I can also offer personal testament to the fact it is true, and very active in the US as well. I graduated, took the oath, and promptly forgot whatever the swearing in was and lost my ring (available for replacement with a nominal fee). Ultimately, to get the ring it comes down to anyone graduating, showing up for an hour lecture on doing your best (keeping the public safe, looking out for the welfare of others, doing honest work and not faking calculations or other things that may lead to legal or ethical problems), everyone stands up and does a boy scout type pledge, then you pick up your ring and head out to the real world. That's it - graduate, promise to do gooder, here's your ring.
I'd estimate only about 15% (at most) of the engineers who graduated actually went for the ring as well. Of the small group that got the ring, probably 2% were doing it because they were sincerely in belief of upholding the oath, and thereby adding a little more shine to their halo and one more line to their nightly prayers, Amen. The rest of us thought it would be one more networking tool for job hunting. Not the case. The majority of engineers in the real world, in my experience, who 'faked' the oath promptly stopped wearing their ring after they got a job, unless their boss wore one and went on and on about how great it is (Hallelujah!). I've seen a few engineers wear it, but they tend to be psuedo-engineers, ones who graduated then moved to sales or some other discipline and hope it carries a little weight with people in other departments or companies with which they have to interact - hoping it will increase their credibility (salesmen are bad about using any tactic available). The funny part is, only engineers really know what that damn ring means - nobody else gives a shit.
For the record, it is made of iron, to remind us of the materials we work with and the durability of our decisions (the impact on others, will it stand the test of time, etc). And it is worn on the pinky finger of the working hand (annoying as fuck, another reason it got removed quickly). Though these facts, and others, are covered in the wiki link jams provided.
i've never heard of this, but here in the UK, all Engineers have their personalities and social skills removed on graduation.
(i didn't graduate.
)
Nothing to remove, therefore just short of qualifying for graduation I take it?
