<p>I don't want to be just an engineer forever. I'm more interested in management positions at engineering companies.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about going into an engineering major for undergrad and then getting a MBA in graduate school.. </p>
<p>Is the MBA worth it? How much effect would it have on starting salaries and job opportunities?</p>
<p>get your engineering degree first, then we talk</p>
<p>But to answer your question, it really depends based on your field, experience, etc. so many factors</p>
<p>But in general, an MBA will really help you especially for engineering, as companies want those are technical as well as those who know business. With around 5 years experience, an engineering degree, and an MBA from good schools (not Ivies, but decent ones) i would say salaries go 110K + !</p>
<p>As for job opportunities, it really depends, so many factors based on what kind of engineering and location, but in a general sense i would say there are good job opportunities</p>
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<p>Technical management is hard to predict because most companies promote internally. There are many engineers that work in technical roles, leave to get an MBA, then come back and work in that same technical role (minus 2 years of experience).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get an MBA unless it’s at night from a good school (paid for by the company, of course), or unless you want to leave the technical management ladder (move to sales, finance, product management, etc).</p>
<p>An MBA is worth it but you must get it from a prestigious university. Getting an MBA from any random xyz college is useless and won’t do anything for you.</p>
<p>tmt64, take a look at Drexel’s undergraduate Business and Engineering Program. It may be the program just for you ==> <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/680451-drexels-business-engineering-major-unique-prestigious.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/680451-drexels-business-engineering-major-unique-prestigious.html</a></p>
<p>The thing is that both of my parents are engineers. However, as engineers, their salaries are pretty much capped at the mid 100k’s. Personally I want to earn more than that. My parents tell me about their managers who barely knows anything about engineering and spend their days walking around doing nothing, but manage to earn much more than my parents. Therefore, they don’t really want me to work as an engineer all my life. But ironically, they want me to major in engineering, pursue something else in graduate school, get a few years of work experience, and either enter a high position or do something on my own. They don’t want me to major in management stuff because no one is gonna hire a university graduate with nothing but management knowledge. The engineering major will help me land a management job in the engineering field. However, I’m not sure if an engineering degree and a MBA is a good combo though. From these responses, it sounds like even with a MBA i’ll probably still end up working as an engineer? </p>
<p>Even though I’ve already been accepted as an engineering major at my colleges, I’m considering changing it to something in the business field.</p>
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<p>You realize that it’s not a unique program, right? Most major engineering schools have similar programs.</p>
<p>GP Burdell, actually, it is very unique. There are only a handful of colleges in the united states that have JOINT UNDERGRAD business and engineering degrees. (note the uppercase joint and undergrad… meaning not a minor, and not a combined MBA) Feel free to list schools that have similar programs if you wish to prove yourself right. Lehigh and Penn have similar ones that I know of although Drexel’s has been well established since the 1920s.</p>
<p>Michigan. Engineering Global Leadership through the Tauber Institute. Places 60% into strat consulting and the rest into management engineering position
CMU Computation Finance.
All the undergrad schools that offer financial engineering.</p>
<p>and how do you relate the word prestige with drexel?</p>
<p>Stanford has a program. So does Georgia Tech. I didn’t even think of computational finance, but that’s true. I’m sure I could pull more, but those were just off the top of my head.</p>
<p>stanford’s MS&E …how could i forget about that lol</p>
<p>Based on what you are talking about the most lucrative path would be:</p>
<ol>
<li>Major in engineering (get as good of grades as possible)</li>
<li> Work in an engineering role for 3 to 4 years (making more money than most recent college grads make)</li>
<li> Return to a top school to get your MBA. (top 20 at least…the higher the better)</li>
<li> Get a job at a top 10 strategy consulting firm (starting salary currently around 120k, signing bonus 40k, relo bonus 10k, with lots of room for advancement)</li>
</ol>
<p>This is best case scenario and not necessarily an easy task. Working at a strategy consulting company is not easy nor for everyone.</p>
<p>That does sound really nice… What possible positions can I get at strategy consulting firms?</p>
<p>You would work at the associate level as a strategy consultant. I’m sure all of the top strategy consulting firms have ample information on this (example firms: Mckinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz & Company, Deloitte, Oliver Wyman).</p>
<p>From Mckinsey’s website:</p>
<p>“Associates lead a key portion of an engagement. They apply a broad range of creative problem-solving skills, combining technical and analytical excellence. They synthesize conclusions into recommendations and work directly with senior leaders to implement change. Associates have to develop foundational knowledge across each of the basic functions (e.g., strategy, organization, and finance). Because the starting point for each associate entering McKinsey varies, so will the mix of client exposure and more formal training needed to build capabilities. Generally, most associates identify an area of real interest in their third year and focus on learning more.”</p>
<p>source: [url=<a href=“http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/is_mckinsey_right_for_me/roles_and_career_paths.aspx]Roles”>http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/is_mckinsey_right_for_me/roles_and_career_paths.aspx]Roles</a> and career paths | McKinsey Careers<a href=“click%20mba%20tab”>/url</a></p>
<p>Would the engineering knowledge be useful for this job at all?</p>
<p>engineering could honestly get you any job in the business world except maybe marketing and accounting. Investment banks, management/strategy consulting, venture capital firms, hedge funds, etc. all hire engineers and actually prefer them over finance and business majors. Go take at look any employee career profile for any of those sectors and you will see that they are all people with engineering/math backgrounds. However, if you are looking to get paid a high salary and get a good job in any of these places, you must get an MBA at a top school and you have to be really bright. If you are mediocre and average, you probably won’t stand a chance.</p>
<p>maybe that’s true with you, at drexel’s business and engineering program there are tons of engineers that go into accounting or marketing. There is so much marketing that has a huge quant side you don’t even realize. And definitely accounting. i’m an engineer that just came out of an accounting co-op with a big 4 firm where i was responsible for building very complicated quantitative database models. there are tons of engineering firms that hire engineers for accounting for their full perspective eg: lockheed martin. At least I’m talking drexel here and our program.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t go that far. They want people with analytical abilities, but they (hedge funds, venture firms, etc) would not hire an engineer without an MBA, but students out of undergrad Wharton can be snapped up with an MBA.</p>
<p>Strategy Consulting is very operations focused and as such engineering is one of the best backgrounds to have. Strategy consulting is generally the top job that MBAs with engineering backgrounds shoot for. They are at a major disadvantage shooting for top finance jobs as they must compete with MBAs from a finance(IB/PE) background.</p>