What’s the hot topic among undergrads enrolling in engineering programs? According to the 2004 ASEE Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges, engineering students are clamoring to get computer science degrees, in comparison to other fields with large numbers of majors. Out of the 72,893 bachelor’s degrees awarded by engineering colleges in the 2003-04 academic year, 9,156 were in computer science. That marks an increase of 5.9 percent from the previous year. This is a big jump in comparison to the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering, excluding computer science, which grew by just under 2 percent. Among smaller fields, aerospace and biomedical engineering have both nearly doubled over the last five years, with each graduating just over 2,000 students last year.

What was the most popular engineering discipline among women? Biomedical engineering, which made up 45.5 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded to women.

Have aspiring engineers in your class? They can learn more about the different engineering disciplines at the ASEE EngineeringK12 Center.

Filed under: K-12 Education News