<p>hello, I am in my senior year in high school and still find myself struggling to decide what I want to major in at college. I have already applied and have been accepted to all of my top schools (school of mines, CU, Montanna state) but don't know if I want to got into engineering or business.</p>
<p>I love both subjects and want to be in management down the road, but from what I've heard business degress don't teach students a lot of important skills required to progress in the work place. I've also read that a lot of CEO's had degrees in engineering and worked their way up. So what's the best way to get into management, a business degree or a engineering degree with a possible MBA later? Thanks in advance</p>
<p>See if you can dual enroll. I have a friend majoring in german and engineering with a plan to get her MBA and work for an automotive engineer. There are a lot of doors for someone who is multi faceted. </p>
<p>If you want to get a management job at a tech company, having an engineering degree would probably open more doors than a business degree would. Getting an MBA at a later time is certainly an option to consider, but you would want to have a few years of work experience first. </p>
<p>If you don’t care about being a manager at a tech company, and are OK with any type of company, a business degree might be better. </p>
<p>Personally, I think that if you are interested in both, you should start out in an engineering program and see how you like it. If you find that you don’t like it, you can easily transfer to business, and probably still graduate on time. The converse is not true - if you start in business school and decide later to transfer to engineering, it will definitely take extra time to graduate.</p>
<p>Thank you for reply’s. While i am more interested in a science related field like biomedical than tech, I hope still think aquiring a stronger base knowledge of what the company does would help me. Do you think a minor in business while getting an engineering degree would be useful if I was still planning to get an MBA later?</p>
<p>Definitely get an engineering/science degree. The people who end up running tech companies are the ones who have a background in the field. As someone who’s worked in the oil and gas industry, you see the same thing here, you cant expect to be a CEO of a major company if you don’t actually understand what your company does. That being said, an MBA is definitely a great way to make that transition from technical work to management.</p>
<p>The best way to go is a degree in your industry of choice (biomedical engineering?), with a good introduction to Finance. If you can, do a joint BS/MBA degree. You will be in really good shape.</p>
<p>Note that MBAs have a culture/flavor. For example, Harvard leans towards preparing you to run large multinational enterprises, rather than small entrepreneurial ventures, though you would have the tools for either when you graduate. Look carefully at programs and try to match their strengths to what you want out of the program (just as you would for undergraduate).</p>
<p>Usually I advise to start in Engineering if on the fence. Often the Engineering courses can transfer to another major, but not vise verse. However there is a caveat. Check if the business school has a GPA requirement for transferring in. Often freshman engineers (especially those that don’t like it) have a low GPA. </p>
<p>My guess it that CU would be a better fit for a student not laser focused on engineering. But if you are considering Mines, look into the MacBride honors program. <a href=“http://mcbride.mines.edu/”>http://mcbride.mines.edu/</a> - "The McBride Honors Program has the feel of a small liberal arts college – right here, in the heart of one of the foremost science and engineering universities. Nurturing the full potential of CSM students, the program develops core skills in effective communication, problem solving, leadership, and critical thinking – all while exploring the world in all its complexity. " </p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your input. It’s hard to know the best path to take in college as a high schooler who hasn’t experienced it yet, but your advice has given me confidence in the engineering route and I’m happy to say I just comitted to CU’s engineering school.</p>
Enjoy your senior year. </p>