<p>Apparently from this website Business majors at my school UIUC seem to make as much money as engineers even though our Engineering school is among the best in the country. At the same time they have a blast in college while working half as hard as us, they dont have to worry about outsourcing and they dont have to worry about being stereotyped as nerds/ geeks. Something seems worng here coz if not its so unfair!</p>
<p>You can change your major to something in business if it is not too late.</p>
<p>Like I've always said, engineering is a pretty good deal for those people who aren't that good and who go to no-name schools, but less of a good deal for the stars. Engineers at the elite schools like Berkeley and Stanford don't make significantly higher starting salaries than the national average. </p>
<p>However, I would point out that engineers still get a much better deal than do most other students do, particularly the natural science students. Students of physics or mathematics probably work just as hard as the engineers do and are just as intelligent, if not more so, and also have to put up with the nerd/geek stereotype, yet make significantly less money. I would say that if anybody is really getting a raw deal, it is those guys. </p>
<p>However, if you think business is a better deal at UIUC, I would recommend that you switch majors. Engineering certainly isn't for everyone.</p>
<p>I say you stick to who you are get an engineering degree and then try to break into business, start your own co, go itno finance, get an MBA do whatever, just don't go for a wimpy major.</p>
<p>Instead of that website, try this one. It might make you feel better.</p>
<p>If i knew about this two yrs back i would have definitely started off with business. But now as a sophomore i am having mixed feelings because for one all the technical classes i have taken are gonna go waste and secondly my gpa is average engineering gpa( if u know what i mean) so its going to put me atleast in the bottom 50% of the business class if not worse.
i am so confused..lol</p>
<p>I wish that cnn made a similar list but with a terminal salary for each degree. The starting salary alone can be very misleading.</p>
<p>Nobody knows what the terminal salary might be. Is it CEO of the company?</p>
<p>Yeah the thing about our business majors is that the College of Business is almost as hard to get into as engineering but with half the work. The students getting in are much too smart for the material they work on. But also they probably wouldn't do business if it required the same workload as engineering. I get jealous too but I like what I'm doing (most of the time) and they like what they're doing (which can be pretty hard, it's definitely not the easiest of majors for sure). So they picked a good major and they like it. Big whoop.</p>
<p>One last quote from the Business Honors facebook group: "We're smart enough to be engineers, we just don't hate ourselves."</p>
<p>lol yeah i have also seen people wear t shirts with that quote on it</p>
<p>Engineering used to be a good field, but it's become sooo saturated locally.....also, outsourcing is killing the field. There's no protection for engineers in terms of supply, unlike other fields (lawyer, doctor etc.).....universities can pump out as many engineering degrees as they feel like and get away with it. With other fields, they'd lose their accreditation if they tried to become a degree mill.</p>
<p>But nobody is talking about law or medicine, aehmo. They are talking about engineering vs. business. You have said yourself that you don't like business either. So why do you constantly pick on engineering? You should be picking on BOTH.</p>
<p>Hey this is our Illini forum. Make aehmo go away! And saaky (no offense you are much better) go away too! This is our forum don't screw it up like every other one which just becomes the same continuing argument after a page or two.</p>
<p>I honestly dont mind sakky giving me some insights coz he seems to know what hes talking about but yeah i donot want this to be a repeat of the earlier threads.</p>
<p>Anyways if i were to get a MBA would it really matter if i do engineering or business?</p>
<p>
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Anyways if i were to get a MBA would it really matter if i do engineering or business?
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</p>
<p>Probably not. </p>
<p>What matters most of all is the quality of your work experience, which could be indirectly influenced by what kind of degree you get. For example, a business student would not be able to work as an engineer, however an engineer can usually work in most business functions. But still, it is a question of what kind of company you work for and whether you are given the opportunities to do well.</p>
<p>I was an engineer major at UIUC last year and it definatly was not for me. I would only suggest engineering if you have a true passion for math and all those other technical courses, which I sure as hell didn't.</p>
<p>Saaky can stay. Sorry. Just only if he doesn't cater to any dummies who come and try to wreck threads. They deserve to be ignored and he usually doesn't do that and it only gets worse. I wanted to shoo him away before he had that chance.</p>
<p>to the OP,</p>
<p>Why not switch into the field right now? You can try and transfer into business related professions relatively painlessly as a sophomore. Once you become a junior, it will become unrealistic. I suggest you do it NOW while you can. Think about this. Do you really want to be in engineering for the rest of your life? If not, switch into business.</p>
<p>I was very optimistic about engineering and the possibility of making great money but....i guess i've realized this after a while. Going to a top engineering school in the u.s. isn't actually worth it. Top engineers do not get compensated for and cases of a very high starting salary are very rare. Top accounting programs and top actuarial science programs are much more lucrative and open up many more doors than engineering does. Furthermore, the grade deflation from top engineering programs kills the possibility of persuing grad. studies in other non-engineering studies like business/law/medicine right after college. It's basically like sacrificing everything for a back-up average starting salary.</p>
<p>Right now I am taking an introductory accounting class and the grade deflation is horrible. 2/3rd of the class (500 students) are retaking it. Also a B is required in this class for all business majors. :(</p>