<p>hello guys,
I just received my acceptance from University of Southern California's mechanical engineering major. Before that, I was admitted to NYU's liberal studies program (not the global one, and they guarantee a transfer to the economics major after the 2nd year). And now, I am waiting for Emory's response (finance/business/economics. but I guess it does not matter a lot because Emory is using a liberal arts system).
If I get accepted from Emory, I will be in a big dilemma. Many friends say that NYU should be my selection because of its strength at economics.economics is a very praised area of study.
on the other hand, USC was my dream school and I got in, but again, many people tell me that the mechanical engineering major will damage my chances of getting a good -managerial- job. I want to complete a MBA after 4 years of undergraduate education. Mechanical engineering + MBA should give you a good chance for a qualified job, right? I know that USC is not one of THE BEST engineering schools but its a really good college. so is NYU. and so is Emory.
I hear that emory can give you great opportunities after you graduate because it has great affiliations. According to the rankings Emory is the best one and I would LOVE to live in all of those cities; L.A, NYC, ATL.
I need your thoughts on my selection because this can determine my future. what do you say? mechanical engineering at USC, economics at NYU, or economics/business at Emory?</p>
<p>Well, you should really be thinking about what you’d rather do: mechanical engineering or economics/business? (because that decision will be more important than which school)</p>
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<p>If you have an MBA, then having an engineering degree will only strengthen your chances.
From what I have been told, it does not matter if you don’t have an undergrad business/econ if you later get an MBA.</p>
<p>Many engineers go on for an MBA after a few years of working, if they want to go into management. </p>
<p>At USC, you can always minor in business along with your mechanical engineering major, as well.</p>
<p>My cousin graduated two years ago with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. I mean I hate to sit here and diss FAU but the school doesn’t even come close to being within 100 places of USC in the rankings. He graduated however and got a job at UPS working in a logistics department (I’m talking a white collar job at UPS). He was making a very good salary and now they are paying for him to get his MBA. He’s actually been admitted to several really good programs (including Wharton). </p>
<p>He told me every other candidate for the program UPS has to get managers is an engineer. My other cousin is working for Motorola as a manager and he too has a degree in Mechanical Engineer. My uncle graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and is finishing up a 30 year career with Phillips as an executive. </p>
<p>Engineering is a great segue into business. It teaches you some very advanced thinking skills. A lot of companies know that if they hire engineers they will be getting some of the best minds when it comes to problem solving. An MBA has a lot of overlap with a regular Business/Economics degree. It was never really designed for people who studied business for undergrad. </p>
<p>I definitely suggest you very strongly consider USC. The interactions within the schools are amazing and you could graduate with degrees from both the school of engineering and the business school (Marshall has some amazing Management minors that would more than complement an MBA… they aren’t completely business but focus more on the management of people and organizations). You could land some great internships at USC and find that Fortune 500 company that’s willing to take your career somewhere.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you couldn’t do that anywhere else but NYU is pretty notorious for its schools being less than cooperative to double majoring and while I don’t know a lot about Emory, last I heard Viterbi is a top 10 program.</p>
<p>There are thousands of liberal arts grads, lots with study abroad these days. There are far fewer engineering grads, and even fewer with an MBA. As an engineer who started out in liberal arts, I can guarantee you that If you do eng/MBA you will soon have lots of liberal artists working for you. And if you go to work after the eng degree (which you will be able to do easily, even in this market, unlike many of the LA grads) your company will probably pay for the MBA.</p>
<p>The last three posts summed it up beautifully. The math in Eng scares off a lot of people, who then major in Bus Admin or Economics. Eng Degree + MBA = hard to beat. USCs program is very well respected.</p>
<p>you are very mistaken if you think viterbi is not one of the best engineering schools in the nation.</p>
<p>Since you have already been admitted to Viterbi, have you given any thought to changing to the Computer Science/Business Administration major? It is a combined major. Perhaps this might interest you.</p>
<p>I applied to NYU and USC as well and was accepted to LSP and have yet to hear back from USC. I’ll be honest i’ve already made my decision regardless of what happens with USC. I’m going to NYU because of it’s location and resouces. I also just happen to love the city. It’s a tough choice but you really are going to have to take everything into consideration, including money.</p>
<p>I live near emory and all I can say is that you probably don’t want to come here. Most of my friends don’t like it that much, and you might get kind of bored here. Atlanta isn’t as vibrant as some people think…</p>