Low-Choice Culture in Undergraduate Engineering and Autonomy-Supportive Exceptions

Abstract

Over the last century, colleges and universities in the United States have increasingly provided students with opportunities in the curriculum to choose the courses they take. Have engineering programs followed suit? This study explores the course-choice opportunities (e.g., free electives and technical electives) afforded to undergraduate engineering students versus their nonengineering campus peers. Using 2013–2014 university catalogs, course-choice opportunities for 553 degree programs across 46 engineering colleges were quantified, including 309 ABET-accredited engineering programs and 244 nonengineering programs. At the median, nonengineering undergraduates choose 23% of their degree programs as free (unrestricted) electives, versus only 3% for engineering students. Regarding the amount of total degree coursework that engineering students can choose as free electives, they could choose approximately one-fifth the amount compared with level of choice common in mathematics, physics and chemistry programs. Engineering students are typically provided choices in the selection of half as many courses as their nonengineering peers. It is hypothesized that the bleak course-choice opportunity in engineering programs is a barrier to enrollment, in-migration, and retention in undergraduate engineering. Eleven universities were identified that provide students with substantial course-choice opportunities and less course-choice peer disparity.