What are good options for majors/ careers for someone who is a natural leader and wants to do something in business, probably in management, but wants to work on projects related to STEM, namely Sustainability/ Aerospace Eng/ Tech? And what schools would offer good options?
You might be interested in the Business Administration major at AU with a self-designed concentration or a minor in Sustainability.
https://www.american.edu/kogod/undergraduate/
Tech Consultant sounds like it would be of interest. Also Mgmt Consultant. Having a Stem / Business combo would be great. CS / Econ or CS/ Analytics (or Fin / Math, etc)
Very marketable to the major consulting shops.
Since you have expressed an interest in aerospace engineering, you may need to complete that major during undergraduate school then work for a few years before enrolling in an MBA program.
With experience in the real world, your options should become clear to you. With respect to your college years, an engineering major requires total commitment.
Our family has had a host of members do an engineering UG degree and then go on for an MBA.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering maybe something worth exploring. Cornell has a very strong ORIE department that allows select students to do a 5 year BS/MBA.
Lehigh has strong engineerings program that can be combined with an entrepreneurship minor.
My D is at Purdue studying chemical engineering and just completed a series of course for a certification in collaborative leadership. Her co-op is also in engineering leadership development. Can’t beat Purdue for aero UG either.
“Sustainability” and “aerospace” are two different things. One major that covers both of them is mechanical engineering.
search past comments by former CC poster @Rogracer, including:
" But please realize, even in aerospace companies, MechEs outnumber AeroEs at least 10-to-1. If you get an undergrad degree in MechE and include Aero as your electives, you will not impede your path to Aero grad school in the slightest. And you will have more options if you decide to go right to work right after undergrad…even in an aerospace company."
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/11198890#Comment_11198890
that’s assuming you want to get at your goals by being an engineer first.
Over my life I have encountered a couple business-oriented guys with an engineering education who manage projects, and companies actually, but were not actually ever engineers themselves. The ones I encountered went to Dartmouth and Harvard, respectively, and majored in “engineering science” or something like that, then got themselves admitted to some kind of management training program at an elite construction or development firm which hired people like that. It is not the norm.
I think most others would go about it by getting an engineering degree, working in something relevant for a couple years, then getting an MBA.
And post #21 here
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/6620001#Comment_6620001
was his “key” (best) and “target” school list, for his aerospace company, at the time…
Thank you to everyone who has responded. I was thinking of trying to become an engineering manager, but that degree is not widely offered, especially for Bachelors, even at top business schools. Does anyone know if I can become an engineering manager if I study business administration and perhaps minor in engineering, or if there’s another major that will allow me to get there?
Study engineering, work as an engineer for several years, then move into management when the opportunity presents itself. This is a common path, and does not require a business major or minor (or MBA). Engineers will also better respect a manager who knows what engineering is like.
One typically becomes an engineering manager by first being an engineer, then being promoted internally by your firm to increasingly responsible supervisory roles due to your outstanding performance and potential for such roles.
What flags a technically proficient engineer for a management role is potential to successfully manage a team of people and interpersonal skills, as well as desire for a management role. So development of those types of skills, in tandem to your technical training, can help you towards your goal.
Suggest you should seek out opportunities to work in groups and develop leadership experiences wherever you can, eg extracurriculars, clubs, school engineering projects, anything. Not every outstanding engineer is outstanding at leading and motivating people towards accomplishing a goal.
But its not like you can take some course and bam you are managing a group of engineers. You have to be chosen for it. And the starting point is to be an outstanding engineer.
Industrial engineering. Look at Purdue or Georgia Tech to see if any of the concentrations look interesting. You can go a lot of directions with an IE degree. That said, if you want to go into management you’ll need some soft skills. Might need an MBA eventually.