The College of Engineering loses more students every year than any other program at Iowa State.

There are several reasons that lead to the loss of engineering students, but some faculty members and students put the blame on the difficulty of the major, while others hold the university responsible.

According to studies compiled by ISU’s Institutional Research Office, each year, from 1993-1997, 14.4 percent of the students in the College of Engineering switched to majors in other colleges at ISU.

The College of Agriculture averaged only a 7.5 percent loss for the same time period.

Janet Putnam, student service specialist for the College of Engineering, said engineering is more demanding than most other majors.

Putnam said the math courses are typically what discourage students.

“All types of engineering require at least three semesters of math, the lowest level of which is Calculus I, which to many students is extremely strenuous,” she said.

Duane Dixon, junior in industrial technology, was once a pre-engineering major. He said he switched majors because the workload in engineering was too challenging.

“There was too much of an emphasis on math,” he said.

Although Putnam admitted the math courses are difficult for many students, she said they are not intended to force students to transfer out of the college.

“Math is not used as a weed-out course, but it is when most students realize that engineering is hard work,” she said.

However, some students disagree with Putnam and say they feel professors are trying to “weed” them out of the engineering program.

“I had a Chemistry 165 professor say that 20 percent of the class will automatically fail, proving they are trying to get students out of the major,” Dixon said.

Doug Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, said he thinks there are “weed-out courses” in the program.

“There are professors who believe only a fraction of the class ought to pass; therefore, a fraction must fail,” he said.

Jacobson said ISU’s engineering program is somewhat backwards.

He said some of the courses that students take as seniors should be offered their freshmen year.

“The university is not doing a good job of relating their fundamental courses to actual work,” he said.

Jacobson said students are not learning what their major entails until their senior year because that is when the classes get into the intriguing material.

He said he thinks these classes should be introduced earlier in the students’ college career to keep them interested.

“[Professors] should design experiences within their courses to show what engineers do; then students would understand why they are taking this awful chemistry class,” he said.

Putnam said most students entering the College of Engineering are not aware of the challenges that they will face.

Putnam said many high school counselors encourage students who are good at math and science to give engineering a try, but she said it takes much more than academic ability to get through the rigors of engineering.

Putnam also said the university allows anyone who wants to try engineering to do so, which is why more students start in the major than should.

“Any student who thinks they are interested in engineering is more than encouraged to give it a shot,” she said.

The competition within the department is another reason why students are intimidated by the engineering program, Jacobson said.

“A lot of students in the College of Engineering were at the top of their class, and now they are at a university where there are many top students,” he said.

Jacobson also said some students may leave the department because they believe they are being treated as a number, not as a person.

“New engineering students may feel like they are in a large, countless sea of engineers,” he said.

Brian Christensen, senior in computer science, was a mechanical engineering student at one time, but he transferred out for a mixture of reasons.

“I didn’t feel in touch with my advisers or with anyone in the college,” Christensen said.

Kylee Deterding, sophomore in biology, recently transferred out of the College of Engineering, and said it was not an easy decision to make.

“I felt like a quitter,” she said.

Deterding said she did not care for the mentality that some engineers have. She said she believes that the professors are partially responsible for this arrogant attitude.

“They almost train you to think that you are better than the rest,” she said.