Comment Re:And why should they care? (Score 1) 441
the only reason someone would describe themselves like in the essay in the article is to appear smart, driven and ambitious; in essence gaming the system. The simpler the indirect measurements are, the harder they are to subvert.
Yes, that's the reason for doing it. What's important is the ability to do it.
The ability to communicate is important, sure, but is writing a fancy, bogus essay about how motivated you are really the best way to measure it?
I think it's important to show the ability to communicate with non-engineers, because in engineering how well we do that is going to be a major factor in our success. I think expecting somebody to show ability to communicate with non-engineers on technical matters would be setting the bar too high.
So writing about technical matters is too hard, so we should have the students write about their feelings and ambitions instead?
That usually takes years -- decades -- of experience post-university!
Obviously you wouldn't expect them to do it as well as a seasoned veteran, but being able to quickly learn about a technical matter and explain it in a clear, concise matter to someone without prior knowledge of the subject is exactly the kind of communication they are be expected to perform during the studies.