I'm (almost) in the same boat as EngineerErrant. I graduated in '07 with a BSME as well. Engineering 101 taught AutoCAD and Pro/E. However, I took Engineering Graphics 1 my freshman year of HS. The first half of the semester we actually learned board drafting. The second half, we moved to AutoCAD. Even then, I remember thinking to myself how much quicker and easier it was to use AutoCAD. I continued taking engineering/CAD classes, and I ended up getting an internship my junior year, and that's when I started using SolidWorks. So within my first 3 years of being in engineering classes I learned board drafting, AutoCAD and SolidWorks from scratch. I couldn't even imagine going back to AutoCAD at this point, let alone board drafting. I also agree with EE's final point... The ability to see what your designs ACTUALLY look like before spending the time/money to make them is almost worth the investment itself.