In research circles...an engineering degree is definitely important but for normal careers, outside academia, engineering technology is the most practical and useful degree to have IMHO. I am a MET major at Purdue-Kokomo and I see many EET, CPT, and EET people going to work as engineers and technicians at both the Chrysler and Delco facilities here as well as for other high profile employers across the nation. Employers dont need an engineer who has an in depth understanding of quantum physics (Rose-Hulman????), they need someone who can solve tangible, real life problems like , for example, suspension damping. Engineering is about practicality and real life problems...there is no need for schools to make their cirriculum impractical just for the sake of impressing or "outdoing" other schools in the research arena. I know of several people at W. Lafayette who have quit CS and went to CPT because they felt as if CS was some type of "vocational school for programmers". They say that all you do in CS is learn to become a programmer. These people wanted to know useful, versatile things...like networking...database admin and whatever other good stuff cpt's learn..so that they could make some real money and have an interesting career instead of just coding for the rest of their lives
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In research circles...an engineering degree is definitely important but for normal careers, outside academia, engineering technology is the most practical and useful degree to have IMHO. I am a MET major at Purdue-Kokomo and I see many EET, CPT, and EET people going to work as engineers and technicians at both the Chrysler and Delco facilities here as well as for other high profile employers across the nation. Employers dont need an engineer who has an in depth understanding of quantum physics (Rose-Hulman????), they need someone who can solve tangible, real life problems like , for example, suspension damping. Engineering is about practicality and real life problems...there is no need for schools to make their cirriculum impractical just for the sake of impressing or "outdoing" other schools in the research arena. I know of several people at W. Lafayette who have quit CS and went to CPT because they felt as if CS was some type of "vocational school for programmers". They say that all you do in CS is learn to become a programmer. These people wanted to know useful, versatile things...like networking...database admin and whatever other good stuff cpt's learn..so that they could make some real money and have an interesting career instead of just coding for the rest of their lives