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I'm sure many degree programs in the US are inflated, but it wasn't my experience in the US where engineering professors brag about how many students they faile

I'm sure many degree programs in the US are inflated, but it wasn't my experience in the US where engineering professors brag about how many students they failed that semester. "You only had 1/3rd your class drop? You must be getting soft." I had AP Calculus in High School (took school seriously) and had to give 110% to pass engineering school. I never partied and basically lived in study hall. Not everyone has to put in that much effort, but I never ever felt grades were being inflated to pass us. When the highest grade on a test is a 42 from a classmate that could probably build a teleporter in their garage, you know things are tough. When we used to have to take required non-engineering courses like history and psyche, most of us felt like we were teleported back over a decade to junior high as the classes were such a joke. So the specialized classes and degrees can be astonishingly challenging, while the generic courses everyone has to take are almost remedial.

nojvek 8y ago
Grades really seemed arbitrary to me. People who got high grades didn’t mean they’d be more successful in life, it just they got good at gaming the final exams. Indian education has this huge obsession with grades, it’s nuts. Students commit suicides over grades, I believe it’s same with china. I’m glad my university had more focus on labs and hands on work. I pretty much aced all my labs and did okay on paper exams. Paper exams always felt like an exercise for the professor to put students on an explicit bell curve.
- sizzle 8y ago
  I think this is due to overpopulation. Only so many seats available to pass?
xvedejas 8y ago
This does not seem to be the case in private universities, where high graduation rate is a strongly desired statistic. Maybe one or two people total left my Chemical Engineering class over four years, and usually to switch to something like Chemistry. I'm not sure what kinds of grades were typically passed out, but there always seemed to be strong pressure not to fail students.
- 3rdAccount 8y ago
  Gotcha. I graduated from a public university with a strong engineering college. Typically 50% switch majors sometime during freshman year across the board. They usually then go to computer science, chemistry, or biology. If those degree programs are too hard, they go to business or at least that is the trend many of my fellow students noticed.
  - Gargoyle 8y ago
    There was a saying at my engineering school (and probably others like it): EE->IE->IM->I'm Out. Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Industrial Management, transfer.

nojvek 8y ago

Grades really seemed arbitrary to me. People who got high grades didn’t mean they’d be more successful in life, it just they got good at gaming the final exams. Indian education has this huge obsession with grades, it’s nuts. Students commit suicides over grades, I believe it’s same with china. I’m glad my university had more focus on labs and hands on work. I pretty much aced all my labs and did okay on paper exams. Paper exams always felt like an exercise for the professor to put students on an explicit bell curve.

sizzle 8y ago
I think this is due to overpopulation. Only so many seats available to pass?

xvedejas 8y ago

This does not seem to be the case in private universities, where high graduation rate is a strongly desired statistic. Maybe one or two people total left my Chemical Engineering class over four years, and usually to switch to something like Chemistry. I'm not sure what kinds of grades were typically passed out, but there always seemed to be strong pressure not to fail students.

3rdAccount 8y ago
Gotcha. I graduated from a public university with a strong engineering college. Typically 50% switch majors sometime during freshman year across the board. They usually then go to computer science, chemistry, or biology. If those degree programs are too hard, they go to business or at least that is the trend many of my fellow students noticed.
- Gargoyle 8y ago
  There was a saying at my engineering school (and probably others like it): EE->IE->IM->I'm Out. Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Industrial Management, transfer.