Perplexed: Business or Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Sorry, I need to vent. Please correct me if I am wrong on anything/comment!</p>

<p>I am going to be a sophomore this year and I still am undecided on what I want to do with my life! But, not completely. I know for a fact I do not want to do anything near the medical or psychology field after my first year in college. I have been going back and forth about engineering and business. I messed up my first year and didn't really branch out and utilize the resources I had on campus. I just made sure I kept my grades up and went to class for the most part. I have achieved honors twice with average to tough classes (so, I am pretty sure I can handle both business and engineering). </p>

<p>For a while, I wanted to do business because I wanted to basically go to work in a suit and work in an office 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. I loved to work with money. Period. End of story. Now, I am not quite sure how boring that may become. I am the kind of person that likes to be very organized and enjoys working with numbers. Although, I hate theory and when things are not exact. To apply to the business school, I have to still take Econ 101. I did not take this class first year, therefore I would have to stay in school for five years because the Ross program is a non-accelerated, three-year program. I took Econ in high school, but it wasn't that exciting to me and all the material seemed very elementary. Of course, that was only a regular high school course. </p>

<p>This year, after talking to many engineers, I am intrigued. Engineers have a very organized schedule throughout college and, for the most part, when they are out of school they are out. No more education (usually) and no more exams. To apply to the School of Engineering, I still need to take Chem 130/125/126, Physics 140/141 and Engin 101. I, such as Econ, took Chem in high school, but do not remember much about it. I know that Chemical Engineering if a very versatile degree and, basically, guarantees you a job out of college with a VERY good salary. I am very persuaded by others that are either in Business School or School of Engineering. Engineers tell me that business, of course, is really easy and that anyone could get a BBA. I half agree with this and half don't. I have the drive to achieve good grades and learn hard material so I really do not want to make a mistake with declaring my major. </p>

<p>I am stuck because this semester I am currently scheduled for:</p>

<p>Math 215
Econ 101
French 232
Astro 103</p>

<p>I want to take Chem 130 and Econ 101 to see which I am more interested in at the college level, but I want to continue to take French 232 so I am finally finished with my fourth-semester proficiency. I would like to take Math 215 because it looks good for the Business School and I would need it for School of Engineering. </p>

<p>Any comments? It seems so hard to choose a major based on a class, but I can't seem to find any job shadowing or anything like that around my area. Possibly looking for people going into business and people going into engineering? Views? Opinions? Feel free to ask my any questions.</p>

<p>By the way- Excuse my grammar. I HATE english!
<em>wonders how he ever got an A in writing...</em></p>

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<p>I was always told the best employment opportunities are for people with an undergrad engineering degree and an MBA. I believe that’s predicated on the fact that someone isn’t a genius or anything really talented in anything, as that person probably has some better options. If that describes you, I think you should go for engineering.</p>

<p>Also, I don’t think the BBAs who work 40-hour weeks are making all that much. It’s the BBAs who work 80+ hour weeks who are making a lot.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I mean it’s not all about the money…but it’s a factor. That is what I was thinking…if I do get an undergrad engineering degree many say it is very versatile and you could possibly even land a business oriented job with the degree…or pursue an MBA.</p>

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<p>MhailJ, first of all, most people come in to college unsure of what they want to pursue so a lot of people are in the same boat as you. Don’t feel too frustrated about your situation. </p>

<p>It seems that regardless of whether you go into engineering or business, you will need to tack on an extra year. That said, I would encourage you to use this year to find out which track you’d like to follow.</p>

<p>First off, use this time to talk with fellow students of diverse majors. Your saying ‘business’ and ‘engineering’ but in reality, marketing, accounting, management, mechanical engineering, computer science … are all quite different from each other. One subject in business or engineering might not be interesting for you while another might. If you can, talk to professors. Professors are generally willing to talk about their careers studying business or engineering. </p>

<p>In terms of scheduling, I would recommend taking a Physics or Chemistry course instead of Astrology. They will all count for your Science elective but Physics and chemistry will help you if you decide to take the engineering route. For your winter semester, if you’re still undecided, take a course in engineering. Engr 110 which is a broad professional overview of engineering or Econ 102 (which is sortof business but business is a broad topic as I mentioned before). </p>

<p>If your still unsure, I would apply to both majors and see which one accepts you. That might choose that route for you. However, if in the end all else fails, I would take QwertyKey’s advise and pursue engineering for a bachelors and if that experience tells you that engineering isn’t the route for you, get an MBA.</p>

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<p>As far as I know, 110 isn’t available in the winter. However, if your schedule doesn’t conflict you could just sit in the lecture hall if you’re really interested.</p>

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<p>oh my bad.</p>

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<p>Yes, sir.</p>

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<p>100% agreed.</p>

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<p>I was thinking about taking:</p>

<p>Math 215
Chem 130
Econ 101
French 232</p>

<p>Although, it seems like it would be a little much. I know that Chem, Math, and French is daily and weekly work, which would keep me quite tied down.</p>

<p>Then I was thinking:</p>

<p>Math 215
Chem 130
Chem 125/126
French 232</p>

<p>Taking Econ 101 winter semester…but it is only 13 credits…maybe possibly adding on the engineering class that provides a broad overview of all of them? That is, if I could obtain an override.</p>

<p>In conclusion, Ross is very selective and I do not want to risk my GPA by taking these engineering courses, but it looks like I have to do what I got to do if I want to find out what I really want in the future.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>“I wanted to do business because I wanted to basically go to work in a suit and work in an office 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week.”</p>

<p>Lol…dont get your hopes up…</p>

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<p>Yes, I know. That is why I am looking into actuarial sciences also.</p>

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<p>Math 215
Chem 130
Econ 101
French 232</p>

<p>You really should be able to handle that. If you can’t you’ll probably have trouble getting the engineering classes you need to get done, done in a reasonable amount of time.</p>

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<p>And then take the labs next semester? Will there be any downfall to that?</p>

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<p>125 and 130 should be taken concurrently, even though they don’t overlap much.</p>

<p>you should definitely decide asap if you wanna do engineering so you can take engin101(or do you? maybe english 125 can replace it if u took it last yr?), you can also take some prereq classes(physics, math 216 etc) during spring/summer so you should graduate within 3.5 yrs.</p>

<p>good luck</p>

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<p>I strongly recommend you consider this program:</p>

<p>[Michigan</a> Engineering | Program Overview](<a href=“http://www.engin.umich.edu/egl/overview.html]Michigan”>http://www.engin.umich.edu/egl/overview.html)</p>

<p>It might be what you’re looking for. Highly competitive, though, from what i hear.</p>

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<p>You are actually able to graduate from Ross a semester early. There’s the con of one year of foregone earnings, but there’s also the pro of having one more summer to get an internship to boost your resume for full-time recruiting.</p>

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<p>Ross does not care about Calc III. Most BBAs don’t touch even a bit of Calc I during their Ross years. They want kids who are good with numbers, but no need to jack up on math. By all means do it, math is awesome, but just know Ross doesn’t really care.</p>

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<p>Intro Econ is fairly elementary. Know that you don’t take much econ in Ross (I believe one business economics course is required beyond Econ 101 & 102).</p>

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<p>Very, especially relative to CE or CS. The tough part is beating out the other smart & driven kids gunning for the best grades and the best jobs.</p>

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<p>Don’t many engineers get MSEs? Many BBAs are done with school after undergrad. If you can succeed in the business world, an MBA isn’t necessary (unless you perhaps want to change careers). If you want to trade securities or work in financial advisory, some (very simple) exams are required.</p>

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<p>Correct. Doubling the hours more or less doubles the (pre-tax) compensation.</p>

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<p>Second that.</p>

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<p>“Correct. Doubling the hours more or less doubles the (pre-tax) compensation.”</p>

<p>My point was that even though the starting salaries appear to be about the same for Ross and CoE, that BSE’s are better compensated per hour because most of those BBAs are working longer hours.</p>

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<p>giants92, you are a Econ/Financial Mathematics major, correct?</p>

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<p>I don’t think that’s true (unless you’re just including base salary, which doesn’t include signing, relocation, or performance bonus)… What does the average engineer make out of college- 60k? And they’re working 40 hours/week? You referenced BBAs working 80 hours/week, meaning you were referencing the investment banking analysts… all in comp. this past year was ~130k (pre-tax), so doing 80-90 hours/week in banking equates the two jobs on an hourly basis. But then you’ve got to factor in the perks, a couple common ones for instances being free dinner and car service home every night you work late (=almost every night you’re working). Not to mention the important concept the finance salaries do not have the low ceiling that engineering salaries do.</p>

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<p>Used to be Fin Math but switched my declaration to Pure. Have taken a chunk of the Fin Math classes as math electives. Not sure what I’ll go w/ in the end, I’ll figure that out before I have to pick my classes for 2nd semester- depends what I want to have on my resume.</p>

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<p>Giants, I think that completely depends on the job (for engineers; don’t know much about financial jobs). I know of a few engineering jobs with starting min compensation of 120-140k, with 40-50 hour work weeks and great room for growth (in fact I have one). Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I just wanted to make sure other engineers don’t think it’s impossible to receive good compensation doing engineering. Sure these jobs are rare compared to the typical engineering job, but so too are the top business jobs that pay that much (and the people willing to work 80 hours/week), are they not? Correct me if I’m wrong.</p>

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<p>“You referenced BBAs working 80 hours/week, meaning you were referencing the investment banking analysts”</p>

<p>Don’t those in consulting work 80+ hours too? Anyway, I was figuring that those BBAs who work 40-50 hrs would be making less than 60K.</p>

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<p>I’ll preface this by saying consulting is not my area of expertise, but it’s my understanding that you might work an odd 80 hour week at McKinsey (and maybe transitively Bain and BCG), but it certainly isn’t commonplace. I would say ~50-60 is more the norm (for MBB, less at others). I think you get a signing bonus at MBB (but I don’t think it’s the standard 10k you get in banking) and I know you get ~5-10k year end. It might average out to a bit less on a per hour basis, but MBB is the cream of the crop of consulting, is a ticket to the top business schools, and provides you with the best range of exit opps in the business world.</p>

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<p>Wow, I’ve never heard of an engineering job that pays that straight out of college. You can’t at least reveal the type of job? You don’t have to say which firm. I don’t mind at least stating that this past summer I did, and will be returning to, investment banking. It could just be due a comparatively (greatly) diminished level of exposure to engineering, but it seems like the type of job you’re describing is far rarer than investment banking.</p>