[SlowToady]

How about because Engineering and the hard sciences aren't glamorous? When is the last time you saw a TV show titled "REAL LIFE : I'M A MECHANICAL ENGINEER!" or how about "AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MATHEMATICIAN!" They aren't glamorous, most of the time aren't rich, and from what I can tell, usually lack any semblance of proper social skills. The last part mostly applies to the Mathematicians and Computer Scientists I know. Engineers, no offense intended, seem to be rather bland. I think this is a product of all the time spent studying brain rattling subjects, as opposed to any real "character flaw."

In college, when you're at a party, it's not cool to say "I'm a math major" when a girls asks you. Because no one knows what the hell you do with it, and, since (in my opinion) schools suck at teaching math, most people take an extreme dislike to it early on, and therefore anything beyond College Algebra is inaccessible to them. Social perception is important to developing young men and women, and the "geek" and "nerd" stereotypes of the kids that are good at math and science harass them since they are young kids, which might lead them to shy away from such scholastic concentrations.

On the contrary, it's much cooler to say "I'm an international business major" and "I want to own a multi-national" because it throws visions of wealth and power, which women seem to be attracted to.

I don't exactly think it's because engineering and other disciplines are HARD, exactly. Just what is hard, anyway? I think drawing is hard. I can't even color inside lines, at 21 years old. Write a literary analysis of Shakespeare? I'd rather stick my dick in an oven. It'd be less painful.

There are plenty of kids at University today who have the skills and ambition that would be required to fulfill an engineering or sciences major, but choose something else instead. Maybe because of social perception. Or just plain because they aren't interested. My friend Nick doesn't take any notes at all in math, got a 97% in CalcII and he's shaping up to do the same with CalcIII. He's an English major.

Money? Please. According to Salary.com, a Mechanical Engineer in Lexington, KY can expect to between 51, and $61,000 a year between the 25th and 75th percentile. Mathematicians even less. There are plenty of ways to make $50-60K a year that don't involve all the educational bull**** (ie, hard classes) that Engineering and Math entail. Like Parts Manager at a body shop. The shop I used to work for paid $45K/year plus benefits for a Parts Manager, and they are only a ~$2.5M/year shop. Plenty of shops around that make much, much more (like Central Auto Body).

I have my doubts that the number of graduating ME/EE/CE/whatever students is just because it's "hard." Much deeper reasons than that, I suspect. I've mentioned a few, and I'm sure I'm missing more.