Industrial Engineering/Operations Research Question

<p>Hi, I heard that Operations Research Analysts make a great salary and it is a math intensive career and major. (Which is ideal for me). My Goal is to at my masters in operations research in Cornell (since its operations research program is very good); however, I am not sure what do do my undergrad in...
I was thinking of doing my undergrad in applied math, economics, mechanical eng, electrical eng, or computer science. What undergrad degree will prepare me the most in operations research? Also if so, should I consider double majoring in any of these undergraduate majors?</p>

<p>So far I got into these universities:
Northeastern (I will go here if i don't get into the schools I am waiting on)
Drexel
Waiting on:
Carnigie Mellon
U-Mich Ann Arbor
Vanderbilt
RPI
University of Delaware</p>

<p>

I’m really confused by your question. If you (think you) want to go into OR, why not undergrad major in OR? </p>

<p>It’ll generally fall under Industrial or Systems Engineering.</p>

<p>You’re thinking way too far into the future here.</p>

<p>Edit: Northeastern has an IE program…</p>

<p>You answered your question in the topic of the thread.</p>

<p>To Johnson181, I heard that it is best to get an undergrad in mathematics before moving on to grad school in a math intensive field.</p>

<p>If your plan is to go through undergrad purely to prepare for grad then picking a major based off what it’s called is the wrong plan. Figure out what classes at the university you end up at are important in OR and what you want to take (discrete math classes, some programming classes, some math modeling/programming classes, some probability classes, a couple of statistics classes), then pick the major which best aligns with that and allows you to be flexible to take as many of those important classes as possible.</p>

<p>You don’t need a full O.R. undergraduate degree to get into a grad O.R. program. On top of that, there are not a lot of M.S. in O.R. programs anyway…which is why you can do O.R. through an option/emphasis within a math major, CS major or IE/SysE major or Stats major.</p>

<p>Having said all of that, like someone said earlier, it is too early to think about that. What many engineering, math, CS, Physics and even O.R. majors forget is that they need to gain admission into their PROGRAM, which is after their sophomore year. Also, the first 2 years of the majors I mentioned are basically the same.</p>

<p>Let’s revisit this question AFTER you have taken the following…</p>

<p>Calculus I
Calculus II
Calculus III (Multivariable Calculus)
Differential Equations
Linear Algebra
Discrete Mathematics
Physics I (mechanics)
Physics II (electricity and magnetism)
Object-Oriented Programming with Java or C++ I
Object-Oriented Programming with Java or C++ II</p>