<p>I'm applying to Cornell this year and I'm really interested in ORIE. I want to become a financial engineer and I think ORIE would give me the best skills for the field. I'm planning to double major in econ however, so I'd prefer to apply to CAS than engineering.</p>
<p>What's the difference between math with a concentration in OR and the OR engineering major? Do engineering OR majors get better recruiting options? Is one degree considered more rigorous and/or better than the other?</p>
<p>Also, how strong is the Cornell Math department? I know that engineering is extremely good at Cornell, but I've never heard of anyone say the same about math. In terms of professors, research, and career opportunities, how does it compare to Cornell Engineering?</p>
<p>Double major and minor at Cornell? I don’t know, that seems like at a lot of work at one of the hardest schools in the country lol.</p>
<p>To be honest, I’m not 100% what to pursue as a second major. The main reason I prefer CAS over COE is that my app isn’t very math and science oriented and I think I’d be a stronger candidate at CAS. How strong is the ORIE program compared to the math program? Again, I know that Cornell engineering is strong but I don’t know anyone studying ORIE at COE.</p>
<p>So I’m currently working on the fin. eng. curriculum here, and I’ll tell you that you definitely have to have a quite strong basis in terms of mathematical ability. </p>
<p>The prof. is nice, and she doesn’t really focus too much on the theoretical aspects, but if you really want to understand what’s going on I’d recommend the math major as I don’t think you’d be able to just get away with the ORIE curriculum. </p>
<p>Seems like the optimal combination is math major (taking relevant set theory, measure theory, analysis, etc. classes) but also take ORIE 3500/other probability theory classes because you’ll need it. </p>
<p>Unlike the undergrad eng. curriculum, the fin. eng. courses are actually quite difficult in terms of material, and you * need * to have a strong foundation in mathematics to do well in the courses/get offers from companies.</p>
<p>I’m an undergrad doing CS and ORIE, but I am concurrently working on the MFE curriculum. I can’t apply yet due to age restrictions, but I’m planning to complete the curriculum by winter of next year. </p>
<p>It’s ** definitely ** helped me a lot for interviews at many trading/quant places, so I definitely recommend looking into it when you come to Cornell.</p>
<p>^Are you doing a master’s and bachelor’s with a double major in 4 years? I want to do that as well except different majors (M.Eng in CS), can you tell me how you got (or are planning to get) that approved? Also, do you have to take all the Master’s courses after you get it approved, or can I start planning towards taking them now?</p>
<p>It’s not approved. To be completely honest, I don’t really want either the undergrad or the master’s degrees. I’m just doing it for the knowledge/connections. And it’d be 3 years , excluding the 1/2 sem. that you’d have to spend in nyc for mfe.</p>
<p>I’m just waiting for a few more final rounds to work out and see if I can lock in an internship at a place I want this year, then I’ll change my plan accordingly and get more heavily involved in my research. </p>
<p>You can start taking them whenever you want, but I’m not completely sure if concurrently completing the master’s in CS is a logical/smart idea.</p>
<p>You’re completing the MFE and bachelor’s both in 3 years total?</p>
<p>I wanted the master’s in CS basically to increase my knowledge; I drew up a schedule for my four years and then I realized that that would be enough extra courses to get an M.Eng. So if I am taking those courses anyway, I might as well tack on a project and get the master’s, I thought. I’m not planning on a PhD in CS.</p>
<p>What would the master’s in CS do for you that a regular undergraduate degree in CS wouldn’t? Make sure you have a clear plan and schedule in mind before you start. Also, what are your plans for the future if you are not getting a PhD?</p>
<p>Yes, I was taking 36 credits this semester, but I ended up dropping my undergrad courses (except 1, where I’m taking it since my research prof. is teaching it), so now I’m down to 28. I’ll probably have to take around ~25 to 27 for the next 3 semesters max, but that doesn’t seem like too much of an issue. I’m mainly concerned on internships right now.</p>
<p>I have a clear course plan and schedule. I’m not sure what the master’s designation will do, but I am going to be taking those courses minus the master’s project regardless, so if I can get the degree, why not. The project will be research experience and that will also be good.
As of right now, I have three possible paths: conventional software job, biotech sector job straight out of college, or PhD program in Chemical biology. The master’s on my transcript might help a bit in getting my initial job for the first two scenarios. My degree will be an AB but an MEng might look more legitimate even though the AB curriculum is also rigorous.
And wow. That is insane. Well I guess if you can do that, I can do it in 4 years. How do you schedule 36 credits in the same semester without course conflicts, though?</p>
<p>Whatever your goals might be, make sure you understand that the computer science curriculum for master’s is pretty broad, so it might be much more useful for students who have a clear understanding of what they want to pursue (specific field) so that they can use the CS masters to sharpen/solidify their skills in that field. </p>
<p>What degree are you doing for undergrad? Some science?</p>
<p>And yes, I unfortunately spend 85-90% of my time on activities outside of academics on campus, so I did not have much time to dedicate to classes to start with, and on top of that, as you pointed out, the classes did conflict because I’m currently TAing 2 courses, consulting for another and a CA for another, so I would be running around the whole day attending a few min of class and then running out for something else. I realized that wasn’t all that a good use of my time and I wasn’t really learning much in my undergrad classes, so I decided to stay in only masters/grad/senior classes as those were directly helping me for both research/internships.</p>
<p>What degree are you doing for undergrad? Some science?</p>
<p>CS and Chemistry (Chemical Biology focus); minor in Biology, maybe minor(s) out of BME/Math/Biometry+Stats/Business</p>
<p>Whatever your goals might be, make sure you understand that the computer science curriculum for master’s is pretty broad, so it might be much more useful for students who have a clear understanding of what they want to pursue (specific field) so that they can use the CS masters to sharpen/solidify their skills in that field. </p>
<p>I really, really like CS Theory. I want to do the Computational Science + Engineering Track for my undergrad CS major because I’m planning on going into science, but I also want to take a lot of upper-div theory/mathematical CS classes. If I take 4 Theory classes, do a master’s project (hopefully in Computational S + E), and take one ORIE class I’ve been interested in, an NBA class I’ve been looking at (Entrepreneurship for Scientists + Engineers), and apply one of my upper-div Chemical Biology classes, I can get the Master’s degree, and get the best of both worlds of CS. Again, it’s really about the classes I want to take irrespective of the degree designation. (Also, I think that the theory classes will still give me a stronger foundation in CS just because math/quantitative stuff is a really versatile skill, judging by the amount of people I know of who have been mathematicians or theoretical physicists, etc. as undergrads and easily jumped over to a different science)</p>
<p>Do you have advice on handling a massive credit load with your limited time for academics? I’m taking 20.5 academic credits + PE right now (1st semester) and it’s not too bad but due to initial laziness I’m probably going to get a 3.8-3.9, but I wanted to take 25-33 credits next semester plus research, and I’m not sure how feasible/hard that is.</p>
<p>Don’t go too hard on the credits…25 - 33 is a lot more than you first might think, especially when the busy weeks come in.</p>
<p>As for handling a massive credit load I think it really depends on how well you understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. Might sound a bit vague, but the way I handle my academic work is through just dimension reduction (by drawing correlations between various subjects, ones that are not even remotely connected, connecting them and then talking to the professors about it. This does several things:
a) Makes sure you are critically thinking about the material you’re learning
b) Let’s the professor know that you are going above and beyond in terms of work
c) Opens up nice opportunities for research ideas
d) Significantly reduces the amount of work you do
e) Enables you to spend <30 min studying for prelims
f) Helps a lot for interviews)</p>
<p>and memory mapping (basically representing all of your activities, people, thoughts, etc. you know as nodes and running common algorithms on the edges…this does a lot for you, e.g. if you need to study for a test on mechanics tomorrow, but you also need to teach one of your students in your research lab about physics and also tutor others in physics. Just do these simultaneously, etc.)</p>
<p>Obviously these increase the covariance of my “returns” when we dimension reduce, and I can’t afford that this semester, so I hedge away risk by doing all the TA/CA/consulting positions as well as consulting for vc/consulting firms, etc. This way you are essentially having “risk-free” success with a lot of time saved that you could spend doing other things (but if you carefully choose those things then you can use them to save even more time on the initial activities, which gives you more time…etc.)</p>
<p>Might sound stupid, but that allows me to spend very little time on academics each week and do well in classes. But everyone has their own way, so it’s a just matter of finding what works for you…</p>