<p>I'm trying to determine where my most interest is: in finance or engineering. My skill in math and science first pointed me toward the engineering field (mech/aero). However, I've been putting in a lot of thought and the idea of finance and quantitative analytics has started to appeal to me. I think I am a bit more strong and comfortable in math than I am in science, and I love to deal with numbers. How can I figure out which I am more interested in? There are aspects of a potential career in engineering and finance that I really like and some that I don't, so how can I determine what best fits me?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>(I also posted this on the Finance Major thread)</p>
<p>Engineering, because its better. Switch to finance if engineering gets too hard. Just ask yourself, “Would i rather build airplanes, robots, cars, and engines? Work in energy, research, design, testing, oil&gas, automotive, national defense? Or do i want to crunch numbers in excel day after day?”</p>
<p>“Just ask yourself, ‘Would i rather build airplanes, robots, cars, and engines? Work in energy, research, design, testing, oil&gas, automotive, national defense? Or do i want to crunch numbers in excel day after day?’”</p>
<p>True, that is the positive side of engineering.</p>
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<p>“Take a look at the classes of finance and of your engineering major of choice. See which ones are more appealing.”</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the advice.</p>
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<p>Since I posted this thread earlier in the day, I’ve been thinking about potentially double-majoring in Physics and Finance as an undergraduate. By doing that, I would adequately prepare myself to head to graduate school for both engineering or quantitative finance, giving me more time and flexibility to figure out what I want to do. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Why physics and finance? Why not engineering and finance?</p>
<p>I actually know a lot of engineers at my school double majoring (or minoring) in finance. Also, a TON of them (& non double majors) go into finance post grad. Typically they’re Systems Engineering majors, who focus in operations research.</p>
<p>Yes Engineering and Finance is also an option - I forgot to say that. </p>
<p>Though the number of schools who have both engineering and finance is somewhat limited in comparison to schools who have physics and finance at least in the NE and mid-Atlantic where I am looking.</p>
<p>If you’re really interested in both, the best way is to take engineering at a top school and take some finance electives. In finance, name recognition is everything. Keep in mind, people trust an MIT/Stanford/Berkeley/Harvard etc grad much more than from a random state university by default, and in finance, trust is everything.</p>
<p>Seems like the best thing to do would be to major in something like computer science or applied math and get into a financial engineering graduate program. It seems like there are a lot of those kinds of programs out there now. After I took the GRE, I got a bunch of brochures in the mail for financial computing/math programs from places like CMU and JHU (I checked the “allow schools to contact me” box).</p>
<p>I learned a bit about applying machine learning techniques for financial markets, and although I find it interesting from a purely academic standpoint, it would be hypocritical to get into that as a career since I’ve been criticizing the financial industry since the start of the great recession.</p>
<p>Frankly, physics or engineering are equally good for an eventual career in finance. The amount of mathematics is more or less the same and the training you get in modeling physical systems is what makes you a good hire for finance firms.</p>
<p>The difference between engineering and physics curricula is that generally physics has more free electives than engineering and so it is easier to fit in some finance courses in the traditional 4-year program.</p>
<p>However, what you need to be asking yourself is what major do you find most interesting if finance is not your eventual career path. That should dictate whether you choose physics or engineering.</p>
<p>I would say just go to a top notch engineering school and do very well. You can minor in finance but in all likelihood you will not need to, the financial firms will interview you anyways. If you can show brainpower, analytical and quantitative ability you will get an offer. They will train you in the financial stuff anyways once you get hired.
Also, if wall street goes bad again, you can always work as an engineer while your finance buddies will be jobless.</p>
<p>“I would say just go to a top notch engineering school and do very well. You can minor in finance but in all likelihood you will not need to, the financial firms will interview you anyways. If you can show brainpower, analytical and quantitative ability you will get an offer. They will train you in the financial stuff anyways once you get hired.
Also, if wall street goes bad again, you can always work as an engineer while your finance buddies will be jobless.”</p>
<p>Thank you, that’s very helpful and makes sense.</p>
<p>I think that if I major in engineering and minor in finance, my options are completely wide open from there. After undergraduate:
If I think I’m more interested in doing engineering work, then I can easily do that.
If I think I want to work in financial analysis, I can (a) go job-hunting right away in NYC, or (b) go to graduate school for something like financial mathematics.</p>
<p>I’d actually suggest a better known school over a better engineering school, if you must choose. You don’t have to for MIT/Berkeley/Stanford/etc, but for Harvard/Yale vs Caltech/Gatech, you would be better off choosing Harvard/Yale for the business opportunity. Name recognition is very important in finance.</p>
<p>A undergrad engineering degree coupled with an MBA is fairly common. You can tailor your MBA classes to be finance specific if that is what you want to do.</p>
<p>“I’d actually suggest a better known school over a better engineering school, if you must choose. You don’t have to for MIT/Berkeley/Stanford/etc, but for Harvard/Yale vs Caltech/Gatech, you would be better off choosing Harvard/Yale for the business opportunity. Name recognition is very important in finance.”</p>
<p>Ok thanks. </p>
<p>Another question, there are some schools out there that I’m looking into (like UPenn and Brown) that have engineering but not a finance degree. However they do have economics, so would an economics minor give me the ability to go into finance as well?</p>
<p>“A undergrad engineering degree coupled with an MBA is fairly common. You can tailor your MBA classes to be finance specific if that is what you want to do.” </p>
<p>Yeah I know Lehigh offers a good program for coupling engineering and MBA, as well as Bucknell I believe.</p>
<p>"Engineering, because its better. Switch to finance if engineering gets too hard. Just ask yourself, “Would i rather build airplanes, robots, cars, and engines? Work in energy, research, design, testing, oil&gas, automotive, national defense? Or do i want to crunch numbers in excel day after day?”</p>
<p>Lol. We could spin it the other way and ask if you want to spend 30 years on AutoCAD designing hydraulic pumps for a meat processing factory while guys in high finance are rockin’ Prada on the 100th floor. Both fields have cool jobs and uncool jobs. Both have their stereotypes and their outliers.</p>
<p>These are both excellent majors. I prefer finance (by a lot), but engineering is very versatile. Sort of like I said in the other thread, if you ever become sure that you want to go into finance then do finance, but if you remain on the fence then engineering leaves your options open down the road.</p>
<p>“These are both excellent majors. I prefer finance (by a lot), but engineering is very versatile. Sort of like I said in the other thread, if you ever become sure that you want to go into finance then do finance, but if you remain on the fence then engineering leaves your options open down the road.”</p>
<p>Yeah, see I’m really not sure what my preference is yet. That’s why I think I should find a school that (a) offers both engineering and business/economics, and (b) is strong in both fields.</p>