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Why Is US Grad School Mainly Non-US Students?

Posted by kdawson on from the damn-it-jim-i'm-a-doctor-not-an-engineer dept.

I am a new graduate student in Computer Engineering. I would like to get my MS and possibly my Ph.D. I have learned that 90% of my department is from India and many others are from China. All the students come here to study and there are only 7 US citizens in the engineering program this year. Why is that? I have heard that many of the smarter Americans go into medicine or the law and that is why there are so few Americans in engineering. Is this true?

4 of 1,131 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's a numbers game by mikael · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ya! This is the spelling nazi weekly meeting. Please make sure that your /. armbands are facing outward on your left arm, that your pocket protector is neatly folded and that your sneaker laces are tied properly. Our supreme leader Cowboy Neal (may his servers always be online) will address you all shortly.

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  2. Re:90% of those who apply are probably from India. by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Informative

    More importantly, 90% of American engineering students realize that the only reason for getting an MS in engineering is to teach. I'm yet to find someone who thinks he learned something worthwhile in post-grad engineering school.

    Getting an MBA has actual value. Working and gaining real-world experience has actual value. Meaningful research is a noble task, but... there isn't that much of it going on in most programs from what I can tell.

    Contrast that with India or Germany, where you basically need a PhD to get a job flipping burgers (yes, sarcasm), and it is easy to understand why Americans are a minority.

    Also, it isn't a recent change; it's been true for the past 20 years.

  3. Re:and? by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 4, Informative

    In what part of the country is $60k/yr lower middle class? Maybe in SF, but you can pull down that sort of money hauling trash there.

    --
    "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  4. Re:and? by Glock27 · · Score: 4, Informative
    only a MORON would pay $1000 a year for a 200K home. you know the idiots that buy those creative loans. a TRADITIONAL loan thatyou do not get screwed on your $200,000 home will cost you about $2100.00 a month even at 7%

    k...looking at Quicken Loans, if you have good credit you can get a $190,000, 30 year fixed loan (you need at least a 5% down payment these days, $10,000) at 6.25% interest, which is $1,169 a month. That's with good credit of course, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. If you really want to get ahead of the curve, pay an extra $100 to $200 a month against the principle.

    You can play around with the extra payments (prepayments) at Karl's Mortgage Calculator if you want. In the example above, an extra $100 from the start shortens the loan from 30 years to 24 years, 3 months. $200 a month would shorten the loan to 20 years 7 months.

    So, in short, you're way off base. :-)

    $200k will get you a nice house in a lot of the country...and it'll get you more in a few more months. ;-)

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