<p>I have always wanted to get an MBA and work in some type of business. Lately I've been considering studying engineering as an undergraduate because I'll be learning plenty of business skills in business school and I'm pretty interested in engineering, just not as a career. I've been really interested in venture capital as of late, and I've been told that an engineering and science based background is a must for this industry. This seems perfect, but my biggest engineering interest is industrial engineering, a more math oriented major. IE is useful in many areas of business, but I feel like a form of engineering that can be used to produce something, such as computer engineering or biomedical engineering would be more useful for a career in venture capital. Is this true? Would a background in a field of engineering that can be used to produce products be more useful to a venture capitalist than IE background?</p>
<p>If your long term goal is VC, then do real engineering.</p>
<p>Industrial Engineering is not real engineering. Real engineers actually make products.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>To maximize your market, I suggest computer or electrical engineering. Biomedical Engineering tends to be a 5 year program. Other engineering programs are 4 years. At the end of the day, choose the engineering field that best fits with the VC industry you want to work in</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure you intern/co-op. Make sure all of your internships are at name-brand companies. It doesn’t matter what you actually do. If you manage to get an internship at intel and just end up running other people’s code…who cares. You worked at Intel. What matters for you is the brand name not the experience. If you co-op, especially for 4 terms at the same firm, this looks really good if you’re trying to go into IB right out of school.</p></li>
<li><p>You can either do IB out of undergrad or go into industry.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>IB Track: After 2 years of IB, leverage your engineering degree and experience to a VC and work on a non-partner track analyst job. After 2 years they will kick you out and you go to B-school (hopefully M7). After which, things become tricky. If your network is tight enough, you can leverage your MBA, internships, and engineering degree to get on a partner track job post MBA. The chances of this happening are very low though. You could try consulting to get operational experience and lateral back to VC but this is also difficult.</p>
<p>Industry Track: Work in industry for 5 years, transfer to MBA, go work industry again. Start your own company, then transfer to VC.</p>
<p>VC’s want entrepreneurs, people who have built their own company from the ground up or people with years of industry experience. they tend to look at junior investment bankers as calculators with mouths. You’re better off going to PE or HF as a banker.</p>
<p>P.S. I’m an electrical engineering major who is on the Investment Banking track. If you need any other tips, feel free to shoot me a message.</p>