<p>So I am determining whether to go to UCSB for Economics with honors or if I should go to Cal Poly SLO for Engineering.
I recently visited UCSB and REALLY liked Isla Vista and the whole campus feel and how its very ethnically diverse (or moreso than SLO). However, I don't really know if I want to study Econ anymore because I'm taking it at my high school and it doesn't really interest me that much. Im concerned that my GPA and scores won't be high enough to change my major to engineering at SB. On the flipside, SLO has an excellent engineering program and I hear that working opportunities are much more abundant at SLO compared to the UC's due to 1. class sizes and 2. the "learn by doing" approach attracts employers.</p>
<p>I'm very internally conflicted, help?</p>
<p>UCSB’s engineering is fantastic. However, you are comparing Econ to engineering, not engineering to engineering. I think you are right to not count on being able to transfer to engineering if you don’t get accepted to that, you might possibly be able to, but you could not count on it. If engineering is important to you I would choose SLO. However, if it is Econ or something else (NOT engineering) I personally just really like UCSB. But I don’t think you can count on being able to transfer to engineering. At minimum you should broach that NOW if it is important to you, before you SIR.</p>
<p>In Econ, all the major accounting firms do interview at UCSB and UCSB prepares you for grad school as well. </p>
<p>Is it true that there will be many more employers looking for students at SLO rather than SB? Or is it more of a matter of putting yourself out there?</p>
<p>I think that is nonsense (about more employers looking at SLO). However, you are talking about two different majors at the schools so they can’t be compared directly. Economics, I can say the big accounting firms recruit at UCSB.</p>
<p>Is that only for the Economics & Accounting major? Because I was accepted into the regular Economics major. My biggest dilemma is whether I want to pursue economics or engineering and which one will set me up best for the future. I have yet to determine whether or not I will go to graduate school, but i’m leaning towards getting an MBA.</p>
<p>If you are going to graduate school I would recommend UCSB. I think it prepares a student for graduate school, whereas Cal Poly SLO is more geared towards the immediate job market. UCSB is good in economics altogether. You might want to call their career office about where economics majors get jobs or internships. </p>
<p>The kicker is whether you want engineering or economics and you have to decide that, because you can’t count on transferring to engineering. If you decide you want engineering, I would recommend Cal Poly, because engineering is hard to transfer into. </p>
<p>
In a better world one would not have to make this decision at 18, and some private colleges allow deferring the choice. However you’ve pretty much run out of time. One does not simply change majors into “engineering” at UCSB, you need to apply for a particular engineering dept. Not only is it very competitive (making the odds daunting of successfully doing it) but each dept has a different set of required classes before they will consider you. Go and look at the UCSB engineering info on changing majors to see this. So unless you already know which branch of engineering you want, which it does not sound like you do, add that hurdle to the GPA one.
You also don’t sound familiar with admissions to MBA programs. One doesn’t simply to enter an MBA school after undergrad the way you might get a Masters in many other fields. MBA schools expect their students to have several years of work experience so the class lessons make sense in terms of what they’ve already seen, and so they can take part in class discussions.</p>