[codeonfire]

Wealthy as in never have to work again wealthy, i.e. greater than $10 million personal net worth? If so I'd like to meet some of those people. The thing about research oriented degrees is that for the last few centuries wealthy people studied those things for status reasons. They were part of royal societies and the more time spent making esoteric discoveries, the more they displayed wealth and leisure. Engineering, though, is usually about applying things that are already known. So if there is someone who is set for life that has gone through an engineering program then they are not doing it for wealth, sustenance, or status. They must really like engineering.