Engineering or Business
 

I am having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I should major in. At the moment I am in the electrical engineering program and am stuck with it until spring semester. However, I am not so sure I want to continue down that path. Luckily my entire first semester transfers for any of the other degrees i am interested in pursuing.

Basically I am trying to decide between electrical engineering, petroleum engineering, computer engineering/computer science, or a dual major in Accounting and Finance. My school has a program that fast tracks you into getting a BBA in Acc. and a Masters in Finance, which looked like something I would be interested in. Also, my roommate is a Acc. major, which would give me someone who I can easily study with. However, with all of the engineering programs I already have summer internships.

I originally decided on engineering because I've always been strong in math and sciences and my dad is an electrical engineer. I just don't know if I am that interested in the field. I say that but honestly I am not all that aware of what I would be doing out of college in any of these fields. Any advice is much appreciated.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

I can tell you for sure that both engineering and accounting are terrible fields to work in.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

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I can tell you for sure that both engineering and accounting are terrible fields to work in.

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What would you recommend?

Re: Engineering or Business
 

something that sounds fun

Re: Engineering or Business
 

If you're really smart, computer engineering. If you're not really smart, accounting and finance.

Sincerely,
A guy that majored in finance and wishes he had gone into computer engineering

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Whats the difference between computer science and computer engineering?

Re: Engineering or Business
 

I think an engineering degree allows you to leave your options very open. If you want to do business later, you can always get an MBA with an engineering background. I know plenty of people who get jobs at ibanks with just engineering degrees...in fact a lot of trading positions look specifically for engineers because they know they're generally smart and good with numbers. On the other hand, it would be very hard to study finance/accounting and then later do something more mathy like engineering. Since it seems like you're not quite sure what you want to do, I would go for engineering. The program will be significantly harder though, but very rewarding if you get through.

computer science has more to do with software and computer engineering has more to do with hardware.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Engineering

If you achieve a high grade then you can get anywhere with an engineering degree

Case in point: one of my mates achieved first in mechanical engineering and got a graduate position at the royal bank of scotland in the city of london starting at £34k ($68k) per annum. He says that out of the 25 people who entered at the same time with him only 6 had business related degrees and the rest were either engineering, maths or physics graduates

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Well I'm going to Illinois and im in their business school. I also am basically a sophomore standing from AP's so that leaves me a lot of options for a double major. Im definitely going for finance degree.

Imo, im pretty smart and was very successful in the higher level physics and math classes. So i was looking for statistcs as a 2nd major, and I would do engineer, but A) that would have to a lot of extra work and b) I doubt i could get into the program. Right now i was looking at stats, econ, and computer science as possible double majors. Are any of them actually valuable?

Re: Engineering or Business
 

From what I understand Engineering is a more difficult major than business or finance. The advantage of going into Engineering is that even if you decide you don t like by the time you graduate, you can easily go into other fields because many employers in other fields love hiring engineers(I m a mech engineering major and have an internship doing Equity options trading). Also only go into comp engineering if you love writing code, otherwise it blows. Hope that helps

Re: Engineering or Business
 

jman,

Statistics definitely.

OP,

if you at least somewhat enjoy or can do well in engineering, stay in it for sure. You can do anything with an engineering degree with strong grades that you can do with an accounting or finance undegrad degree, but the reverse is not true.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

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I can tell you for sure that both engineering and accounting are terrible fields to work in.

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fo sho, huh?

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Well for my first semester I am basically finished up a lot of the school requirements.

Should I try seeing if I could dual major in Finance and something like mechanical Engineering? Would that even be possible? I have classes like Calc II and 2 Physics 200 somethings done, So i have a lot of the base requirements done.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Business FTW (tl;dr)

Re: Engineering or Business
 

jman..I did my undergrad at Illinois also. Something you might wanna look into is their technology and management program. Link
And I really don't see a need to dual major in finance. I would just do the engineering if you are capable.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

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Also only go into comp engineering if you love writing code, otherwise it blows. Hope that helps

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Not true. I double majored in electrical engineering and computer engineering.

Computer engineering is dealing with hardware. There is no where near the amount of coding in computer engineering compared to computer science.

Oh and I plan on going and getting my MBA in a 2-3 years. Like most people said...if you major in engineering you have many more options at your fingertips.

Good luck.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

hmmm... that Technology program looks interesting. Is it respected? I am pretty sure I would be capable of engineering its just that I don't really want to get into engineering as a career. Everyone keeps saying that an engineering degree can get you into a lot, but Idk if I would want to rely on that. I dont see a point in an engineering degree if I have no intent on pursuing that outside of college. Thanks for the input btw everyone.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

The T&M degree at UIUC is respected, and worth it. I would've done it if I didn't plan to go to grad school (I'm an ME).

Speaking as somebody who has limited real world experience, but I've talked with plenty of engineers/people in business (outside of my internship), engineering is a great major to get a solid job out of college, work your way up, be making 6 figures later in your career, etc.

Business is a lot more about who you know, what sorts of jobs you can get into. If you have strong people and networking skills, business is probably better for you. You can potentially make much more monies than an engineer, but if you don't succeed well enough, you'll probably make less over your lifetime than an engineer.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Yes, engineering is a very stable job. They are some of the few remaining jobs where you can basically just get a job, stick with it from college to retirement, and be fairly secure most of the way through.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Also, engineering is much more standard across schools - an engineering degree from a lesser known or crappier school will be much more useful than a finance degree from the same mediocre school.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

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Yes, engineering is a very stable job. They are some of the few remaining jobs where you can basically just get a job, stick with it from college to retirement, and be fairly secure most of the way through.

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not really, engineers get laid off many times due to recession, outsourcing, etc.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes, engineering is a very stable job. They are some of the few remaining jobs where you can basically just get a job, stick with it from college to retirement, and be fairly secure most of the way through.

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not really, engineers get laid off many times due to recession, outsourcing, etc.

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Depends on the field of engineering. Outsourcing is more likely in computer engineers than other kinds.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

So the general consensuses here is to stick with an engineering degree.

Well if I do this what degree should I go for electrical, computer, or petroleum. I was looking at avg. starting salaries out of the undergrad program at my school and after last semester EE and CE were around 55k and petro was around 75k.

I have always wanted to own my own business out of school or go into trading if that is at all pertinent.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Don't look at starting salaries. Look for what you enjoy, or at least what you're good at.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

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Don't look at starting salaries. Look for what you enjoy, or at least what you're good at.

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Yeah I am not weighing the starting salaries that heavily I just happened to find them. But I'm not sure what degree would have more relevance to a more business oriented career or would be more helpful in getting into a solid MBA program.

Like I said I have always wanted to start my own company and I have found trading in the market interesting. Anyway thanks for the advice.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

if ur on a poker forum and studying engineering your probably capable of making 20k a year just from poker. So yea don't let money influence you.

100% its better to get an engineering degree because of the flexibility and options, just because you study engineering doesn't mean you have to do that job. Graduating as an engineer basically shows that you are capable of doing / studying any job under high stress environments. They just want to see the degree then they themselves will teach you the job that needs to be done.

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Hi,
I'm currently doing a double degree on the gold coast, engineering and business management, it seems great so far! personally I really appreciate freedom18 comments about not necessarily working as an engineer when graduated, I know someone who is a millionaire from selling power tools and he graduated an engineer lol, another is in their final year of engineering and has decided to trade fx for a while before getting a job because he is doing well. As for finance i think depending on the level most people can learn management concepts, money management, stock trading (my income lol) etc on their owns terms due to interest and drive where as engineering can only come really through a degree. just my opinion lol

Re: Engineering or Business
 

I visited Lehigh the other day (yes still in H.S.) and they talked about a 5-year engineering/business program. When you graduate you have two degrees which is pretty sweet. Also, if you maintain a certain GPA over the first 4 years the 5th year is tuition free. So should I go to Lehigh?

Re: Engineering or Business
 

Dude.. its not even close.

Do combined eng. and an MBA or eng. and a really good undergrad business. There are guys in my business program doing that and they dominate / often get sweet jobs.

You get the analytics from eng and then you dominate business - all you need to work on is social skills.