk. The key words I don't like are design, applications, software, stimulations. So if it includes that then count me out. I like inspection, test, maintenance, production, operations, development.

In my case (double E major in telecom engineering) half of my classmates disappeared when I graduated. Apart from the standard subjects such as high frequency, automation, semiconductor physics, computer programming language, I remember I still need to do materials science, maths, technical drawing, society and culture. The crucial thing is: all was done in German. I am a Chinese with no knowledge of German during my high school education. I graduated with above average scores.

I graduated from college 53 years ago with a degree in Electrical Engineering. High school preparation for me included the sciences, which included Biology, chemistry and physics, mathematics which included algebra, geometry, immediate algebra with trig and advance algebra with a quarter introducing calculus. Also, I was assigned to take Latin for the language requirement. The course in geometry focused on problem dealing writing proofs so that we can develop deductive reasoning and logic. The mathematics that is taught in high schools in my state had been revised and I wonder if the revision watered down the demand that was given to us when we were in high school. Going to engineering college, we found out that problem solving was the major focus, and if you developed the ability to solve problems before entering college, you will do well in college. The biggest mistake was to memorize how the professor solved the sample problem instead of developing your own skills.

I would strongly suggest learning how to use Microsoft Word effectively as well! Huge help!

Here is an example from the past. My senior year in high school was 1973-1974, Norwalk, CT. I took calculus, computer science, and probability & statistics. I repeated calculus in college but I had a better background for college level math. I eventually graduated from UC Berkeley in physics and then mechanical engineering. I had a 30 year engineering career at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I retired at 55. It definitely helps to have a good high school education. I’m not at all familiar with today’s high school educational quality. Work hard and good luck.

UPRM operates in semesters. Each semester comprises a 15-week conference period and 1 to 2 weeks of finals. The Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering is a 5-year (i.e. 10 semesters) program with 160 credit-hours.

yea public schools suck here in the US. My school personally teaches us up to trig and if we want to take precalc we gotta dual enrool at a college. No chances of taking a actual calculus class until you get into college. Aside from math for what I see is that teachers are expected to pander to the lowest grade student in public schools, so then a subject that would normally take 2 weeks takes 2 months. Even then some students still don't learn the subject because they 1) Dont care because they arent going to college and just need to pass. 2) Were pushed into the class because they passed the previous one, nevermind if they understood the concepts or not. The only real way to fix this knowledge gap is to have more pressure on the students, esspecially from parents. Personally as sterotypical as it may seem i feel like Idian and Japanese school and parents are a good example of this. Sure its a bit too much but the students are still expected to succeced and so they do.

this Chinese kid in my highschool after immigrating to here in Canada absolutely Dominated my entire highschool

This guy has it right. I experienced a knowledge gap in freshman yr and took me years to catch up

I'm really surprised by these results, because I didn't notice a jump in difficulty or demand between high school and college at all. I did take a lot of AP and dual credit, so maybe that's why - honestly I feel like AP is harder than most actual college courses I've taken - but even comparing with my few non-AP/dual credit classes, I didn't think the gap was that big. And my public high school was a pretty average performer, too.

I graduated in 2018, went straight into the workforce for about a year, realized it wasn't what I wanted to do. Since I knew I couldn't afford college, I joined the military. After finishing my first contract, I got out and started from the ground up (meaning I took developmental classes related to areas i struggled in) on my education because I already knew I did not have the math skills required for engineering. This was honestly the best thing I could have done because math is fundamental in all of your engineering classes. So, by not having to waste time figuring out how the teacher solved a particular problem, it's definitely an advantage. Along with some soft skills I learned from the military, like self-discipline and time management, among many. The moral is anyone can become an engineer but if your not willing to put the work in to study and self identify problems areas you struggle in then by the 2nds semester or so youll be to far gone to recover because most classes built off the other and knowing the fundamentals is critical to understanding.

there was a guy from sweden in my calculus 2 class last semester, didn’t do any of the homework assignments and still got an A in the class. Crazy stuff

These degrees are quite difficult also there is stuff you can't teach you either get it or you don't. Even some academically competent people who graduate are hopeless engineers they end up going into management roles.

My daughter is a sophomore and would like to be a Computer Engineer, she has the option to go to a computer technical school half of the day and get some credit, do you think these schools are good to be prepared for college?

I agree. I graduated in 1955 from one of the better public high schools in California. I made good grades with no effort at all. Then came engineering school at USC. I was swamped and not having good study habits, flunked a couple of courses. Eventually, I recovered enough to make it through with a rather low GPA. A few years later, I earned an MS in Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School and when I left the Navy, went on to earn an MS and PhD in EE from CalTech. Point being: I was never stupid, but was basically not properly educated in the public high school.

You asked for our input and if it aligns with your findings: I studied some engineering (a year of Aero/Astro [5 subjects rolled into one] and one course in Mech E) and a ton of Math. In engineering, most were either Korean or Japanese. 90% were male. One guy started his freshman year at the age of 15 after having done several years of Math and Physics at Ohio State while in High School! He was Korean. I majored in Math with a primary focus on Theoretical Math taking many graduate level classes. Most students in Pure Math were from Germany or Russia, I think I remember one student from India, but no other Asians and not a single female. Of all the students I met that couldn't pass but still wanted to graduate, doing the typical switch of majors to Political Science when failing out, none were Asian. And finally, it's not just the high schools here that fall short. Many colleges do too. I have met many Germans that finished their Abitur (equivalent to a high school diploma) that are to an embarrassing level smarter and more educated than most college grads here in the U.S.

As I hit Highschool I came in contact with Hi-Fi, Amateur Radio, and the like. It was the age of do it yourself, kits of every type, etc. My highschool physics teacher was a ham radio operatoe and went to the then Datyon Hamvention and brought back a load of surplus gear breaukting in a couner if the attic filled with aircrake transmitters, tubes, transformere, infrared scopes etc. All for students. The effort to learn brought personal benefits, a short wave rig. And a wish list of the like. Mine qas for "test equipment", all kits, if I wanted a radio or Hi-Fi, I could design and build it. Granted the abtenna tower, yagi and rotator had to be on the next wish list. But the way to get young people interested in Engineering is for them to have the benefit. They can learn it beat if its exploration. And I didn't find that at a high levei in the comments or your analysis.

Luckily youtube made me catch up quick niche classes with less online material were horrific tho

35+ years working in industry since I graduated, have mentored and recruited many engineers. If you get past 2nd semester calculus (typically integration) and dynamic physics & really understand those topics, you will graduate. It’s really that simple, and those classes are really that important.

Not only did my poor, small, charter school not prepare me for engineering school, but high school was 20 years ago lol. I had to start my math at, like, remedial algebra and claw my way up through the Calculus series. Learning Calc at my high school? Not even an option on the table.

Best thing my engineer daughter ever did was take college pre calculus in high school. It helped her ACT score and she could start her freshman year in calculus 1 with confidence.

It requires a lot of math, science and specialized courses and most universitys are not set up for this multi disipline study. The job prospects are also limited as most private companies want you to go into management as soon as posible and most engineers don't want this.

I am a retired EE (I got an MSEE at 39) I have taught electronics, and communication electronics at the Junior college level (Vocational vice engineering track). I am amazed at how bad my students are at math. I wish I could fix this.

I put myself through graduate school in engineering in the US by working as a graduate teaching assistant. Lucky me, I was tasked with teaching the weeding out courses, Statics and Dynamics. Most students could not get past this barrier and dropped out and went to B-school. Most of us are not cut out for STEM fields. I also think the percentage of dropouts is much higher than 50%.

I think a lot of students who don't have a knack for engineering or a liking for engineering are being pushed into engineering because it is supposed to pay better than many other professions. Maybe an aprecentiship followed by a degree would be better for many students so they can figure out whether it is for them or not.

Bangladeshi engineering student here, here, we do have some advanced match classes that are supposed to be taught in high school (Equivalent), but most teachers are really lousy at doing their job. We even have some math courses that are offered by the university in the early years just to prepare you for the later years of engineering. It is a bit luck based on who will take your class. The most helpful thing we can do is learn the stuff online. We actually learn about 80% of our stuff online, sine most of our teachers are, lets say, not the most optimal......

Our graduating class in electrical engineering (year 1980) was only 20% of those starting out.

I would say self-discipline and resourcefulness are the two most important. You will make it if you really hit the books, ask around, research and test yourself.

There was this foreigner in my class (engineering) who would get drunk before an exam to make it more challenging. It was basically a joke to him. While the rest of us studied our butts off. I always thought he was weird, but maybe this explains it. I redid some math classes in Community College to get my foundation right, and I really think this set me up for success.

50% that’s pretty good, my class started with ~150 and 17 of us graduated. Sadly, what I’m seeing is companies are giving engineering titles to individuals that don’t have engineering degrees - not good for those with actual degrees or for safety & innovation. Would like to hear your take on that subject?

Reason is easy…. It’s hard. Hotel and Hospitality Management is easy and I can party for 4 years.

I think a big reason is that kids see what engineers make as a salary and go into engineering without realizing how much work is involved and they are not interested in the material. Another big reason is that engineering schools need to weed out a big percentage of freshman and sophomore students because there are not enough slots in the junior and senior level classes. When I went to school in the mid-eighties, they seem to have a lot of hard nose old school professors in the beginning level classes.

As a high school math teacher it does make sense.

It is Maths, Maths, Maths. For a three years or four years engineering courses you study mostly Maths for the for first and second years. For the final years more maths in your specialisation options. In essence your mastery of Maths should be at least 80 percentile before entering engineering degree.

Hell, even Im exposed to math and science as a kid in the philippines, now still a regular student at a 2nd year ME degree, tho now im starting to get slow on surviving the classes cuz they're difficult asf. but the point is to graduate

i didn't realize that graduation rate was so low. I got a BS in ChE, MS in SysEng, MS in EngMgt. But my grades for the first one wasn't as high as in HS . i blame being away from home for the first time and an 18 y/o drinking age. That was in the early 80s.

I watched this a few days ago and a thought has been lingering. In math, physics, chemistry, computer science, there are thousands of on line lectures and "how to's" for millions of questions. But I have found very little in the form of engineering specific KZfaq videos. I just took Thermo 1 and it would have been nice to get a quality video on specific subject and problems. For example, the Organic Chemistry Tutor helped get me though calc, physics and chemistry. I found a few videos covering thermodynamics but nothing like the quantity of The Organic Chemistry Tutor. Do you have any recommendations, besides Kahn Academy, that an engineer student could use? I have the ADHD so reading "the damn textbook" as you said in your book isn't really working. However, following along with and working though problems is extremely effective for me.

I gave up on my Computer Science degree because tbh I wasn’t interested in it anymore. Programming was kicking my behind. Each time I went into the lab my anxiety level always went up. I just couldn’t do it anymore 🚮

While I found STEM in college not too bad, I went to a high-quality, public high school. The twist is that I’m essentially retired, so this was 40 years ago. Contrast that with my children, who were all educated in modern high-quality, public high schools, who struggled. Their schooling was so lax. It was hard for me to set necessary standards because all the teachers allowed late work and multiple attempts. “In my day…you did the work or you didn’t…if not handed in on time, then you’d get a zero.” It’s not that the classes themselves are easier (maybe they are that too), but there is no discipline instilled. It’s easier to get good grades while being able to slack.

I work in a magnet high school. I see kids who talk about being an engineer, but they avoid the tough math and science classes. At the same time my son attends a different magnet school with a very demanding academic program. He will be a senior next year. He’s on his second year of calculus and next year has cd calculus and statistics as an elective. He also had algebra based physics and will have calculus based physics senior year. I will say that the math curriculum in America needs a lot of work. For algebra the classes should be two hours instead of one. More time to soak it in. Geometry should be an extended class, with trig taught as a separate one semester class. The college option diploma should require 6 units of math, not four.

That's why with the shift of Stem students coming to American college from Europe to America in the 20th century to from Asia to America in the 21st century. I would recommend studying Stem in Europe or Asia then coming back to America for work.

Of the 50% of students who do get a degree in engineering, the majority will never work as a practicing engineer much less as a registered professional engineer. As many as 75% of engineering school graduates will not work in their field of study.