Should I switch my major from Industrial Engineering to Business?

State Forums
1

Hi, right now I’m studying at Community College preparing transfer to 4-year univ as industrial engineering. (I’m done half much of my major prerequisites.) I searched schools, and only Berkeley offers IE among UCs. I considered Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Eastbay, but they have different application systems, so I want to study at UC. If I study only for UCB, I wouldn’t be able to make sure the possibility of my transfer, so that I’m considering to change my major to Business. If I change it to business, I want to study Business Information Management at UCI, or Business at UCLA.

Recently, I talked with my dad. What he says is that since I’ve done my major prerequisites according to engineering, finish it and try applying with IE major. (including out-of-state schools) And, if you couldn’t get any offer, then start prerequisites for business major. I agree with him, but it can make my transferable units be more than 100.

What I really want to do in the future is supply chain manager in Logistics. It could be other job, but I want to work for logistics between countries.

This Fall, I’m going to apply to UCB as IE, UCI as Material E, and some out-of-state univ. as IE major.

  1. What do you think with my overall situation?
  2. Is there anyone working in Logistics? Does major matter to work there? (If it does, i'm thinking M.A.)
  3. Any comment please.
2

Some of the undergraduate business schools (like UCB Haas, USC Marshall) offer courses or a major in quantitative analysis or Management Science (that was the name of the major in the old days, at Haas, quantitative analysis at Marshall). You might also check into other business schools. This may require more advance math than the regular business majors. This track is similar to industrial engineering in the engineering department. You might also want to finish the industrial engineering and then work toward a masters degree.

3

Did you consider Cal Poly SLO for IE? Its engineering reputation is excellent.

4

I would like to second CP SLO as well, the school has strong ties to industry and employers such as the ones you described. With heavy emphasis and recognition for its engineering and business departments, CPSLO might be what you are looking for in case UCB doesn’t happen