<p>Alright, this has been bugging me for quite a while so please provide some insight if you've got any. Hopefully someone out there has had a similar situation.</p>
<p>I'm currently a rising sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill, hopefully set to double major in Business Admin (probably finance) and Mathematics (BA). I choose UNC over NC State (An engineering University for my purposes) mainly for prestige, but the business school at UNC is also pretty top-notch so I figured i'd do that and find something else as a kicker. UNC is a really great school and I really enjoy the student life. </p>
<p>The problem with this situation is that I'm not happy with the style of thinking I'm being exposed to in business. I've always been good at picturing something rigid (as in structural) in my head and figuring out the best way to make it a reality based on constraints, but I feel like the business classes I'm taking don't really fit my way of solving problems. In short, I'm not nearly as intellectually stimulated by business as I thought I would be. And math really sucks because we don't usually talk about the applications of what we're doing.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm looking for is advice as to whether it's worth it to stay at Carolina and do accounting/business admin and math, or do what I know I enjoy doing and transfer to NC State or someplace similar halfway through my sophomore year and do civil/mechanical engineering. I guess it's worth mentioning that i'm also loosely set on trying to go to law school if I stay at UNC.</p>
<p>Any advice from upperclassmen/graduates? Do accounting and mathematical theory get more interesting with higher level courses? Is engineering worth the switch in the long run? Is law school worth it in the long run?</p>
<p>If you think math really sucks, just wait until you have to take the math requirements for engineering majors like calc II for instance, or even physics or chem, where half the class will not pass. Engineering is tough and will probably require a lot more work than a business degree. That being said, if it is something that interests you and you are willing to put the necessary work forth, then go for it. An engineering degree is very versitile and can lead to many jobs that are not even in engineering. Engineers can work in business but business majors can not work in engineering.</p>
<p>I don’t really have much to offer, but I have researched both schools extensively. It was always my dream to go to UNC for chemistry, and I was ecstatic when I got the acceptance letter. However, (this was about a year ago…summer before senior year in high school) I started researching engineering and fell in love with the concepts and the challenge of it. I started looking at NCSU more and more. Even though it wasn’t my dream school, I picked it. They’ve since offered me a lot of opportunities (UHP related) and I haven’t even begun classes yet!</p>
<p>Honestly, I suggest (and take this with a grain of salt) switching to NCSU to pursue your undergrad in engineering. Since you have the attraction to UNC business as well, why not look into a MBA from there? Engineering BS + MBA is a popular and powerful combination. </p>
<p>I think ME76 said it well…“Engineers can work in business but business majors can not work in engineering.”</p>
<p>Good luck, and take a tour of NCSU’s engineering department if you haven’t already!</p>
<p>If you are a sophomore, you should be taking Calculus III and Physics II this coming fall for just about all of the engineering majors to be on schedule. Only with computer science you can be a semester behind in the Calculus & Physics and still be on schedule. Another thing with engineering is that you pretty much take courses in your major in your sophomore year.</p>
<p>Now if you are OK with doing 5 years or using a summer, ignore that last paragraph I typed.</p>
<p>Good advice yall, keep it coming if you’ve got something to say.</p>
<p>“Engineers can work in business but business majors can not work in engineering.”
I’ve heard that echoed so many times I’m starting to believe it haha. Thanks for reiterating it ME 76.</p>
<p>Yeah course credit really isn’t a big issue. I’ve already taken Multi-variable calculus (Calc III) and I’ve watched 25 or so video lectures on Linear Algebra through MIT OpenCourseware (Which is the **** by the way, google it if you’ve got a minute), so I’m not too intimidated by the upper-level math courses. I’ve also taken an entry-level computer science class at UNC and have credit for AP Physics. I’ve made sure I could keep my options open, I highly recommend all incoming freshmen do the same.</p>
<p>Beta_First, your a smarter man than I am. I always saw myself at UNC doing business but did my research and found out that engineering was really my best option. However, I fell into the “It’s a better school so you should go there” trap and pretty much just went because everyone I knew said I should. About halfway through last semester I started regretting that decision. Props for thinking for yourself and good luck next year!</p>
<p>So, assuming I decide to transfer to NC State (Which is really my only option as far as I’m aware of), does anyone have experience with the transfer process? Is it painful? Advice/experience would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Also, can anyone recommend any other smaller engineering schools in or around NC?</p>
<p>I don’t know what you consider around NC, but some schools to look at are Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Maryland. These are not small schools but they are pretty good.</p>
<p>So if you want to transfer you wanna do it after fall semester or after sophomore year, right? I think taking Differential Equations before you do it and seeing if you like it would be a good idea because it’s very pivotal in engineering. Though I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with it since your major is mathematics after all.</p>
<p>Differential Equations was quite possibly my most useless math class, and I think that basing interest in engineering off it would not be a good idea. The likelihood of spending a substantial amount of time solving differential equations is unlikely, solving them numerically is much more likely. That is, if you work with differential equations at all.</p>
<p>From what I understand, and I may be wrong. You are looking to work as a design engineer after you graduate. Therefore consider transferring and changing to engineering - Only if you take the necessary steps so that when you graduate, you WILL have an engineering DESIGN job. Many or most engineering jobs are NOT in design, instead more or less entail many of the characteristics of a jobs a business major would do. </p>
<p>You are in an ENGINEERING forum, and many here would say that an engineering degree is of course more beneficial to you over a business degree. While I think that it is true that an engineers can work in business but business majors can not work in engineering. You may find plenty of civil or mechanical engineers working at Boeing, for example. However, what is the chance you will find a civil or mechanical engineer at Microsoft or Google. Whereas, there are plenty of business majors at Microsoft, Google, AND Boeing.</p>
<p>Yep CASE is looking like what I’m going to do. I spoke with the Biomedical engineering Undergrad Director yesterday and I’ve decided to take that rout. Taking intro chem, physics, and bio classes next year and summer is going to be a ***** but at least I’ll be working towards something I’ll enjoy. If I understand correctly, the biomedical engineering department is actually more of a subsidy of the med school than the Engineering dept, although they cant formally say so because the med school doesn’t like to hand out undergraduate degrees or something like that.</p>