<p>Hey guys! So I think this is what my plan is I wanna stay in Ohio and go to the university of cincinati I heard they had a spectacular engineering background but I kinda wanna double major in business. Would you guys think its worth it or would I just be wasting my time?</p>
<p>A full double major, to me, would be a waste of time. Just take some classes you like as part of your major. You will be hired as an engineer. They will want someone to work, not just trying to make it into management. Get your MBA after you have some experience.</p>
<p>After being here a while and reading answers to my own questions and others’ regarding similar things, I’d have to say a bad idea.</p>
<p>Double majoring in general is usually a bad idea because it takes about the same amount of time as it would take to get a masters degree, which is generally considered the better route.</p>
<p>Also, it may seem to future employers that you weren’t as dedicated to only engineering like a lot of the other applicants who focused on engineering while in school likely were. This one was harder for me to swallow in the past when I was going to get an AAS in Industrial Management through an accredited program before engineering. I eventually realized that it would truly be better to choose what I really want to do in life and study that in college.</p>
<p>Hmm yeah I see where you guys both are coming from I appreciate the input I have always been more of what hands on but maybe I should just soley look at engineering</p>
<p>Have posted several times before on this subject. Hired a engineering/business major ONCE. Was a MAJOR mistake. Decided I’d NEVER do that again (but kind of moot point now as I am retired).</p>
<p>If you are truly interested in another subject, just take a few classes or get a minor. But def double majoring is a waste of time.</p>
<p>You don’t need to major in business to learn business. The fundamentals of business are simple enough to be learned independently. The trick here is that they are useless without experience.</p>
<p>Although I have a strong opinion about dual engineering/business majors, a few relevant classes in the business world would benefit an engineering major. Classes like general economics, manufacturing management, etc. But completing all the classes nesessary for the degree is a waste of time for a true engineering major. Or it shows me that engineering really isn’t your focus/passion.</p>
<p>Thanks guys your opinions honestly really helped me! I’ve always been a more of a hands in type of guy so I guess I’m going to go for engineering but like someone stated before the fundamentals of business are relatively simple</p>
<p>The double major in business isn’t very useful, but you can get into some econ-related mathematics that can benefit you in your engineering career. Examples: statistical methods, optimization theory (linear, non-linear, convex), game theory, graphical models, etc.</p>
<p>I know a number of people who are double majoring in Engineering (mostly Industrial) and Business, but they all are more looking to get into Business and want the Engineering background, rather than the other way around. The only guy I knew who was doing Engineering and Business but was more Engineering oriented decided to drop the Business and do Math instead. </p>
<p>I can’t tell you how helpful the engineering is to business, but those I know who chose to do so have been pretty successful in getting good internships and full time jobs in Business.</p>
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<p>Can you elaborate?</p>
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I’ll give it a shot, even though I’m not the one who posted that.
More than a couple of people on this forum in charge of hiring have complained about the “mediocre engineer trying to get into management” archetype. Really, it’s equivalent to the MBA fresh out of school who tries to take charge of a group whose work he knows nothing about.
Business is simple to learn, difficult to apply. Business school provides a way to be absolutely clueless while pretending not to be.</p>
<p>I have worked with a couple of engineering/business double majors, and have yet to see ANY of them make a real contribution as an engineer. Every single one wound up on the business side, working in jobs where technical knowledge was useful but not necessary - most of their peers are straight business majors.</p>
<p>If you want to be an engineer, study engineering, take a couple of business courses so you understand that side of things, and then go be an engineer. There are massive, effective structures in place to turn good experienced engineers into entrepreneurs and managers once you are ready.</p>
<p>Cosmicfish speaks wisdom. I spent several months talking to friends and family at various levels of industry as well as reverse engineering dozens of career paths to come up with that same conclusion.</p>
<p>Elaborate:</p>
<p>Sure. The dual majors always thought they should be on the fast track to management because they had the business backgrounds. Our company did cutting edge aerospace work and so they were really behind the curve because they didn’t have as many engineering classes as they were splitting time with the two majors. Even those with engineering only degrees had a lot of on-the-job learning to do before they were useful engineers (we used to talk about needing 3 to 5 years on the job before we would let them work without close supervision on all but the simplest jobs). If the dual majors had spent as much time learning engineering as they did whining, they’d have been better off.</p>
<p>I got frustrated putting up with all their complaining why they weren’t given “management” type assignments when that is not what they were hired for. They finally quit out of their frustration. I was glad to see them go but mad about all the time we wasted trying to educate them in engineering.</p>
<p>Never again. (moot point as I am now retired)</p>
<p>Why not study industrial engineering instead?</p>