<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I am pretty interested in Columbias Combined Plan Program(engineering), and I am going to apply for it in the end of this year. How is the operation research study in Columbia? Is there any one who knows it or has already studied there?</p>
<p>Hundreds of thanks~</p>
<p>OR is pretty good. It’s basically applied math, with some comp sci and a bit of engineering thrown in there. It’s fairly common to pair up OR with something like Economics or even Statistics.</p>
<p>Hey I want to try to do the 3+2 program too for OR (financial engineering) is it possible to do it in 4 years if you work really hard?</p>
<p>OR as a degree is quite useful, given its numerous applications. OR as it is implemented at Columbia is not great. For one, the professors rarely care about teaching the class and many courses are poorly taught. You’ll need to teach yourself most of the material, since lectures aren’t useful at all. However, TA’s and 1-1 office hours can clear up many issues.</p>
<p>Overall, poor quality in teaching and the rigor of the material make it difficult to extract the maximum value from OR. I’d recommend Applied Mathematics or Computer Science.</p>
<p>Why AM or CS? The classes in those majors are at best peripherally related to OR. In AM you learn about formulating analytical/numerical solutions to math problems; in order to get the “business” applications you would have to take Econ/OR classes anyway. You also have to take a lot of hard and less useful/applied stuff in AM that you won’t have to take in OR, such as Complex Variables, Dynamical Systems, PDE, Numerical Methods and Modern Analysis. Even if the teaching quality is lower in IEOR, does that make up for having to take these hard theoretical classes in AM?</p>
<p>(Lots of people have encouraged me to do math in order to sharpen my mind, train myself to think rigorously, etc. but when you’re going into junior year recruiting with a 3.6, do you really want to be taking hard theoretical math classes?)</p>
<p>@jamescchen, r u a student go by this program in Columbia now? Do u know any information about these students after graduation? Is it hard to find jobs? and wut types of jobs are they going to do? or they go to grads school directly?</p>
<p>@BernieMadoff, It is impossible to finish ur work in 4 years. I emailed admission office last year, and they said it is mandatory for students to stay in their home school for 3 years, and then transfer to Columbia. thx</p>
<p>@beard tax, I think AM is more theoretical, and the courses are harder. I prefer to find jobs rather than going to grads school directly. so do u think which major should I choose?</p>
<p>@Jasica</p>
<p>What kind of jobs are you looking for? Operations Research isn’t a major that has a ton of jobs out there, especially at a school like Columbia. If you’re looking to go into finance, then Applied math will serve just as well as OR. The classes may be a bit harder, but there are going to be way fewer of them and you’ll have better instruction and more flexibility to take other courses that interest you.</p>
<p>@beard tax</p>
<p>I am looking to go into finance, such as IB.
do u know any ur friends who graduated in OR? What are they going to do now?</p>
<p>Thx again~</p>
<p>As it turns out, I was an OR major at Cornell (BS). OR majors can go in many different directions. My first job out of college was in IB pricing mortgage bonds (the same ones that ended up destroying the economy in 2008), and I ended up hating it. So I went back to grad school and got my MS in OR at Berkeley. I ended up going into econometrics. One long lasting job was to set prices for the phone company. That was really interesting work. Other OR classmates of mine at Cornell and Berkeley have ended up in all types of businesses from manufacturing (Caterpillar Corp) to transportation (United Airlines). One classmate of mine from Cornell is a mission specialist at the Jet Propulsion Labs in CA. She plans space missions.</p>
<p>How hard is it for <em>international</em> students to receive Financial Aid for the 3-2 program?</p>
<p>If say, I have big need, but I keep my GPA even above what Columbia requests, and have good recs, would that give me some kind of an edge?</p>
<p>Can anyone with experience answer this? And how hard is it to get into FEngineering outside of Columbia (through the 3-2 program)?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot in advance!</p>
<p>@dakilica, u cannot apply for FE directly, since I just emailed the admission office.</p>
<p>Then how exactly do you enter FE through the 3+2?</p>
<p>If you can’t apply directly, how then 
?</p>
<p>@dakilica, you should apply for FE after finishing ur first sememster at Columbia.</p>
<p>Finishing what at Columbia? </p>
<p>I mean, what do I major in during the first semester - if you know what I mean?</p>
<p>@dakilica, he does not tell me about which majors. I am not sure.SRY</p>
<p>What you have to major in should have been explained in combined plan instruction published at your school. For my school it’s math/phy/cs/etc something science. Though it’s not mandatory for you to decide everything at your first semester, it’s better if you could start to plan for finishing your major’s requirements while taking all kinds of classes to finish 3+2 requirements. (Since for my school, 3+2 plan requires same displines of courses as a regular graduation, not sure about other schools).</p>
<p>Hopefully you will get there.</p>