There’s college stress, and then there’s whatever engineering students are forced to endure. It’s intense, relentless, and written all over their faces.
A viral TikTok trend captures this perfectly, as they post their before-and-after photos showing the toll of just a few years in engineering school.
Here are some of the most striking transformations. If anyone’s earned a nap, it’s these people.
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Yeah, it’s rough out there for these poor souls.
Seeing these dramatic engineering transformations, you start to wonder, what exactly are these students going through? Are they attending lectures in the trenches, surviving on rations, or running half-marathons while solving equations in their heads?
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Okay, maybe not quite that extreme. But they do juggle a lot.
According to Indiana University’s National Survey of Student Engagement, as reported by The Tab, engineering majors are among the hardest working students in the U.S.
While architecture takes the top spot, with students spending an average of 22 hours a week studying outside of class, engineering majors dominate the rest of the top tier, clocking in at around 20 hours per week.
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That kind of workload takes a toll.
Unsurprisingly, nearly half of all undergraduate engineering students in the U.S. screen positive for a major mental health condition or significant psychological distress.
The rates can be even higher among high-achieving students and those from underrepresented backgrounds.
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For some, the pressure becomes too much.
Research shows that roughly 40% of students who enter college planning to major in engineering or science either switch to another field or leave without a degree at all.
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But others push through, no matter how tough it gets.
One of them is Jorge Emmanuel Nader, who took part in the viral TikTok trend and spoke to We about what makes engineering so demanding, and why he still loves it.
Nader studies computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence and electrical engineering.
“The field is extremely stressful because of deadlines and the density of the material, but I also enjoy it a lot,” he said. “There’s a quote from Da Vinci that goes, ‘Learning never exhausts the mind.’ If you do something you love, you push through even if it’s difficult.”
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For Nader, engineering was a deeply personal choice. Born in Latin America, he lived with his mother and sister and was “the man of the house” from a young age, often fixing things around the home.
“I wanted to study engineering to build technology that could help people in their daily life,” he explained. “When I moved to the USA, it was very clear to me that science and engineering were the paths to follow to make an impact in the world.”
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But for engineers, the obstacles don’t end with their studies.
“Right now, the tech job market is not doing very well due to geopolitics and extreme automation. I was a computational scientist until not long ago, but then my position got defunded,” Nader revealed.
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Still, the setback turned out to be an opportunity.
For a while, Nader had dreamed of starting his own business but was waiting for the right moment—more experience, more capital, more stability. Losing his job gave him the push he needed.
He soon launched Cognito Labs, a company offering technology and engineering consulting services.
“I always wanted to contribute to innovation and technology, so I decided to start developing medical software, financial tools, and anti-AI technology. Creating my own R&D company has been even harder than my degrees. Every day is a new challenge, but I love it, so I carry on.”
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And Nader doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“I absolutely love engineering. I would never have done any other degree,” he said. “The job market may be bad, but the impact you can have with the knowledge acquired in this field is still huge.”
“I see Cognito Labs, my company, as a small acorn that one day will become a forest to benefit others. And every day I water this acorn.”