IE at UF or Finance/Accounting at an Ivy League

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Hello Everyone,

The post is long but all information is relevant so you can advise me in the best way possible. I also feel there are others with the same questions and same positions and it would help them out as well.

Just a little background:

I’m currently at Santa Fe Community College, it’s my first semester and i’ve got A’s in all of my classes so far and plan on keeping it that way. However, in the school year 2012-2013 i went to another CC and destroyed my GPA to a mere 1.3. I joined the Army after and am now highly motivated to do well in school so I come out with tons of opportunities.

My question is should I get an A.A in Engineering at SFCC and transfer over to UF and finish up with a Bachelors there or get an A.A in Business Administration from SFCC and (try) and transfer over to a Ivy League School for a Finance/Accounting Bachelors.

UF’s IE program is one of the hardest IE programs in Florida to transfer into. Last year they picked they picked 5 transferees out of 30+ applicants. I’ve been advised by the undergrad IE advisor to be competitive I need a 3.8+ in just the Pre requirements. Which is the core engineering courses. If I do not get accepted into the IE program I can be transferred into other Engineering programs there that I am interested in. (My career goals are Finance related so, any help on picking another Eng. major would help).

The other option is going the Business route and getting a degree in Finance/Accounting. I was thinking because classes that are not engineering related tend to be easier I would be able to get admitted into an Ivy League School through this Path. I feel like Ivy League Schools would rather have transferees like me come in with a Business degree than a Engineering degree. (Just my opinion, feel free to show me otherwise).

Either one I go with I will be working my butt off trying to get A’s in all classes.

I guess what i’m really trying to figure out is the route that would open up the most doors:
Networking
Future MBA
Career Prospects

Hey, You made it! Thanks for reading and helping!

2

I’m not trying to be snarky, but do you want to be an engineer or not? What are your long term goals?

3

I do want to be an engineer, I’m not interested to the extent of that’s what I’ve wanted my whole life but I do like the concepts.
The other reasons is I would pick up pretty good skills like quant and it would also give me an edge over other finance majors.

Long term goals would be working in IB or HF if I can pull it off. If I had the Engineering degree I guess it could work as a backup.

Thanks

4

Hard to be an engineer if you don’t choose engineering. :smiley:

As for grad school later, there are plenty of engineers who got MBAs at top institutions.

5

Why the fixation on the Ivy league? I’m no expert, but several don’t have undergraduate business or finance programs…so you’re limiting yourself to a fairly small list of very selective schools.

You may want to expand your search to add schools other than the Ivy league.

You do need to decide between business/finance and engineering. If you do want to get your BS in engineering, and then move into the finance field, Industrial could be an option, as at UF, you can focus on “Financial Engineering”. It’s involves a lot of programing. However, don’t think of it as a magic ticket to one of the Big Three

This link will describe it in more detail, including what applications it’s used in. If you pursue “financial engineering” you will want to get involved with this lab.

http://www.ise.ufl.edu/rmfe/

Industrials (at UF) also are more likely (of the engineering majors) to pursue a Masters in Finance (rare) or MBA (much more common), right after graduation, than most other engineering majors. Those that master in finance, are finance majors with strong technical/programing skills. They go into the finance field, not ISE. Those that earn MBA’s, tend to go into consulting or into entry ISE roles (my old college roommate went this path, BS in ISE at UF, MBA at Rutgers, then entry position at J&J).

A minor in business is a popular option, as is a minor in computer sciences (IE is programing and math intensive).

To get a sense of what they do, you can use LinkedIn to search for UF alumni who studied Industrial Engineering. It will give you a better sense of the type of careers open to Industrial Engineers.

https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/edu/alumni?id=18120&facets=FS.100372&keyword=&dateType=attended&startYear=&endYear=&incNoDates=true&start=0&count=10&filters=off&trk=edu-up-nav-menu-alumni

Another in-state option for ISE is UCF. They have a very well respected program, and admissions is much less competitive.

I’m sure you’re already familiar with the Gator Engineering @ Santa Fee program:

https://www.eng.ufl.edu/students/programs/gator-engineering-santa-fe/

These programs were selected by UF, because they have the capacity to handle more transfer students (a higher faculty to student ratio and much smaller classes). That’s the reason it’s easier to get into these programs, vs ones like ISE. The Materials Science and Engineering program is often UF’s highest “ranked” program.

Business and Finance are also very competitive at UF. Here’s a link to UF’s Heavener School of Business transfer admissions requirements.

http://warrington.ufl.edu/undergraduate/academics/admissions/transfer.asp

Good Luck!

6

That was just me being dumb. I’m open to any school that offers a good finance program.

Unfortunately, Financial Engineering is only available as a Masters option at UF. Th reason I feel IE would be such a good field to go into Finance after, is it teaches you the skills that employers are looking for. Haha, i’m not looking for that magic ticket or short cut. Just trying to figure out the best path to open the most doors.

Once done with my BS I do plan on getting a Masters or MBA and feel like IE (rather than other engineering majors) would be the most likely to get me selected at a good school. That’s awesome! That is something I hope to achieve one day but gotta start with small steps.

Honestly, once I figure out my major i’ll worry about my minor. It will likely be Finance though.

I will do that! Thanks, I never thought of LinkedIn. I am part of one of the Associations at UF and I meet tons of students and alumni from there. One of my older buddies also got an ISE from GT so I’ve talked to him as well. He went straight into Finance and is now at Harvard for a MBA.

I’ll look into UCF as well then. I was thinking if I for some reason did not get admitted to the IE program at UF I would just settle for another engineering program and see how it goes from there. I now have a second option!

I was not eligible for this program because of my GPA.

I’m not very interested in Material Sciences and unfortunately if I have 0 interest in things i tend to do poorly in them. Computer Science and Computer Engineering are 2 that I am interested in. They will likely be my Plan C’s after UCF.

I also had a chat with the Business Undegrad Adviser and she told me the PreReq’s to the finance program, which in my eyes, I believe I would be able to do it no problem. It’s just a matter of which degree would be the best for me.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! It was very helpful and I will be looking into the things you mentioned!

7

Are you taking engineering classes now? That would help you understand whether you are a good fit for the major.

8

No, im not. I’m working on all of my basic courses atm. I’m trying to figure this out within the next week though, I start registering for classes starting 27th.

Thanks

9

Try to get some help from you adviser. Engineering has rigid course sequencing, and you need to plan it out carefully.

10

Alternative math heavy majors targeting finance work would be statistics or applied math.

11

In addition…actuarial science.

12

I happened to attend the recent UF MBA open house, and if you have a business degree from UF within the past 7 years there is a fast track program to MBA.

Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Best of luck to you!

PS: Where are you in math? Be aware that the engineering math courses at UF are pretty tough.

13

@SouthFloridaMom9, engineering math, engineering in general for that matter, is tough at every university. :smiley:

14

^^yes, says the liberal arts major who barely survived Algebra II. :wink:

15

@SouthFloridaMom9, you’re not alone. Algebra is the most widely repeated/failed class in both high school and college!