Hey guys,
I am looking at applying to some engineering schools (such as Princeton, UT, Georgia Tech, and A&M) this fall but I don’t know what major to choose. My main problem is that not many schools offer petroleum engineering so I would have to choose now rather than later because I wouldn’t be able to easily change in college.
A little bit about myself, I have a 34 ACT Comp (35 Superscore) along with a 4.0 unweighted GPA. I have also taken AP classes in calculus AB, physics 1 (alg based), and English this year; I got A’s in all subjects. I also have a summer job lined up at a small engineering firm this summer.
I want to get a PhD in an engineering field and then go to an ivy league school to get an MBA after that and hopefully be an executive at a fortune 500 company (long shot but you have to dream 
). My question is which one of those degrees would put me in the best position to reach my goal of being an executive?
In regards to Petroleum, I do not believe that it is dying or will be replaced in my lifetime. Oil rises and falls all of the time. I am not interested in to using current market conditions to make extremely long term decisions.
Thanks in advance!
why does a masters not make a difference?
Both degrees feed companies on the Fortune 500 list that have executives, so it’s really irrelevant which you pursue if the only goal is to someday be an executive.
Also, don’t waste your time on a PhD if you just want to later get an MBA and join the executive team. It would be a waste of time.
Why would it be a waste of time?
An engineering PhD isn’t going to add value for “an executive at a fortune 500 company”. PhDs hired by major corporations typically get stuck in the R&D ghetto. For non-research jobs, a PhD means years of lost income in school rather than earning.
An MBA is recommended AFTER you’ve worked several years. A student w zero real work experience has little to contribute to the business school classroom discussion.
You’re getting WAAAAAY ahead of yourself. I suggest you focus on getting into college first, before worrying about a PhD or MBA. To be an exec in engineering, an IVY degree doesnt matter. All the engineering execs at my company (a major multinational corporation) graduated from Big State U.
Executives don’t perform research. The point of a PhD is to learn how to perform research. It’s basically taking an extra 3 to 6 years after an MS earning a PhD that won’t contribute to your ultimate goal.
ok thanks for the help guys. Is there any other engineering majors that might do better at reaching my goals. I am pretty open to most engineering majors because I quite honestly have no clue what specialty I want to go into
Again, if your only goal is being an executive, it doesn’t really matter what type of engineering you study. That’s such an unlikely goal that draws people from all sorts of backgrounds.
The advantage of a generic mechE degree, rather than a specialized one like aerospace or petroleum, is that you can work in both those fields and more.