<p>When I asked son why he hadn’t yet registered for classes, he dropped the bombshell that he wants to change his major. He was afraid to say anything because he didn’t know how it would affect his scholarship. I know he will still get the Presidential, but he would lose the engineering departmental scholarship. 
He says he is thinking about economics or finance. I suggested CS and a business minor, but he pooh poohed that. Does anyone know of any majors housed in the College of Engineering that slant toward econ or finance? He is a freshman ee major right now. I don’t think he has even had a college business class, so I would hate for him to throw that stipend out the window.</p>
<p>If he’s not going to be successful in an engineering program, isn’t it better to lose the $2500 per year than it would be to lose the full tuition if he goes under a 3.0?</p>
<p>Does anyone know of any majors housed in the College of Engineering that slant toward econ or finance?</p>
<p>I don’t think there is such a discipline.<br>
<a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/academics/departments/[/url]”>http://eng.ua.edu/academics/departments/</a></p>
<p>What area of engineering is he currently? </p>
<p>If he hasn’t taken any business classes yet, why not have him take one and see if he likes it? Maybe at a CC over the summer?</p>
<p>In the meantime, he needs to sign up for some classes…even if he changes some of them later.</p>
<p>are there any Core that he still needs to take?</p>
<p>I told him to speak with an advisor. He is asking me who to talk to. He said he didn’t want to go to engineering advisors to talk about changing majors. Does anybody know where he should go to talk about his options?</p>
<p>What area of engineering is he in?</p>
<p>What is going on? Is he struggling? Does he dislike the area of eng’g that he’s in (many kids change disciplines).</p>
<p>What is he saying?</p>
<p>If he’s certain about business, then he should talk to a B-school advisor.</p>
<p>But, what is going on?</p>
<p>What has he taken so far? How has he done so far? Is he still taking weeder classes like Gen Chem and Calculus?</p>
<p>Of all the engineering majors, civil engineering would include the most economics and finance topics. I’m considering taking a civil engineering course next semester as a lot of transportation economics has roots in civil engineering. I’ve also noticed a lot of chemical engineers working in finance and applied statistics as they have strong quantitative backgrounds.</p>
<p>At this point, switching out of engineering will cause him to lose $7,500 in scholarship money. While this is a large amount of money, getting a second bachelor’s degree later on would cost a lot more.</p>
<p>A lot of students switch to business from engineering. Finance and economics can be STEM-type majors if one so desires. </p>
<p>While difficult to do at the end of the year, it can be arranged for him to sit in some business school courses.</p>
<p>I need to talk with him to see what is going on. So far this is all by text. He said he couldn’t talk. He has calculus 3 and had an a at mid term. He did say calculus based physics was hard. He already had chemistry last semester.</p>
<p>I agree with Sea_Tide that CivilE may be the most business-oriented Eng’g. </p>
<p>What area of eng’g is he?</p>
<p>When you talk to him, ask him about his Frosh Eng’g Program class that went over the different areas of eng’g. Did he like another area? </p>
<p>It may be just that he doesn’t see himself in eng’g at all. If so, there’s nothing that will likely change that.</p>
<p>Thank you! I am afraid that may be the case. He says his grades are good but he’s not interested in eng anymore. He is ee. I have told him to get registered for now and include a business class. He needs to take more than one night to decide what to do since we don’t even know who to speak with.</p>
<p>He doesn’t have to change majors to take the intro-level business classes. Next semester is when he’ll start taking his engineering fundamental courses, so it’d be a good time to squeeze in econ to see if likes that better. </p>
<p>Economics is to business what physics is to engineering, it’s the fundamental course that tells you whether you are cut out for the discipline or not.</p>
<p>And tell him to talk to his advisor in FEP or EE. He’s not going to be penalized for simply thinking about transferring out of the college.</p>
<p>my daughter who has a great GPA had a hard time with her physics class. if that is one of the drawbacks to staying in eng. then maybe he could take the second physics at CC.</p>
<p>i agree that if all you are losing is 2500 per year … SWITCH! in our case we would be losing 1/3 OOS tuition plus 2500 per year. my daughter hasn’t mentioned wanting to switch, but eng. is not fun and games a lot of the time. this week she has three major tests and a lab report in classes like ochem ii, calc 3, and microiology. this week is no fun at all!!!</p>
<p>of all the ChemEs that she knows, most are not planning to do ChemE. most are using it as a stepping stone to get to somewhere else like medicine, dentistry, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry I can’t help with any UA specific advice but I can say my husband has a BSEE and MSEM and if your son doesn’t really want to do EE support his decision to switch majors because the EE program requires someon who is all in and then many still do not make it.</p>
<p>I believe there is a “arm” of Civil that is called Construction Management Engineering. Don’t know if that is of any interest.</p>
<p>I will say I have 2 cousins who graduated in Economics. And they have both done very well in their careers!</p>
<p>Advice needed! Son still has not talked with anyone about this at school. He stopped by advising after classes several days, but there was nobody there. Today he went at 11:00, and a person at the desk said there would be no advising sessions until next Tuesday. He e-mailed his (random–he says) advisor and got no response. I have waited for him to work this out, but this is nuts. Does anybody know who I can contact tomorrow so he can talk with somebody and get registered for some classes?</p>
<p>Are you saying that he doesn’t have his registration hold lifted yet?</p>
<p>I would probably email Dr. Cordes. He’s the FEP Director and tell him what’s going on and ask his advice as to how to proceed. </p>
<p><a href=“mailto:david.cordes@ua.edu”>david.cordes@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Who did your son email?</p>
<p>Has he decided to change to Business? If so, he needs to do that “major change” submission.</p>
<p>Thank you. He did not tell me who he emailed. I had visions of grad student advisors and my son just accepting this. He is not changing majors as of yet. What does fep stand for?</p>
<p>FEP=Freshman Engineering Program</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, UA does not use graduate student advisors. Many advisors do not hold doctorates, but are UA staff.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, it is best to email the advisor first, especially if the student has already decided what courses they are going to take, which might allow them to just stop by the advising office and sign the form reaffirming UA’s Honor Code.</p>
<p>Freshman Engineering Program. Dr. Cordes in the director. He’s also dept head of Comp Sci. Very nice man, always answers my inquiries very promptly.</p>
<p>If your son doesn’t like EE, then he needs to go to what he likes. What are his strengths? What does he like?</p>
<p>Many kids switch eng’g disciplines their frosh years. Some who thought they’d be MechE, find that they like EE better, or they were ChemE and decide they like MechE or whatever. And, some (like my older son), found that he liked Math better and went that route.</p>
<p>Industrial and Systems Engineering integrates the business and engineering disciplines the best. However, I do not believe the College of Engineering at UA offers a degree in either of these fields.</p>
<p>Industrial and Systems information:
[Systems</a> engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_engineering]Systems”>Systems engineering - Wikipedia)
[Industrial</a> engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering]Industrial”>Industrial engineering - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Additionally (and as mom2collegekids mentions), Mathematics might be an excellent choice to consider as well. </p>
<p>Mathematicians are often hired for financial modeling, economic analysis, and work quite frequently within various engineering teams.</p>