Econ/Political Science or Econ/OR?

<p>Which one of these is more desirable for someone who wants to become a management consultant? (I am generally better in Math than English).</p>

<p>OR, definitely.</p>

<p>Although, I was in SEAS and majored in Applied Math, and now i'm quite happy as a management consultant. Really, what they want is innovative, analytical thinking, and agile verbal skills ("professionalism" in its many flavors). But PoliSci isn't going to help you at all with developing any of that, and OR might, to some small degree.</p>

<p>Thanks Denzera</p>

<p>My choices are as follow:
1) Econ/OR
2) Econ/Math or just Econ
3) Econ/Political Science or Econ/Math or Econ depending on my 2nd choice</p>

<p>Hi! Steve. Been playing by ear to hop in someone applied math majored.
What's your underlying idea choosing such major, and not OR nor FE (u'grad program).</p>

<p>first of all, there was no FE program until this year.</p>

<p>second of all, the IEOR department is kinda looked upon by the rest of SEAS as a bunch of lightweights. The EMS major certainly deserves that reputation. There are a few things about OR that interested me, and I wish I could've taken some of those classes, but i'd say 90% of the kids are below the average skill level of SEAS, and are just trying to coast their way into a wall street job.</p>

<p>The other side of the story for me is that I happen to be really good at math and sciency things, and taking applied math allowed me to coast relative to other people... I didn't have to go to class, I just had to flip through some textbooks, knock out some problem sets, and show up for tests. At a certain point in math education, everything "clicks" and every class becomes equally easy, you just plow right through it. In a sense, me selecting that major was me gaming the system, but it got the job done with some pretty good grades.</p>

<p>Thanks Steve. People come to CU/SEAS in hope of it as a springboard to NYU job recruits, I guess. With the enrolling student stats, they could have matriculated at top ten tech schools, were they interested in real engineering jobs after college. IEOR study path does seem fit with this career motive, isn't it?</p>

<p>Tell me, would you have taken FE as a major of your choice were FE program made available during your soph/junior years? Or you would still called applied math as your personal fit. How do you envisage the FE program, so to speak?</p>

<p>Correction:
"...for NYC job recruite."
Apologies!</p>

<p>Not having taken it, my impression is that FE is essentially IEOR with fancier, specific tailoring towards wall street jobs after graduation. You probably come out knowing more about how to price derivatives but less about how to manage a factory.</p>

<p>There was a time I considered OR - because the optimization and stochastic modeling they do is legitimately cool to me - but I think I would've ended up in Applied Math regardless. I would've been OK building bridges or optimizing a company's processes, but probably not doing hours upon hours of CAD work and materials labs. So in the end, I chose the major that let me avoid getting my hands dirty, and furthermore served as proof that I can think abstractly.</p>

<p>Wait, are you saying that OR makes your hands dirty? I don't get this. I thought OR was more like computer work and calculations. Also, would you suggest Econ/Math over Econ/OR for management consultant?</p>

<p>No, OR is more like what you say.</p>

<p>I'd say there's probably little difference between econ/math and econ/OR in terms of preparation and skill development, but econ/math will look more impressive to most prospective employers if you can handle the abstract theory involved.</p>

<p>Math (Calculus and linear programming) complements econ analysis and modeling. Statistics (econometrics) complements econ research and forecasting. Econ/Stat would be a good combination for business and future business school prep.</p>

<p>Would current FE students voice their ideas having ventured into such rigorous field?</p>