Engineering Students Quit, But There are Retention Tactics
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The most common statistic cited around the attrition rate for engineering students is that roughly 50 percent change majors or drop out before graduation.
About half of the attrition happens during freshman year.
That’s because students come out of high school excited about wanting to design and build things, only to find themselves disappointed at having to take up to two years of foundational courses before that can happen, explained Risa Robinson, department head for the mechanical engineering department at New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology.
That’s why it’s critical to concentrate on retaining first-year students, she adds.
About half of the attrition happens during freshman year.
That’s because students come out of high school excited about wanting to design and build things, only to find themselves disappointed at having to take up to two years of foundational courses before that can happen, explained Risa Robinson, department head for the mechanical engineering department at New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology.
That’s why it’s critical to concentrate on retaining first-year students, she adds.