...for today's students

Please don't lose all hope for the engineers of tomorrow.

I am 17 and applying to read a masters degree in mechanical engineering.

I have been reading The Engineer since I was about 15. Almost every issue comments on how there are not enough students applying to read engineering and work in the industry, but I want to reassure people that we are around. perhaps we are an increasingly rare breed, but we're watching, waiting, and itching to take over. So don't lose all hope just yet.

I remember recently, in response to a letter 'Causing a stir' about the most efficient way to make a cup of coffee, one reader angrily wrote: 'Why are we discussing the best method of mixing a cup of coffee, when we are trying to encourage the engineers of the future to take up the profession?'

I wasn't put off by this discussion and leave readers with this thought. Why do factory-made hamburgers go from round to oval when cooked, but home-made hamburgers stay round? Perhaps another young reader can answer this?

Dave Hayden, by email