The Valparaiso Beacons Fan Zone Forum

Off Topic => General Off Topic => Topic started by: Just Sayin on September 25, 2021, 09:02:45 AM

Title: What is Your Major?
Post by: Just Sayin on September 25, 2021, 09:02:45 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAHXax-VEAAqSkC?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Title: Re: What is Your Major?
Post by: vu84v2 on September 25, 2021, 10:48:30 PM
I know this says the source is BLS and NCES, but this makes no sense. Placement for graduating engineers (within six months) at Valpo is 97%. Some small portion of that is graduates going on to graduate schools or military service, but most of the 97% is graduates getting jobs. Valpo does well in placing its graduates, but this placement rate is pretty normal for engineers - as there are more jobs available than engineers. Further, the placement rate for most business schools is above 90% (Valpo reports 96%).

Within most professional disciplines, students should be confident that they will find a good job. It is a very different story for majors not associated with professional disciplines (e.g., liberal arts - maybe "life sciences" is included in that).
Title: Re: What is Your Major?
Post by: Just Sayin on September 26, 2021, 11:12:49 AM
Supply and demand might depend on which subfield in engineering students choose to study:

(https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2018/images/engineers_table-1.PNG)
Title: Re: What is Your Major?
Post by: vu84v2 on September 26, 2021, 12:02:10 PM
I agree that supply and demand would vary between disciplines, but the strong majority of engineers who graduate (including from Valpo) are in civil, mechanical, electrical and computer (and probably industrial - though I do not think Valpo has industrial) and the placement rates for those schools are higher than 95%. Bottom line: if you go to college and get a degree in engineering, you get a job (and as the right column shows, one that pays quite well).
Title: Re: What is Your Major?
Post by: Just Sayin on September 27, 2021, 11:02:30 AM
Who said you couldn't get a good job with an engineering degree?
Title: Re: What is Your Major?
Post by: vu84v2 on September 27, 2021, 11:44:35 AM
Quote from: Just Sayin on September 27, 2021, 11:02:30 AM
Who said you couldn't get a good job with an engineering degree?

The chart that you used to start this discussion, which suggests that graduating engineers outweigh engineering job openings by 3 to 1. This slide, wherever it came from, makes no sense given the extremely high placement rates for graduating engineers at pretty much every accredited university.