<p>and on a side note, right now i think im really interested in ORIE. ive never really heard of it though, so im wondering if it has the career potential that it appears to have, if its especially difficult or anything, and whether id prolly be better on majoring in something else.</p>
<p>the stereotype about Operations Research is that it's the major where people go when they realize their first major was too hard. </p>
<p>It's also notorious for engineers who want to go into business, and are stereotypically concerned with only making money and getting recruited to an IBanking firm.</p>
<p>But the job opportunities are a lot more varied and diverse than just business and financial related. The major is primarily concerned with the optimization of results, be those related to minimizing traffic jams, maximizing profit potential, minimizing risks, minimizing route length, etc. It is largely based on applied mathematics, and integrates fields like computer science and stochastic calculus.</p>
<p>Chendrix's comments about OR are pretty much spot on.</p>
<p>Yes those stereotypes definitely exist on campus, but there are broader opportunities for ORs, as he mentioned. ORs go into industrial engineering and information technology as well as business</p>
<p>OR definitely has good career potential:</p>
<p>If you want to compare it with other engineering majors:</p>
<p>oo, that sounds really interesting. cuz im interesting in the physical sciences but overall im not that much of a technical kinda a thinker so the hardcore engineering fields wouldnt suit me so well. im just trying to figure out why ive never really heard of it before. do people like go get their mbas afterwards and stuff?</p>
<p>and @chendrix, thanks a lot for all the info youve given me. in the past week ive definitely become a lot more excited for next fall.</p>
<p>i'd describe ORIE as an engineering major that's a little of all departments with a minor in business combined...</p>
<p>ORIE might be easier than CHEME but not as easy as AEM itself...</p>
<p>take a look at the required courses for the major (versus other majors) and see what interests you the most...if you want an engineering degree for MBA or LAW SCHOOL then ORIE would be good...</p>
<p>if you want more hands on hard science then the other fields might be better..</p>
<p>My ORIE friend tells me that it is basically financial/industrial engineering. You will still be exposed to core engineering math and science courses for the first few semesters, but beyond that your coursework won't be "technical" like in ECE for example. There still seems to be a lot of math and probability involved, though, so I don't think it's anything like the cakewalk it's often (unjustly) stereotyped to be. But I am a layman when it comes to ORIE. If you're interested maybe you could start another thread to get some ORIEs to post you some information.</p>
<p>hmm, how much in loans could one reasonably expect to pay off with a co op? does it reduce your aid so much that it doesnt help a lot? or does it go to help keep your loans in check?</p>