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CHAPTER II-F
RETENTION OF ENGINEERING MAJORS
The most objective criterion of success in undergraduate engineering, both from
the institutional and the individual student’s perspective, is whether a student stays in the
major and completes an engineering degree. In this chapter we discuss the retention of
students in Rowan’s engineering program and some of the factors related to retention or
early exit in this context.
The literature has pointed out several reasons for leaving engineering: poor
academic performance, lack of engineering self-confidence, lack of pre-college
experience and knowledge in engineering, complaints of poor teaching, inappropriate
reasons for choosing the major, inadequate advising, loss of interest, curriculum
overload, lack of female peers and role models for women, feeling uncomfortable as
women in the major, lack of participation in support activities, and perceiving a different
major to offer better education or was more interesting (the only prominent “pull” factor)
(Adelman, 1998; Goodman et al, 2002; Seymour & Hewitt, 1997) . Astin & Astin (1993)
contribute the insight that interaction with engineering faculty may actually backfire and
prove to be negative influences on persistence in the major. Adelman (1998) further
refines the insight by showing that compared to students who stay in engineering,
students who leave engineering display a higher degree of dissatisfaction with academic
and work preparation aspects of their experience.
Our study lends insight into these issues because of the nature of the Rowan
program and its apparent effect on women in the program. Unlike what has been found in
more traditional programs, we have shown that the women coming into the Rowan
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