Hello Everyone,
As a Junior in high school who is struggling to choose what to apply for as my major this coming year, which do you think will be a more beneficial major choice for the career I am pursuing: Business or Engineering?
In my career, I want to move into management, due to the fact that I love to lead others and solve problems. I am very interested in business and engineering consulting, however, I’m not sure which major would be the best start to a career like this.
Perhaps then it would make sense to major in engineering and later seek an MBA?
I largely ask this question because I am interested in Penn, and the application processes for Wharton and the engineering school are very different.
Note: While money is great, I do not want to be working 80hr work weeks on wall street.
You do not have to choose.
Look into the Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Degree - it is a management degree tailored to high tech environments. It spans the two worlds. It was created because MBA’s were not meeting the needs of entrepreneurial tech companies. MEM is a better bridge to middle management in tech companies, MBA is more general degree that may have benefits if you get to upper level management.
These are the top schools for MEM programs (in alphabetical order) they are all members of a consortium called MEMPC
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Northwestern
Purdue
Tufts
USC
http://www.mempc.org/
I like the sequence of:
Engineering undergrad with a minor in Engineering Management
Get some work experience
Then decide on a full MEM or MBA
These are two highly regarded undergrad minor programs at Tufts, other MEMPC members may have similar undergrad programs.
http://gordon.tufts.edu/programs/engineering-management-minor/
http://gordon.tufts.edu/programs/entrepreneurial-leadership-program/
Good Luck!
Lehigh u has a program that too combines the two programs. I believe it is called IBE, integrated bus and Eng
You may want to explore industrial engineering & management science programs. GA Tech and Northwestern have two of the top programs.
Nobody can tell you which of those paths would be better for you – we have no idea of your particular talents, interests etc. I would take some time and look carefully at the coursework involved in each path (most colleges have an online course catalog) and see if one is more appealing to you than the other. Keep in mind it is not just a choice of engineering v business – there are many different paths to take within each of those very broad categories.
Many engineers go into management without needing a business degree.
But going from a business degree to work in engineering is much more difficult. Doing management of engineering organizations with no technical background may not be as effective.
You can apply to Wharton then decide later. Many Penn students have dual degree in business/economics/engineering. You can also switch out to Engineering later. But Wharton acceptance rate is lower. You can also take Wharton economics/business classes from Penn SEAS or Penn CAS. Penn programs for dual degree are very open.
https://www.college.upenn.edu/dual-degree
Other special Penn programs for dual degree are here:
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/academics/interdisciplinary-programs/earn-more-than-one-degree
If you cannot get into Wharton then take Math, Physics, and some engineering classes in the first two year then decide later.
I was in a similar situation to yours. Take the engineering undergrad, minor in mgmt or econ, then get the MBA. A business undergrad is not all that useful in what you want to do. If the school doesn’t offer official minors in those areas , you should be able to take your free electives in finance or econ or marketing and see how you like them. You’ll need the credibility that an engineering undergrad brings.
Explore the elite honors IBE program at Lehigh - https://ibe.lehigh.edu/
Conditional on being successful, it is almost certainly better to study engineering first and business later (via an MBA or the school of hard knocks). It is difficult, although not impossible, to be taken seriously in an engineering oriented business without a quantitative background. But, for a lot of students, it is somewhat easier to be a successful business student than a successful engineering student. So the choice is not blatantly obvious. The more obvious point is that, unless you are deeply hooked, it makes very little sense at this stage to organize your thoughts about the admissions policies of Penn, which is a lottery school for a 4.0/1600 applicant. And, if you haven’t done so already, you should start reading Dilbert comic strips, the entire 30-year (and growing) history is available at dilbert.com. There is no real world management situation, however outlandish, in an engineering oriented business that has not been described there. And it’s usually funny.
My son was in a similar situation. He was interested in both business and engineering with the idea of going into consulting.
My husband had done the engineering undergrad/MBA/consulting path so that was part of the college thought process. However, after some research and deliberation, my son chose to major in business. He is a junior at UIUC Gies, double majoring in Finance and Accounting and minoring in Technology and Management. He will be able to sit for the CPA exam and was able to do a (fun-filled) semester abroad. After his sophomore year he took a finance internship. This summer he will be doing a consulting internship after he returns from the T and M trip to China.
Anyway, we have no idea if choosing business over engineering was the better choice. But I will share what I know factored into his decision.
First, he figured he’d have to get 2-3 years of work experience, since the days of going straight through (like my husband did) are in the past. He attended an ‘Engineering as a Career’ presentation at our local community college in order to ‘get smarter’. He listened to engineers from various fields discuss what they do and respond to questions from the audience. His conclusion was although he could probably be an engineer, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be an engineer.
Second, he looked at the courses he would take and the skills he would hopefully acquire. Frankly, the business classes sounded more appealing.
Lastly, his older sister, who he respects, was majoring in business and was very enthusiastic about her experience. She graduated last year and is working as a consultant in Chicago.