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Its happening already - parents are pouring their kids into law schools, engineering programs are collapsing.

Let's see what the stats say:

Engineering on the Rise: Engineering Degrees More Popular Now

Atlanta (September 8, 2003) — Across the nation, engineering is gaining in popularity at all degree levels and bachelor’s degrees could be on their way to surpassing the 70,000 mark last reached in 1988, according to a recent survey by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

The ASEE reports bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2001-2002 increased 3.4 percent to 67,301, marking the third year of growth nationally at the undergraduate level. Overall, bachelor’s degrees increased by 7.9 percent since the 1998-1999 academic year.

The latest enrollment figures show the upward trend continues at Tech. In the 2003 fiscal year, 1,286 bachelor degrees were awarded in engineering. Tech’s strengths in its undergraduate recruitment program have led to the Institute’s status of being the largest producer of engineers in the country. In turn, that’s helped the College of Engineering maintain its focus on quality and diversity, rather than quantity, said Narl Davidson, associate dean of engineering.

The ASEE study found that growth in undergraduate degrees is not consistent across the disciplines. For example, in the past three years, biomedical degrees nationally jumped 49 percent at the bachelor’s level, while chemical engineering degrees decreased by 11 percent. Electrical and computing engineering bachelor’s degrees rose 18 percent.

The ASEE confirms this growth trend continued through 2004... The Year In Numbers

Law School Application Trends...(Data from LSAC Reports, 1989-2005)

From about 1994 through 2000, the number of applications to U.S. law schools was fairly constant. In 2001, however, there was a large increase in the applicant pool -- about 10% nationally. This increase was not evenly distributed across law schools; some had increases of nearly 50%, while a few had a slight decrease. In 2002, the increases, and the extremes of variance, were even greater. In 2003 there was an increase in apps, but law schools were better at dealing with it, so there was less chaos. In 2004 there was a slight downturn, which seems to be continuing in 2005.

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So, you were saying?

“Our undergraduate enrollments have grown in the past two years due to the success of the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program at the GT-Savannah campus and due to the recruiting efforts of the Women-in-Engineering program here in Atlanta,” Davidson said.

Hey, not to mention the Chinese nationals, Indian nationals, Arab nationals and others who comprise the majority on most such program rosters, due, in part, to unwritten but well known university social policies against our men.

...tell you what. In about six years, the first of many young US men will be ready to test out of most major undergrad classes (I know, that isn't allowed with major classes due to the racket) in defense-related hard sciences (math, software, physics,...). The first of a few women who are aiming at the same will be there, too, with lots of generalized animosity against feminism.

And US contractors will use 'em or lose 'em (by full immigration, if necessary) to more socially conservative clients elsewhere. Information is cheap now, and most US corporates are more loyal to current social anarchy than they are to our country.

The ASEE numbers are for the 2002 academic year. The more recent Taulbee Survey numbers, as quoted in the more recent Mercury News article, show a 19% decline in enrollment in a single year (2004). (And I suggest that you read the Mercury article, and stop whining about registration sites, since bugmennot.com will fix that). BTW, did you note from your own study that 57% of all engineering Ph.Ds were awarded to foreign students?

Is the rest of your data this stale? Perhaps you don't work in "high tech", and are therefore unaware of the fact that the vast majority of venture capital, which used to fund high tech innovation here in the US, has been going to China and India during the past five years?