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Originally Posted by KenWittlief
4. The 66% dropout rate for engineering is correct.
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You have a source on that? Both personal experience and various studies I've seen suggest attrition rates around 10 percent a year, resulting in around 60% eventually graduating with an engineering degree.
The best study I've seen was a longitudinal one: Moller-Wong, C. and A. Eide, "An Engineering Student Retention Study," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 86, no. 1, 1997, which found that for 1,151 students that started engineering, 5 years later 1,151 engineering enrollees at Iowa State University. They found that after five years, 32% of their subjects had graduated in engineering, with another 15% still enrolled enrolled in engineering , for an eventual graduation rate between 40% and 45%. And this paper talked about reasons why Iowa State's retention rate was lower than normal.
Not much better than your number, but definitely better.
So yes, high dropout rates in engineering are not uncommon. And longer than 4 years is very common as well (I finished in 4 calendar years, only 3.5 of which I was a student, but I had a boatload of AP transfer credit going into college).