<p>So I have recently graduated from UGA with a BBA in Real Estate. The program is ranked 3rd in the country, very quantitative curriculum. My question is would it be feasible to be accepted into a M.S. Industrial Engineering program? Since IE is very related to business, I would think this shouldn't be too much of a problem. According to Clemson's website, I would only need to complete Calc 2, physics, and linear algebra to apply to their program as I have already taken Chem 1 & 2, Calc 1, and 2 Stat classes. The economy is one reason I'm considering this change, but ultimately I feel like I would be happier and better fit with a more technical career in engineering. My other option is to just get an MBA in operations/ supply chain management. However, a M.S in IE would only take 1 year to complete at about half the price of an MBA. Any suggestions?</p>
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<li><p>You won’t get accepted. I’m very familiar with the UGA BBA program and it’s not remotely quantitative enough to get you prepared for industrial engineering. You would really struggle even if you were admitted and took all of those calculus and statistics classes. You probably need econometrics classes, time series classes, you’ll definitely need to know how to code in Java (if not C), etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Industrial engineering isn’t “related to” business. It’s a tool and skill set that involves complex mathematics to solve problems. Many of those problems happen to be in the business optimization world.</p></li>
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<p>Here’s an example of the difference: if a Operations Management MBA wanted to determine how to structure a supply chain, they would determine the type of product being sold, the variability in demand, then would pick an approach from the famous HBR article. An industrial engineer would build a mathematical model of the system, including mapping the demand to some sort of time-series causal structure, would simulate the system to determine cause-effect relationships, then would perform optimization using game theoretic assumptions to maximize expected profit. </p>
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<li><p>Industrial Engineering (especially for Supply Chain) is very competitive at graduation. Clemson is in a particularly tough position because it’s close to Georgia Tech (#1 in industrial engineering since the beginning of time), and Georgia Tech graduates so many students, particularly at the MS level (nearly 100 students a year). I noticed on Clemson’s salary website, they have very few MS IE’s report salaries, and those that do average in the 40’s and low 50’s.</p></li>
<li><p>Industrial Engineering salaries are much lower than MBA salaries. An industrial engineer from Tech might get 1 or 2 job offers in the $70,000 range. An MBA from Tech with a focus in Operations Management seems to start closer to the $90,000 - $100,000 range (if you’re a US citizen - the numbers are obviously usually deflated for international students), and has more upward potential after graduation.</p></li>
<li><p>With the current economy, 1 year might not be what you want. The projections I’ve seen say that a Spring 2010 graduate will still have a very difficult time at graduation (Spring 2010 hiring targets are set in Summer 2009). The Spring 2011 graduates will fare much better.</p></li>
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