<p>TL;DR at the bottom!!!</p>
<p>I'm typing on my iPhone, so excuse me for any mistakes I may make.</p>
<p>So the title seems misleading, but I get it got your attention. Let me just state my story.</p>
<p>After taking AP Chemistry my junior year, I became interested in the chemistry field. So I applied for an intern at a large chemical company my senior year. I started over the summer after junior year, and worked part time all through my senior year. Now, over the summer, I'm working full time. </p>
<p>So I'm pursuing this possible interest, but I find out chemistry majors don't make that much... Unless you're premed of course, but that's not me. Even at the phd level, there's just not a ton of many in it. </p>
<p>And I'm not going to lie, that's a huge driving force for me considering my background. So then I began to research what chemical engineers did. So for the longest time, I wanted to be a chemical engineer.</p>
<p>So I applied to the university of Kentucky for chemical engineering. Well, it turns out I only got $1500 in scholarships per year and no grants.</p>
<p>So I decided on a small liberal arts school in Kentucky called Centre College. They're giving me $17k per year in merit scholarships, $8k per year in grants, $2k in work study, and the rest is covered in outside scholarhips, student loans and some out of pocket from my parents. In the end, it was going to be a lot less expensive to go to Centre that has a sticker of $44k per year.</p>
<p>So engineering was kind of out considering it's a small liberal arts school... So I started reading about other majors and career paths.</p>
<p>Finally I set myself on a major they have called financial economics. One of the professors explained it as an economic major with accounting and finance courses thrown it. A bit more rigorous and marketable.</p>
<p>So I was reading what I could do with this major. Side note - even before, when I wanted to do engineering, I still wanted to get my MBA. That's something that hasn't changed. So I read I could do corporate finance, investment banking, management consulting, etc. while I found interest in all of these schools, I also found out that the finance industry is based off of prestige, unlike engineering.</p>
<p>So I was planning on making good grades, decent extracurriculars, and a **** ton of internships. With my foot already in the door with internships, it's something I feel pretty comfortable with. My main goal at this point was to get into a top 20 MBA program and go from there.</p>
<p>But then, I found a hidden jewel, I guess you could say. Centre has a 3-2 engineering program affiliated with Columbia, Vanderbilt, Washington st Louis, and university of Kentucky. For those of you who don't know, you go to your liberal art school for 3 years for your pre engineering classes, then finish up at an affiliated school for your engineering courses.</p>
<p>And apparently Columbia has a guaranteed admissions process with the affiliated schools they work with in the 3-2 program. From what I understand, you have to maintain an overall and engineering gpa of either 3.0 or 3.3 in your first three years, take all the required classes, get 3 recommendations, and you're in. And if you don't meet the requirements you can still apply. Here's the link where it says this:</p>
<p>It seems too good to be true though. Columbia is a target school, and wall street likes quants such as engineering. And it's in New York city... We took our senior trip there, and I know this sounds cliche, but I felt so at home there... There's so much to life there, and it's the finance capital of the world...</p>
<p>So I'm stuck. Should I do the 3-2 program, hopefully I would get in, or should I do the financial economics? Either way I want to get a "bridge" job after graduation to get into a top 20 MBA program. I know with Columbia I would have way more opportunities for a career start that MBA programs would favor.</p>
<p>Oh and with my parents income, $69k, I would get a great deal at Columbia. If my mom divorced, which she says she's going to do for the last few years, I'm sure I could go there for free...</p>
<p>But yeah, kudos to you for reading this far! I'm at a major crossroad, and I need advice from people who for the most part know what they're talking about.</p>
<p>TL;DR : Should I do the 3-2 engineering program with my liberal arts college and transfer to Columbia for a finance headed career? Or should I stay at my liberal arts college and major in financial economics and hope to get job opportunities for my future MBA that I know I wouldn't get with the Columbia degree?</p>