I graduated in 1988 (yes, an old fart in the technical world.) I am saddened, but not terribly surprised, to hear this.

I can't really say we put any effort into trying to catch people cheating. There may well have been people cheating madly when I was there, but I wasn't aware of it. The honor code was something that us arrogant engineering students were proud of. If that's no longer the case, that is truly sad.

The whole point of the Honor Code, IMHO, is that most people, when expected to act honorably, will do so. It sounds like you did. If it's now considered an anachronism that nobody believes in anymore, then nobody is really expected to follow it...just to not get caught. Also, it's worth mentioning that in my day, the honor code was a point of pride not just with the students, but faculty as well--and not just as a power-trip tool.

Don't let the bastards get you down. You're better off for doing it the right way, even though those around you didn't. The lame fucks who cheated their way through the program will have their karma cashed in when they go to work and suddenly don't know how to solve a problem on their own.

You really don't learn shit as an undergrad per se...what you get (if you do the work) is a toughened analytical mind that can later be trained on learning what you really need to know and solving real-world problems. I've run into graduates from other engineering/CS schools who, when confronted with a problem, couldn't solve it, then came back to me looking for the answer. They were then surprised to hear me say, "I don't know the answer. If I knew the answer, I would've already solved the problem. You're not in school anymore. You're an engineer now. It's your job to provide the answer."

If fixing the COE honor system is at the bottom of the to-do list, then it's already dead.

I think I'm going to drink heavily now. *sigh*