Happy middle?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello,
I'm trying to decide on a major and I want to make the best decision possible. I'm thinking about a major in Finance because it involves logic and math. However, I have been suggested to go for an Industrial engineering degree because I'm really good at math. I've only taken one semester at a communiy college and the intro classes have given me an overview of the field. What I don't like about the business major is that the classes seem kinda weak (no offense to anyone). The Industrial engr. classes though go to the other extreme, up to differential equations, engr. physics 3 plus mechanics and a couple of other classes of that type. I'm not particularly excited about working for Boeing or an auto maker, I want to see the world and be able to travel in my job. I also want to live in NYC, and i refuse to give up that dream. Would anyone here know if there's something in between the businesss and industrial engineering majors in terms of difficulty? I don't want to waste my math skills, not so many people have this ability. Thanks!</p>

<p>Ps: What would be the difference between a bachelor's degree in IE and a master's?</p>

2

<p>Check out Financial Engineering, Operations Research, and/or Strategic Business Development.</p>

3

<p>IEOR at Columbia Engineering school fits your need. Some colleges the Industrial Engineering program is kind of weak too,mostly business stuff.</p>

<p>Department</a> of Industrial Engineering & Operations Research</p>

4

<p>U2maniac,</p>

<p>I'm about to solve all your problems. Drexel University which is a top notch engineering school and business school has a undergraduate program called Business and Engineering. I had the same dilemna as you and am in this program currently and I can say it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.</p>

<p>To start, the program has virtually a built-in math minor eg: you take Calc I, II, III, IV, Linear Algebra, statistical inference I, II, etc. You take all the same core business classes that business administration majors take (economics, accounting, etc) and all the same core engineering classes (eg: chemistry I, II, calculus based physics I, II, III, materials, etc) as well as engineering electives (in your case you can take industrial engineering classes). </p>

<p>As japher stated, the major has some operations research and operations management in it as well as business development and entrepreneurship. It gets better though! You still concentrate in a business field, eg: finance, accounting, economics, etc.</p>

<p>In your case, you'd get a BS in Business and Engineering with a Finance Concentration... Pretty cool huh? In addition, our BS in Business and Engineering with Finance concentration JUST got certified as a financial engineering degree.</p>

<p>You can use the major to go into crazy investment banking making big cash, or hardcore industrial engineering and use your financial background to rise up into management positions, or might even start your own company, or anything in between. Its all been done before and virtually everyone who comes out of the major is a success story.</p>

<p>Drexel is located in urban philadelphia, and while its not new york city, it definitly has the culture, museums, downtown full of skyscrapers, nightlife, and etc. Additionally, in the past, many have gotten co-op jobs (which are six-month internships during your time at school) in New York City and even around the world. I'm on a five year program with three six-month co-ops, and my last co-op I had a high paying quant job in a big accounting firm where I had the chance to travel all over the united states interacting with clients.</p>

<p>Here is some more information and feel free to ask me any other questions or check out the Drexel section of this message board where I've been posting other things.</p>

<p>LeBow</a> : Prospective Students : Undergraduates : Undergraduate Programs: Business and Engineering :
About</a> the Business and Engineering Major</p>

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<p>you can def live in NYC and be an industrial engineer. they don't just work in factories. Anywhere that makes logistical plans or needs to make things more efficient employs industrial engineers... like you know.. the 13421525125 management consulting firms that are in NYC.</p>

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<p>If you go to a decent school the possibilities for IE's are endless. While many do go on to work in manufacturing/etc., at Purdue, the #1 carrier choice for IE’s is consulting. We also have a number of them who go into finance, and many, or most, will eventually go onto get an MBA. I think most of us know the normal job functions of MBA’s. I too switched from Business to IE, and I am happy with the decision. I liked to poster who mentioned the Business and Engineering program, it seems like another good option. But as far as most places go, if you find Business studies to be ‘weak’, I would say your best bet is to go into IE. It is a hard major, but if you’re good at math as you say, it shouldn’t be too bad for you.</p>

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<p>Zackdudde: The program you mentioned sounds interesting. I'd like to know what you did in that co-op. What were your tasks in the firm? How's the atmosphere like in an accounting place? Is there many things going on during your workday or are you stuck in front of a computer for hours? Thanks a lot for the info.</p>

<p>Purduefrank: What would be a decent school for IE's? I wanna stay in the northeast or the tri-state area (ny, nj, ct) maybe PA. Can you describe a day in your job?</p>

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<p>U2</p>

<p>I am only a sophomore in IE, so I couldn't give you the day to day of an IE. Plus, it would highly depend on what field you are going into. If your job function is an actual Industrial Engineer, your main focus is creating efficiency in the processes or systems used at your workplace. From my understanding, this includes close work with all of the people working at your company and finding the weak spots, then streamlining everything to eliminate the weaknesses. However, as I stated, I would say most IE majors go onto jobs where there technical skills are utalized, but they are not necessarily Industrial Engineers. This could include finance, consulting, construction, energy, manufacturing, etc... It really just depends on what you choose to do.</p>

<p>As for what schools are good in the northeast, here are a few that are well known for IE and/or engineering in general. Penn State-University Park, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Columbia, and MIT.</p>

<p>I would recommend not limiting yourself to the northeast. Depending on what kind of student you are and where you think you can get accepted, there are numerous schools around the country that offer very good IE programs. Georgia Tech, Purdue, Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, and Northwestern; just to name a few. If your goal is to work in NY, perhaps staying in the northeast is not a bad idea, however, you could do that from any of these programs so I wouldn't limit yourself.</p>

9

<p>The job that you described in the original post is verbatim what consultants do. Travel (a lot), live in a big city (like NYC), get paid well, and use quantitative skills to solve a companies problems. Basically, doing an IE’s job for other companies, and on a higher level. Most of the time, to get a good consulting job you will need excellent grades (at least right out of school), and great quantitative and analytical ability. While you can get into consulting from any number of majors, IE is a popular one because the coursework you take is related to a great majority of consulting work. Similarly, it is a popular one for students who want to get an MBA someday because it addresses both the quantitative aspect that MBA programs like to see, as well as part of the business aspect.</p>