<p>Why exactly is EMS considered to be much less difficult than FE? I looked at the SEAS bulletin and the 1234 year tracks of the two majors seem to have mainly the same requirements. It seems to me that EMS actually has more requirements because of the 3-4 required management electives. Could someone please tell me explicitly why FE is such a challenging major while EMS is regarded as a joke sometimes??</p>
<p>Thanks </p>
<p>(I'm just a confused SEAS 2014 student and I haven't yet decided on my major; probably gonna be in IEOR)</p>
<p>Most likely because FE students are given priority over EMS students by most wall street companies. </p>
<p>But I am not sure why EMS is considered a “joke” (thus nicknamed Emergency Major Switch)… It seems like OR-EMS has similar requirement as OR and OR-FE majors.</p>
<p>exactly why i am confused…haha</p>
<p>bump i would also like to know</p>
<p>ems has slightly easier requirements, and is probably the easiest major in seas along with , industrial, civil and Earth & Environmental. The reason F.E. is considered hardcore is because you have to have a high gpa and do well in math/stat/compsci courses in order to get in and then when you take classes for f.e. only kids the competition is pretty stiff. The actual requirements aren’t all that different, but the f.e. students are probably on average smarter/harder working.</p>
<p>ohh i see. that kinda makes sense. so there’s a harder curve in all your classes i guess</p>
<p>FE students take the same core Operations Research and Industrial Engineering classes along with the rest of the majors. However, students studying FE cram 3 semesters of EMS into 2 semesters, with an additional class called Introduction to FE. (Bulletin 5th, 6th, and 7th semester for EMS) </p>
<p>Whereas, EMS gets easier in your senior year with management classes and electives, FE gets more difficult with more rigorous classes dealing with financial engineering such as pricing models for derivatives and asset allocation. Though the first several semesters may seem the same, FE students cram more classes into less time and pick up the pace going into senior year.</p>
<p>FE is also difficult because there’s an application process involved with it. The students who are accepted have good quantitative ability. Furthermore, you’ll need to separate Probability and Statistics into 2 separate courses covering each subject material as well as take ODE your 4th semester. The Probability and Statistics class that regular OR students take is much less rigorous than Probability and Statistics taken separately. These are 2 additional classes on your freshman and sophomore year that EMS students do not have.</p>
<p>EMS is considered a “joke” but it’s still significantly more difficult than the economics programs. Though it’s one of the easier engineering majors, it’s still quite rigorous.</p>
<p>I am somewhat surprised that none of you seem to have actually consulted the SEAS Bulletin. FE students do 4700 Intro to FE, 4307, Forecasting, 4407 Game Theory, 4620 Pricing Models, 4500 Applications Programming, 4630 Applied FE and 3412 Econometrics, all required. EMS only does two in 3rd and 4th yr that are different, 3010 Managerial Behavior, 4001, Design and Mgmt of Svcs.</p>
<p>EMS students have slightly more management electives, but they are all fluff. Moreover, most FE students, by virtue of high GPA, are on advanced track which means more requirements, higher level courses such as 4004, 4106, 4403 plus Math V2500.</p>
<p>In other words, differences between EMS and FE are not slight, they are substantial.</p>