<p>Hello,
I am a Junior in High School that is FILLED with questions right now. I have n idea of what I ant to be but I don't know how to make the best out of it. I want to own my own business because it has many opportunities to yield great wealth. I'm not a gold digger but I'm obviously attracted by higher salary opportunities. However, I have read a lot about engineering degrees and how they are some of the best degrees to take, sometimes better than business. I don't understand this since they would be working for owners of a particular business and making less money than them right? I am interested in both business and engineering and my best skills are in math and being analytical so how could I go about this? What would be the best path to take? Is a bachelor's degree in business worth it? What would be better, just getting a bachelors degree in business and nothing more, how much opportunity would that offer? What if I planned to get and MBA? would a bachelor's degree in business combined with and MBA be good, or would a bachelor's degree in a field of engineering + an MBA be better? Would the higher cost of this education be worth it? What about economics, finance, or investment? If in the end of the day, I want to be a successful business executive, which would be the best way to go about this? Thanks.</p>
<p>Have a look at this:
[Majors</a> That Pay You Back ? PayScale College Salary Report 2012-13](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/majors-that-pay-you-back]Majors”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/majors-that-pay-you-back)</p>
<p>This is self-reported data, and it only includes data on college graduates with terminal bachelors degrees (no higher degrees). So the data won’t be 100% complete and accurate. </p>
<p>However, it does represent a large data sample. One pattern I think you can trust is that the highest-ranking majors are almost all in pure/applied science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The job market rewards smart people who understand how complicated stuff works.</p>
<p>Notice that Business ranks 63rd for mid-career salaries. Keep in mind that many of the most selective schools (most of the Ivies for example) do not offer business majors. So, many very talented, highly motivated students won’t even have that option. </p>
<p>Notice, too, that although Business majors get higher starting pay than some of the liberal arts majors (Philosophy, Classics, etc.), by mid-career the liberal arts majors earn more. </p>
<p>Here’s a profile of F500 CEOs you might find interesting:
[Where</a> the Fortune 500 CEOs Went to School - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/articles/2012/05/14/where-the-fortune-500-ceos-went-to-school]Where”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/articles/2012/05/14/where-the-fortune-500-ceos-went-to-school)</p>
<p>Several colleges in that table (Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia) don’t have undergraduate business majors.</p>
<p>I’ve read both of those articles and this is a reason I feel that an engineering bachelor’s degree would open more opportunity than a business one. But what about when you add an MBA to each of those (either engineering or business)? Which provides more opportunity for success?</p>
<p>I’m an engineer, and I would advise you only to go into engineering if that’s what you want to do for your career. Engineering is only rarely a path to the type of upper management that interests you. If you do take that path, you will want to transition from actual engineering to something like technical sales or project management very early in your career, in order to have a chance at those types of opportunities.</p>
<p>[Center</a> on Education and the Workforce](<a href=“http://cew.georgetown.edu/whatsitworth/]Center”>What’s It Worth?: The Economic Value of College Majors - CEW Georgetown)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/653932-why-mba-after-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/653932-why-mba-after-engineering.html</a></p>