<p>I know there have been threads about going over 4 years, but this seems a little different. Right now I'm on track to finish up an ECE BS in 7 semesters by taking 17 credits next semester and 15-16 for the next 4. Originally, I figured I'd just do this (take about 3 ECE courses and one elective a semester) and get out a bit early, maybe start work early or, if that's not possible, take some time off, volunteer or something for a few months. </p>
<p>But, with this plan, I'd really only have 2 electives that could be nontechnical left (the other 2 would have to be technical but outside of ECE) without taking 18-19 credits a semester (which I could probably do but it would be less comfortable, if you know what I mean). I love so many different areas of study (already two of my favorite classes have been in government and sociology/economics) and it seems crazy to pass up the opportunity to take tons of courses I want to take just to broaden my horizons. Of course I don't know exactly what I want to do yet, but I've been thinking I'd maybe like to do something less technical and apply my engineering knowledge/skills in an interdisciplinary way upon graduation (working as a technology analyst for the CIA, for example; or maybe a finance job as a technology analyst). Could I justify taking out what amounts to an unnecessary extra $20-25k in loans for that last semester (basically taking 2 ECE classes and 2 or even 3 electives most semesters for my last 5 semesters) to take an extra 5-6 classes in subjects like government, history, economics, finance, or math that simply interest me? Could this make me a more attractive candidate for jobs as a government analyst on foreign (or domestic even) technological developments that impact our nation or as a financial analyst (I hate to say investment banker, but that seems like the place everyone has to start)?</p>
<p>Also, while we're on this, does anyone have any other career suggestions? Consulting of some sort obviously looks interesting but extremely hard to break into right out of undergrad (at least what people say). And does anyone know how hard it would be for an engineer from Cornell to break into government analytic positions? I've heard they are very sought after but do they attract a lot of candidates from schools like MIT (IE, a notch above Cornell) that I'd be competing with?</p>
<p>The way I see it is that you are unsure of what exactly you want to do with your degree. I think an "extra" semester is needed so that you can see which of your interests you can practically pursue without it being unreasonable. I think taking an overload (19 or so credits) just to graduate a semester early is a bit much, especially when you are thinking of areas that are somewhat outside of engineering. Also, I'm assuming you will have your senior design project that semester, which will require dozens of hours of work each week, it may become too much to have that design course with everything else you need to finish up that semester. I think taking that semester will really help you sort things out.</p>
<p>As far as CIA jobs go, I would try a summer internship with them after you graduate. That is, assuming you are going on to grad school, you can test out that opportunity the summer before you start grad school. I hear it's very competitive to land those CIA/NSA jobs, but I'm not really sure.</p>
<p>Gator, thanks for the input. That's what I've been leaning towards at this point (the reason I'm thinking about this so early is so I can start on my more diverse schedule and space out my ECE courses nicely). I mean, I either have a chance to come out early with a very similar set of courses to everyone out of Cornell ECE (and most other schools too) or to sort of distinguish myself by having taken 8-10 courses in any subjects I want. That many extra courses sounds like a lot for only 1 extra semester but I could easily handle 18 credits/semester if 6-9 of those were in the form of 2-3 3-credit liberal arts classes. I still don't know how that will be looked upon by employers (taking only 2-3 engineering classes a semester) but I'd think I could spin that pretty well (in that I want to work in something that's highly interdisciplinary).</p>
<p>The CIA has an undergraduate 2 summer analyst internship that I'm going to apply for this fall, hopefully that will work out. The State Dept. has a lot of internships too but they are all unpaid. Haven't looked into the DIA, DoD, or NSA yet. I don't plan on going to grad school right away (at least at this point - that of course could change).</p>
<p>On a similar note, does anyone know of any other jobs that have "analysts" for different things (where I'd apply my ECE knowledge to larger problems rather than actually designing things)? Finance and intelligence is all I really know of right now but I'm sure there are others.</p>
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I still don't know how that will be looked upon by employers (taking only 2-3 engineering classes a semester) but I'd think I could spin that pretty well (in that I want to work in something that's highly interdisciplinary).
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<p>I don't think you should worry about how employers look at taking 2-3 engineering courses for a semester. I know plenty of people who only take 3 engineering courses per semester and thus graduate in 5, sometimes even more, years. I also know plenty of people that start the semester with 4 courses (which is average here), but end up dropping a course, so they equivalently take only 3 courses that semester. Companies recruit pretty well at UF and they, quite frankly, don't seem to mind that people are graduate in 4+ years while taking small loads. You having to do it for one semester, because it's necessary, will not be an issue at all imo. What's the alternative? Taking an extra 2 unnecessary engineering courses, you might as well just have graduated a semester early. </p>
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On a similar note, does anyone know of any other jobs that have "analysts" for different things (where I'd apply my ECE knowledge to larger problems rather than actually designing things)? Finance and intelligence is all I really know of right now but I'm sure there are others.
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<p>Finance and intelligence are more than enough for opportunities, that's a gigantic market. The other thing you may be able to do is something law related. And I'm not just talking about patent law (I doubt you want to do that), but the high-profile law areas such as criminal prosecution/defense, corporate law, international law, etc. The idea being is the way you approach a large engineering problem is analogous to approaching a complicated legal issue. They both demand similar thinking and problem solving. That sounds pretty far fetched, but I learned about this in a freshman engineering course where the professor was quite persuasive that it's true. He gave examples of some of his former students who went on to have great legal careers although their background was in engineering. In his opinion, majoring in engineering gave them an edge. Engineers turned lawyers are probably a small minority, but it may be something you're interested in. Or, you can just become a professional poker player and use your skills that way (which is what my math major friend did -- dropped out college, for now, and is making huge money in Vegas).</p>
<p>I have thought about law - I don't want to be anywhere near criminal prosecution/defense but I'm sort of interested in corporate law. And yeah, patent law seems boring and nitpicky as hell, haha. The only thing that turned me off from law in general is that it seems like it takes so long to finally start doing something interesting (IE, practicing law).</p>