<p>what is OR?</p>
<p>operations research</p>
<p>Man... I can def. handle the workload at Cornell, even if it would require all-nighters....</p>
<p>live,
OR is much easier than ECE or AEP. In fact, most people with low GPA's in ECE or AEP switched to OR (at least when I was there). That is not to say that OR is not a good degree, its just more focused on organization and management than hard core engineering like ECE or physics like AEP. </p>
<p>Depending on your interests, a really versitile way to go is to study ECE, AEP, or Aerospace and then do a MENG in OR. If you plan correctly, you can easily do this in one extra semester by using graduate classes you can take senior year second semester. Having the MENG will allow you to enter the work place as a masters (20K higher salary) and potentially go straight into management. An even better option is the MENG/MBA combination degrees that Cornell offers its undergraduates. In two years (or 1.5) you can get an MENG in OR and an MBA from the Johnson school. This is a really good way to jumpstart your career. From a graduate school perspective, I think the ECE or AEP degrees give a better base and the MENG in OR would give you the management skills and help reduce time in graduate school (entering with a masters).</p>
<p>I personally added an MENG in AEP to my undergraduate by staying for a summer and one semester after my senior year. This degree gave me a 20K higher salary at a national laboratory while I published papers and got ready for graduate school. During the MENG it was pretty easy to maintain above a 4.0 (grad classes grade easier) and I will be going to graduate school this fall. The schools all excepted the MENG as a masters and I didn't receive any resistance in the admission process. So, in short, the hard undergrad / MENG helped me out a lot and I think is a good way to go. The rewards def. outweigh the extra semester.</p>
<p>One caveate to this is that if you want to go straight to graduate school after undergrad the MENG is not the way to go. Unless you want breadth in a different field, you'll get a masters on the way to the phd anyway and the MENG will just be a waste of time.</p>
<p>forgradadvice,</p>
<p>Thanks for that reply. I have been very interested by the 5 or 6 year MBA or MEng-MBA programs that they offer, but their little blog in the engineering handbook seems to suggest that they are extremely competitive? </p>
<p>Also - I believe I originally read about those programs on the OR website for Cornell, but the handbook seems to suggest any undergraduate engineering degree can apply for either an MBA in the fifth year (and senior year) or an MEng followed by an MBA. Is this true? I am very interested in computer hardware (have been building PCs since the beginning of 9th grade) and follow that whole industry very closely, so right now I really think I'm going to try for ECE (focus would be computer engineering). With that, I'd probably minor in either OR or Engineering Management (do you have an opinion on this, too?).</p>
<p>At this point - and I'll probably chance my mind a million times just like any other student - I don't really think I'd really be the best candidate for a PhD program. I'm more interested in working directly in the industry I've followed for the past 4 years from the outside.</p>
<p>One last question - so can you can a 1-year MEng in just about anything regardless of your undergraduate degree? Or to get an MEng in something you should at least have an undergraduate minor in it?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your advice and help. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>live-, if you can find the answer I would be very interested to hear it.</p>
<p>live,
You can apply to a Cornell MENG from any undergraduate major. In order to do the degree in one semester, however, it helps to major or at least minor in the subject. That way you know the professors and you can easily take graduate level courses in the field your second semester senior year.</p>
<p>If you decide to get an MENG in a completely difference field (Example: OR undergrad to AEP MENG) you may prolong the degree by having to take some undergraduate prereqs. For an OR MENG however, I think it is def. doable to come in without any OR background.</p>
<p>Regardless, taking a few classes and getting to know the Profs in the field you want to do the MENG in is a good idea for acceptance and easy transition.</p>
<p>I don't know too much about the MBA programes, other than that some of my friends did a MENG/MBA 2 year program right out of Cornell undergrad. </p>
<p>The MENG is not competitive, especially if you at least minor in the subject area. Except for CS, I have never heard of someone being worried about admittance to an MENG program at Cornell coming from Cornell undergrad. I can't comment on the difficulty of MBA admission, though I would guess that admission to MENG/MBA programs would be easier than the straight MBA route (which almost always requires work experience on the application).</p>
<p>forgradadvice,</p>
<p>Thanks again for these replies.</p>
<p>Anyway - that sounds very much to my liking. I could basically major in computer engineering and get a minor in OR (or another subject, for that matter) then go on after that to get an MEng in whichever career line I chose (OR for a non-technical, advising/consulting/analysing type job or ECE for the technical component).</p>
<p>Do you know anything about the MEng in Engineering Management? And how it differs from an MBA (obviously, its 1 "year" vs 2, no work experience 'required' but are some of the requirements the same)? So many choices, haha. </p>
<p>I like hearing that the MEng is pretty close to automatic admission, too. From the sound of it, it basically gives you a chance to 'pad' your GPA w/ more higher-level classes but also would give you the chance to take your full selection of UG courses and then choose what career path you really wanted to go down. In my case, it sounds like a major in ECE, minor in OR and then an MEng in one of the two (or hell, a completely different subject) would be a great way of going.</p>
<p>One last question: I'm not sure when you went to Cornell, but do you know anything about the new Information Science, Systems, and Technology major? It's offered either by the school of CS (for the Information Science focus) or OR (management science focus)...definitely looks relatively non-technical in nature, but an interesting combination between CS, Econ, and engineering none-the-less.</p>
<p>Thanks again, sorry for continually bombarding you with questions hah.</p>