<p>I am going to be attending Penn next year as an EE major. First, is Penn EE well regarded? I know the rankings, but Penn SEAS is rather small, so I don't know how that factors in.</p>
<p>I chose Penn over Northwestern because of all the options I had for studies outside of engineering. I was thinking about getting another degree in business from Wharton, but the dual degree program is very harsh. I instead thought about getting a minor in economics, which is one of the top departments in the country. Would this help me in job placement or in just plain usefulness on the job?</p>
<p>Penn is well-regarded. Having some economics courses is also good and highly recommended for an engineer particularly for understanding concepts you are going to face in the business world as an engineer. However, having a minor in it will probably not have much impact on first job employment out of engineering school. Do not know how Penn works minors (e.g., hours required), but note that in general it can be difficult to get an engineering degree and a minor in economics or a minor in anything if you plan to do college in only four years. If you do some investigation into engineering programs at colleges you are going to learn that just to graduate with a major in that requires taking more total hours and far more required courses than virtually any other major, i.e., it is difficult to fit a minor somewhere in your schedule. You mention Wharton as one the top economics departments in the country. That is not quite accurate though it is very good at economics. Wharton is one of the top "business" schools in the country (finance,administration, marketing, etc.) but economics (which is heavy on math and deals with mostly theory of how an economy works) is not truly a "business" program (example: University of Chicago has a highly ranked economics program for undergrads but it has no business program or majors at the undergraduate level).</p>
<p>Its actually very easy to get a minor if you're willing to do the work, and is quite popular in Penn SEAS. Also, I'm talking about the economics program in the College of Arts and Sciences (which is highly ranked in its own right), not the Wharton business degree (to get that, I have to full out go for the major). Thx for your input! Anyone else with any advice?</p>