<p>I'm about to attend Penn State in the fall and plan to major in engineering. I want to major in Petroleum engineering but I'm worried about job security. Should I do chem or mechanical instead? Would also like to possibly double major for a bba. Plan to get an MBA later on. Maybe transfer to Michigan where I can either double major in Mech Eng. and Chem Eng. or one of those and business?</p>
<p>First don’t ever think about double major for BBA, or any kind of double major. Most of the time double majors are waste of time and money. Unless there’s a very good reason for it, or your family is rich, or you absolutely love doing both.</p>
<p>Get a job and work for a few years then come back to do your MBA. BBA = nothing, compare to your future MBA and your work experience.</p>
<p>Why do you want to work as a Petroleum engineer? That will answer your question which major to choose.
I don’t see why you need to get those two majors. Lots of people graduate with only one major. What if you don’t want to be an engineer seven years from now? You graduated with two majors, wasted two extra years to complete your undergraduate study, and now what?</p>
<p>You do not need a bachelor’s degree in business administration to (eventually) study for a master’s degree in business administration.</p>
<p>I’ve always wanted to do some sort of business when I grow up. That’s where the major money is. I want an engineering degree as an above average career to fall back on if business didn’t work out. But after researching petroleum engineering it seems like a career I’d like, but I’m worried about job security because they get laid off and the future of oil is shaky. And that’s another reason I’d double major in both is in case I don’t like it.</p>
<p>First off, you’re right about major money being in business, but you’re also missing the point that it’s one of the most over-saturated fields, and unless you graduate from Harvard business school or other top schools, you’re chances are very slim. Actually, let me repeat, chances for major money are slim no matter what. (It also depends what your definition of major money is). </p>
<p>Right now petroleum is the most paid engineering major, but there are set backs. For one, if traveling is not your thing, than forget as you will need to travel very often. Also, job security is a problem for all majors, so this is no different. As for work down the road with the shakiness of the oil industry, it is hard to predict, but I don’t think you will need to worry about that for decades. Oil will be used for many decades, and when oil starts to become less and less, well they will need more engineers to try and locate new oil. </p>
<p>As other people have said, double majors and BBA are pretty useless. MBA is much better. Besides, wasting 2 years to get a BBA means 2 years less making money, so that’s a problem too.</p>
<p>Would a masters in petroleum engineering help? And I know Northwestern offers a dual mba and masters in engineering management so I assume that would be the best route to follow if they still offer it 10-15 years from now.</p>
<p>
Three possibilities:
Be your own entrepreneur, or
Be a finance giant, or
Have years of experiences. </p>
<p>I don’t think having a MBA mean you will be making more money than an average engineer.</p>