interesting observation: engineering school vs business scho

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A local college here has both it's engineering school, and it's business school in the same building. The building has atriums in it for each school that are about the same size. The same amout of students are typically in both sections of the building at a given time, but the atmosphere of each section is decidedly different.

The business school atrium sort of reminds me of a high-school cafeteria. There's lots of chatter and chaos going on, people walking everywhere, and cliques of students talking loudly. The students are walking around in their latest fashion statements with perfect hairdos. On the engineering side, it looks more like a library. Most of the students are sitting down at the tables and chairs. The ones that actually are talking are talking in subdued voices, while most aren't talking at all, but engaging in some solitary activity. The engineering students typically look like they just got out of bed, hanging around in uncombed hair, in old sweats, T-shirts, pajamas, etc.

As for myself, I find myself much more comfortable in the engineering side...I don't feel like I'm being watched and critiqued by everyone else, and the noise level is not annoyingly loud.

I read a few years ago that the most common qualification of CEOs in USA was electrical engineer.

That's just the difference between people in business school and people in engineering schools.

Business: Mostly there to party, or incapable of handling the difficulty of a technical degree. Frequently taken by people that never got over high school. Every person I've known that has the intelligence for a science/engineering degree that takes a business degree, that's not there to party, has regretted the decision.

Engineering: There to learn and/or obtain a degree that pays well. Generally has classes that are exceptionally difficult and takes up a lot of their free time (I had a class my senior year that gave weekly homework assignments that took approximately 24 hours to complete, each).

Actually, at my school it's kind of an even field when it comes to Business vs Engineering fratboyism. Perhaps with Engineering having a bit more, simply because of the higher amount of males in the faculty. Of course, both of those faculties are nothing compared to the Agriculture students, who can drink anyone under the table.

Anyways, as a business student myself, I don't find DNForrest's assessment to be all that true. It's not that someone lacks the intellect for an engineering degree, it's just that any particular person might find an area of business to be more interesting. Or law. Or medicine. Or psychology. Whatever it is that turns that person's crank.

It's also incorrect to state that business students are there to drink up. In fact, at most functions you're warned to NOT have more than one drink. This, of course is for the sake of appearing professional in front of a company representative. It's also not clique-ish at all, at least not on my campus. Most people are perfectly friendly to me, and I'm friendly to them in return. It's nothing like high school.

Mind you, if you do have a presentation, a mock interview, or a function to go to directly after class; it is required that you dress formally. However, formal attire has nothing to do with "fashion statements". Most students just dress normally (although most not sloppily) during the regular hours.

Then you're probably at a school with a rare/uncommon exception. I'd imagine that there are plenty of colleges out there with a serious Business program, but for most places, Business is the party option. It isn't a coincidence that the heaviest night for partying and drinking in town is Thursday (aka Thirsty Thursdays), and Business majors are the ones that almost never have classes on Fridays. If you're lucky enough to be in a serious Business program, then more power to you. But those in your typical Business program with intelligence and aren't in college to party (and don't have an addiction to WoW), they're most always bored out of their minds with the ridiculously simple classes and shunning from their fellow Business students' social circles, regardless of how interested in the subject they may be. Fortunately, a lot of places seem to have technical options for these sorts of Business majors.

Also, I didn't mean to imply that intelligence automatically means you'll be bored with anything but engineering, I was unintentionally referring to a friend of mine that's severely regretting getting into the Business school instead of Computer Science/Electrical Engineering like he initially meant to.

SOOOO true. I am glad I didn't go into business because all the people there fit that description to a T. Also, if you are a true businessman you don't need business school anyways. All the successful businesspeople I know never went to university, they just went into sales and made huge money, some just started their own companies.

Generally speaking, math and science fields tend to attract more intelligent students than do the humanities. Most engineering majors I know would be perfectly able to hold their own in any of the business or history classes, but the humanities majors would get completely destroyed even by low-level math like single-variable calculus.

I would say that the average business student is more social, more preppy, less intelligent and less studious than the average engineering student.

In any case, given that business students usually earn above average wages upon graduation, it is hard to say that their move is terrible. Not only that, but the professors in the business college tend to more understandable than those in math, science, or engineering, which are dominated by foreigners and other groups that are simply hard to understand.

In any case, I would actually side a lot more with the opinion that college in general tends to be a massive waste of money, as expressed in the notion that it is not good as an educational opportunity per unit of cost.

And yet you attend a university. Why would you do so if it is a waste of money?

The signaling model of educational attainment.

Then you at least regard the signal of educational attainment as being worth the money you're spending.

Orwell, your statement is pointless. It does not disagree with my argument, nor does it really defend the college system.

Let's look at my own statement: "college in general tends to be a massive waste of money, as expressed in the notion that it is not good as an educational opportunity per unit of cost."

Now, we can argue that the signal provided by the college system is what makes up the gap. However, the problem with that this gap constitutes what seems to be a very significant portion of the cost. Given that the purpose of a signal is just to sort individuals, a highly expensive signaling mechanism is very possibly inefficient. Ergo, I would actually argue that the college system is likely inefficient. Do you care to argue with that?

business students are the dumbest people on campus. They are just usually good looking and have tons of friends, that's how they get by in life.

Well, I would side with averages. There are many business students who are more intelligent than a person or the average person striving for a different degree.

Not entirely true, but you might not have had the same experiences with Fashion majors that I've had. (No, I'm not saying all Fashion majors are dumb, I'm saying that I've yet to meet someone dumber in college than some of the people I've met from there)

Not all business people but lots are. Kineseology students are pretty similar too. It also depends on what college you go to. If you go to an ivey league college, or a top tier business school, it's going to have more smart people just because they entrance requirements are so high. I go to a pretty low-tier university, basically any moron can get into law or business here.