Why is engineering so hard to get into?

Because even top students flunk out. If you don’t have “the knack” and good academic discipline then understanding the core curriculum simply will not happen. It’s no picnic, it’s more like the revenant.

Because engineering is itself difficult, and because there are serious consequences when professional engineers screw up. Bridges collapse, rockets explode, entire cities lose power, etc.

Hmm … those things also happen when movie directors succeed. There’s a strange irony there, @SavoirFaire … but I’m too analytical to figure that sort of stuff out when I’m tired.

These are the folks who are responsible for figuring out the kind of load our buildings, bridges, dams, earthworks, power grid, etc can bear. It damn well had better be a difficult field to get into. If they fail the loses can be measured in hundreds or thousands of lives and millions or billions of dollars.

…between 70% and 97% in Canada. What exactly are you averaging?

If you are talking grades, 70% is barely passing

Something worth mentioning is the drop out rate. Just getting into a program is hard enough but by the end of freshman year a third will be gone by sophmore half. Junior year in most programs is usually the hardest and an additional 15–20% of those remaining will drop out or flunk out. Senior year usually is where you are mentored and most who get here will graduate. About 70% who graduate will take the first licensing exam and about 70% of those will pass. About 2 thirds will attempt the final licensing exam and about 70% of those will pass. The total time it takes to get licensed averages about a decade.