<p>I posted this on the engineering majors thread, but still...</p>
<p>BSE or AB?</p>
<p>i will be considering other factors, like personal passion, but i was wondering about the difference in value of an AB in economics and a BSE in mechanical engineering from Princeton. engineers are in higher demand, but princeton is better at econ. and then, how about if i want to make a career in business (aiming towards an MBA), but i don't want to work in an i-bank?</p>
<p>Anon,</p>
<p>I have said this on other places in this forum. I work in high tech. We always always prefer that someone has a tech undergrad unless we are hiring marketing people. The best VCs also have tech undergrads. An undergraduate econ degree is useless in high tech. Better to study something creative and then make up some new idea:)</p>
<p>But that's just us out here in Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>I have the exact same problem. I need to decide, but I am still quite uncertain.</p>
<p>Let me get this straight: If you send off one of the forms (BSE or BA) to Princeton by June 16, that's it, right? You can't change your choice during freshman year. Correct?</p>
<p>Well...no one has to technically decide until the end of sophomore year, and even then it's flexible. You can change whenever, since you don't have to follow any kind of worksheet or whatever. Chances are, even if you decide today that you want to go either AB or BSE, you'll change at least once while you're there. Take classes in both econ and mech eng to see which one you like better, then go with it. That's the beauty of having free freshman and sophomore years :)</p>
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We always always prefer that someone has a tech undergrad unless we are hiring marketing people.
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<p>Alumother - is this trend mainly in computer and technology fields, ordo they also prefer 'tech undergrads' in banking and finance-related fields?</p>
<p>G - I don't really know first hand in banking and finance. But if the banking and finance you are going after do any work with tech companies, than I would bet yes. What if you have to analyze biotech for a firm on the Street? It's also true that tech is hard. Anyone who can get a CS or Engineering degree has to belly up to the academic bar and down a few. People pay other people well if those other people have learned hard stuff.</p>
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<p>finance/banking is such a huge field that anything goes. i know history majors, who are some of the biggest i-banker and hedge fund managers, so dont matter what you major in, if you are good - you will get a job in banking/finance.</p>
<p>having said that, there are some specific jobs in finance/banking where "IMO" technical knowledge gives an edge. for example - if you want to be a quant or a trader on the ORFE/Math/Statistics/Computers will give you the requisite knowledge, or as alumother mentioned, if you want to be in VC or equity analysis - some technical background would be helpful.</p>
<p>but again, if you want to be a broker/i-banker, etc. it all depends on your personality, people's skill etc. so econ, history (or bar-hopin experience;)) will come handy as well...</p>
<p>I am going for BSE (ORFE) although not entirely sure of what i'd like to do, just with the thought that as long as the process of globalization continues, i might be able to utilize the OR and as long as our financial markets continue to evolve i might be able to utilize the FE, hence yayy! for ORFE for now atleast...who knows what i'll graduate with :D</p>
<p>lol i see VC and i think "vietcong."</p>
<p>(haha, its venture capitalist, i know)</p>
<p>but yeah, ill be taking both engineering and econ classes for at least my first semester. engineering majors have more requirements (some for freshman year), so we don't quite get the full two years to decide. luckily at least one of those requirements (math) overlaps.</p>
<p>As far as careers go, the important thing is the courses on your transcript. You can be an econ major who's taken a lot of applied math, and you'll be just as hirable in business as an engineer, I think. It's technical skills that are in demand these days, and while engineers are generally the people who have them, there are some ABs that have them too. That said, I'm an engineer, and glad I'm an engineer... I think there's a better support network within each engineering major than there is outside. In my view, taking difficult courses that aren't required for your major and nobody else you know is taking is much harder than taking difficult courses that everybody in your major is taking.</p>
<p>You can switch out of engineering at any time. However, Dean Bogucki will definitely try to talk you out of it. This isn't a bad thing -- he's just good at identifying people who are dropping engineering for the wrong reasons. Also, I wouldn't drop engineering during the summer. At least wait until you're on campus and can talk to profs, students, and deans. For more information about the engineering program you can try the Frosh Help section of the Engineering Council (student organization) website at <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/ecouncil%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/ecouncil</a> -- sorry the stuff's a couple years old, it should be updated later this summer, but the general info is still accurate.</p>
<p>thanks adi and alumother! ;) Just seeing your posts now but the info is very helpful.</p>
<p>
anyone with info on this?</p>
<p>for careers in business but not I-banking, it is such a HUGE field that there are numerous things that you can do. Ofcourse, i dont know of all the opportunities out there...but some of the very good opportunities that I know about are
- rotational 3 year GE Associate program
- HSBC international associate program (2 years)
- Consulting (management, strategy, IT)
- International business
- Logistics and operations
etc etc.</p>
<p>for most of these jobs, i have no clue about what the co.s are looking for - but in 2009, i would think that it is fair to assume that they would get excited if we have
- language skills
- international internship experience
- some relevant classes etc. etc.</p>