The Making of Engineers: The Robot Challenge

Taken overall, we´ve found that about 30% of the students participating were already planning on a career in Engineering - the project reinforces the decision for most of them, though a few find that it is not what they expected. 30% of the students come in with no intention of becoming engineers, and just enjoy the project, learn from it, and have fun. 40% of the students come in with their major undecided, and take the course to help them figure out what they should do. A significant number of these students do decide to become engineers, and these are the students that will tip the balance and help us increase the percentage of students selecting engineering in the future. It is just as important that the project allow a student to find out that he or she is not suited to engineering (and not waste his time and money before switching to another major), as it is to help those who were considering other career pathways, but now discover that Engineering is what really turns them on.