I graduated a few years ago and had the same complaints back then. Kinda disappointing that it hasn’t seemed to change. I felt like it was a constant stream of challenging problems but there were seldom any opportunities to internalize or apply that knowledge outside of the classroom. Opportunities for research or project teams were pretty scant and my senior design project was embarrassingly simple, but many teams still floundered because that was the first time many seniors actually had to build anything physically. It’s bizarre that you can graduate with an engineering degree without a basic grasp of how to design or put something together.

I’m now a graduate student at a more prestigious university and the difference in curriculum and culture is really stark. Even at the undergraduate level, it seems like most classes have some sort of final project that is pretty substantive and portfolio-worthy. The project team and research culture is so strong (to the point of being toxic) that it’s the norm to be involved in at least one major-related extracurricular.

The department should really shift the emphasis away from problem sets and towards projects.