-> While engineering programs are also challenging, it is possible for
-> weaker students to complete their degrees.  And indeed, as you
-> suggest, some engineering students are motivated largely by the
-> promise of good jobs.
This has indeed always been my impression, because when I ask my good
calculus students what they want to major in, a very large percentage
will reply "engineering". I guess it is only practical to consider
coming out with a degree at the end that can earn $$$, and for some
reason engineering seems a more obvious choice to many of them than
physics or math. :-(
Have you read Richard Feynman's books _Surely You Must be Joking?_ and
_What Do You Care What Other People Think?_ ? I don't remember which
book it is (probably the former), but in one of them he discusses his
experiences on interviewing for a job with a physics degree, and that
many _personel_ employees didn't know what good a physics degree could
be in industry!
-> Physics students - on the average - are much more more interested in
-> science and in learning for its own sake.  We get far more than our
-> proportionate share of students graduating with academic honors.
Lucky the physics prof who teaches them!
Sheila
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