Industrial Engineering versus dual in Management/Mathematics

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Hi, everyone.
So I'm a freshman in RPI and I'm between the two mentioned options:
Industrial Engineering and dual in Management/Mathematics.
My school is one of the best engineering schools in the nation.
Of course you cannot compare it to MIT, Caltech, or Georgia.
Those are A+ schools.
I would say my school has a rank of A in engineering.
My first intention is to get a Master degree in Computational Finance/Financial Engineering.
And I know FE uses a lot of methodologies from IE.
If I take the IE path, I would do a minor in finance and
work in the financial industry later on.
1/4 of the IE grads enter that field according to my professor.</p>

<p>Now, consider a dual in Management/Mathematics.
I would say the business school, Lally is an A- business school.
The quality is quite good, ranked #1 in corporate strategy and financial management,
but it is really not well-known for its business school.
Since I'm considering a Master in FE,
I plan on doing a second major if I choose this path.
My schools math department should be around A or A-.
And seems like the two majors work well together since
I can do both front/back office work.</p>

<p>So, which path should I choose for undergraduate education?
(I'm also considering Chemical Engineering,
but I will take Chemistry over the summer and see if I like it.
If I do, great, there would be no more problem.
But if I don't, I need to choose between IE and dual.)</p>

<p>First, I'm not a big fan of Statistics or Math Theories.
But i love calculations. I have that awesome feeling when I get the right answer
and when I start doing math questions, I don't stop until I get tired.
(PS: I'm not a nerd though.)</p>

<p>Second, the average starting salary for IE grads is 57000.
For management, it is 49000 and for math, it is 60000.
So a dual in management/math should be around 60000.
However, I believe IE grads have higher placement rate
and most math grads go on for a master or PhD degree,
given that the salary range is between 60000 to 61000.</p>

<p>Third, I love IE not because of Statistics but because of Value Mapping.
You look into details of everything and you integrate them into an efficient system.
I love Management not because it is easy but it does make sense to me.
Plus the strategic thinking and analysis are fun things to do.</p>

<p>Please evaluate the two options with my information and your experiences!!</p>

<p>(I'd like to get suggestions from both engineers and business students,
so I will post the exact thing on both boards)</p>

2

<p>Wow, very specific specializations. Personally, if you want to work in finance, major in finance. Period. However, with your given</p>

<p>Also, IGNORE the salary statistics. They don’t mean anything. Your job and salary depend completely on where you apply to work and your own goals. You’ll do fine either way.</p>

<p>As a business student, I would say go with the management/mathematics combination. Or better yet, finance or economics (seriously). Unless you prefer engineering, do not do it. With engineering, your GPA will be lower.</p>

<p>Honestly, though, assuming you’ll get the same GPA either way, go with whichever you like more and is related to what you want a career in. You won’t know until you take classes.</p>

3

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</p>

<p>I disagree. Salary statistics, and in particular the percent of students at graduation, tell you how strongly recruited a program is. This is an indication of how the market values your program. </p>

<p>Also, keep in mind that employers at colleges are picky. If they’re hiring an IE major, they won’t look through your transcript to see that you’ve taken the same classes as an IE, they just won’t interview you. So be thoughtful when selecting a major.</p>

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<p>I strongly disagree with this statement. Look at who the finance and banks hire: the students from the top schools in their field. If you’re at Wharton, finance is fine. At Harvard or Stanford, anything is fine (there are plenty of Art History majors from Harvard in BB banks). But at RPI, you need to go for engineering to have a chance.</p>

4

<p>So, in your opinion,
Industrial Engineering has an advantage over dual in Business/Math?</p>