<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>