...and did they check the results against living artist that can tell you their influences?

I imagine that Pollock drip paintings would not show the influence of Picasso.

I have met plenty of people who claim to have gone to college for this or that because they took some electives at a junior college that had something to do with the major they were claiming they were there for.

I would think that the "electronic engineering" would have given it away though. I don't know any EEs that call it electronic engineering.