University of Rochester '19 here.
Already committed to doing Engineering major and Russian minor. I am going to come in with an entire years worth of credits. Was wondering if a BA in Math was also doable? I am already doing linear algebra and I’m a senior in high school. Getting a minor would be worthless to me since I would have to take one more course. Engineering major (AME) would have 20 free credits.
Thanks.
Just wondering, what purpose do you see in having a BA in math in addition to the engineering? I’m not trying to criticize you, I really just want to know the incentive.
Im not going to work as an engineer. Im going to get an MBA and work as a finance guy. Engineering will help me get some practical knowledge and maybe math would help me in my finance and global business career.
Now I’m curious too. “Practical knowledge” – like what, how to be an engineer?
That seems like a waste of time to me… I’d focus on a BS in business/Economics with a minor (or double major) in mathematics…
I see no purpose in the engineering here.
If you are committed to doing the Engineering, why not just add a selection of the others as electives? When you do a minor or another degree, you almost always have to do something that you hadn’t really planned on.
@collegehipster - At Rochester BS in Applied Math seems doable along with Engineering or CS.
As someone who has worked in banks, finance and commercial real estate for 25 yrs, I would say that from a practical perspective, neither engineering nor applied math will help you as a finance guy. Maybe applied math a bit, but not engineering. Finance theory is specific, and if that is truly your stated career goal, you are signing up for a lot of unnecessary suffering by getting an engineering degree. I switched from biomedical engineering to economics my sophomore year in college, and it was the best move I ever made. If you are not going to use the engineering, it’s a lot of work you’ll be doing for no appreciable return on investment (there’s your first finance lesson right there).
I think I’ve decided. The audio and music engineering is the more artsy engineering (still almost the same as electrical) and can help me with being a part of the media kind of work. My Russian Language and Literature minor will teach me not just language, but how to analyse psychology through examples from Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. With a few journalism classes on the side, too, before my MBA, I think I’ll be more marketable than ever.
Thanks for the votes of confidence.
The most important thing is that you focus on subjects in which you are interested, which it sounds like you are doing. That way, you have a better chance of doing well, which is the ticket to the next step, no matter what you choose to do. Don’t forget to dabble in the interdisciplinary Simon business program while you are there - any business classes you can take will help you secure your first job in finance, and hanging around Simon can help you make some connections. Good luck!
To be honest, I am very confused by your major/ minor/ future career choice.how is your engineering degree and ability to discuss "idiot"in Russian will help you to build your career in business?
I’m an ECE major at the University. Technically AME falls under our department, so the majors are closely related. Rochester is extremely strong in both of these fields, however they are particularly innovative in AME as not many other schools offer this major. I am also a double major with French, so I understand where you’re coming from with the minor. I think that you should be able to achieve all of your goals, especially with the double major in math. You may need to take a few summer classes and transfer some credits in, but it is doable.
That being said, I don’t believe this is the best possible path for finance. These are extremely difficult majors, and if you are applying to grad school, the fact that you will have little to no experience in the field will really hurt. You simply won’t have enough time in your schedule to take finance classes as well as engineering and math. Also, Rochester isn’t particularly well known for business, and you would probably be better off working as an engineer, especially if you’re putting all that time into majoring in it. Engineering is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, major possible at nearly any school, and it won’t help you for applying to get an MBA. A business or Econ major would be much easier and much more doable if you are trying to get into the field.