<p>I'm currently about to start my fourth semester of college and I still have yet to find a major. Right now I'm leaning towards business because it has so many general uses. What is troubling me is the stigma surrounding a business degree, and I'll admit, everything I've done so far has been incredibly easy and I currently have a 3.87 overall GPA. I feel as if I've settled on something that is far below my potential (I hate how that sounds :/)</p>
<p>This leads me to my actual question, would it be worth it to drop the business degree path and maybe change towards something more marketable than a business degree such as industrial engineering? Considering I'm not yet sure what sort of career I want, it seems that working towards a major that is widely respected like engineering is would be a good idea. What worries me most is how far behind I would be. My university doesn't offer the intro engineering class during the spring semester, so the only classes I could take are the intro calc and physics classes. I know that most likely I would have to take summer/winter classes or stay for extra years, but that is something that I would be willing to do if this path seems way more sensible.</p>
<p>If I were you I’d probably go for engineering. I’m assuming you went straight to your university after high school, right? If you takes you extra years to graduate then you’ll be around 22/23/24 when you’re done, which is still young. You probably got most of your “general education” classes over with, right? Now you have to take pre-requisites for your engineering classes and then going into your upper divs. Summer classes and a full load every semester might put you just as ahead as a typical industrial engineering major at your school. You can always go for your MBA with any degree (I think).</p>
<p>Do you think you would enjoy engineering? You shouldn’t switch just because you think you’ll make more money. That would be a miserable experience.</p>
<p>The thing is is that I don’t really know what I would like. I know I want to stay away from english-related areas because I dislike not having a clear-cut answer. But other than knowing that I certainly don’t want that, I’m not really sure what I want.</p>
<p>Why don’t you sit in on some engineering classes or contact engineers in your area and see if you can talk to them or shadow them for a day? The only way to determine if you would like engineering is to do some research and talk to as many people as possible.</p>
<p>Another point is that you can still take business courses as electives if you are an engineering major (a lot of engineers do this to boost their gpa). Engineers can work in sales and management and more business oriented things too. And of course, engineers can work on the business side of things but business majors can not work in engineering. Bottom line is if you enjoy engineering and it is what you want to do, then yes it is worth it but as you are well aware, engineering courses will require much more work than business courses so if you are not serious, you will not make it very far.</p>
<p>I commute to school so distractions such as partying and what not won’t get in the way of studying. The reward from the business classes just seems lackluster because I barely need to put effort into them. I want to be slightly challenged and feel rewarded when I complete a problem. My best friend happens to be an industrial engineering major which would mostly likely be the field that I enter. You think I should go to some of his classes? He is also a fourth semester student but he’s been doing engineering all along.</p>
<p>Are you math/science oriented? You don’t have to love it but you do need to have an interest. If not you won’t survive an industrial engineering program.</p>
<p>I like the clear-cut answer approach that both math and science seem to have. I don’t like ********ting around about how something should be, I prefer talking about how something is…if that makes sense.</p>
<p>I took the life science geared calc/physics courses and it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world but it also wasn’t torture.</p>
<p>Well, the calculus sequence, differential equations class, and calculus based physics sequence that you will have to take as an engineering major will be quite different from calc/physics for life sciences. I hate to use the term “weed out” but some of the calculus/physics/chemistry classes that are prerequisites for engineers are actually intended to weed students out. Engineering departments use these as a filter to get rid of students that are not serious. I am not saying this to scare you because with enough hard work you will be fine but this is just something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Frankly, some of these prerequisites are a pain that many students just have to get through to become an engineer and even if you don’t like calc 2 or 3, you could still enjoy upper level engineering classes and a career in engineering. My point is to not judge engineering just on calc, physics, and other prerequisites.</p>
<p>You can always go from Engineering to a general business role, but not vice versa. Plus, this is rarely said, but Engineering looks great on a resume, even for non-technical roles.</p>
<p>I’ve been doing some more thinking and as far as job descriptions/major descriptions go, there isn’t a single type of engineering that seems to really stand out as something I could see myself doing as a career. To be honest, as of now there isn’t really anything I could see myself doing in any field. I just know that I would be proud of myself for getting the engineering degree as it would be something of an ego boost, nothing more than that.</p>
<p>What do you recommend for someone who has little to no idea what they want to do?</p>
<p>Frankly, drop out of school, find any job, and make some money. Hopefully, once you’ve experienced a bit of the non-academic world, you’ll have a better idea of what to do with your life. If later on you decide a return to college is beneficial to you, then return to college; otherwise, accumulate experience and skills elsewhere, and live the most productive and happy life you can manage to acquire.</p>
<p>This is NOT a good reason to pursue engineering. With this attitude, it will be very difficult to make it through an engineering curriculum , let alone succeed and get good grades. While I wouldn’t suggest dropping out of school, you will have to have a better motive than this if you want to be an engineer. Maybe you should stick with business.</p>