Degree: Engineering vs Business

I will be entering college as a freshman next year and am lucky enough to be going to a university that offers degrees in engineering and business. Personally, both interest me very much and I am weighing which path to take. The way I see it:

Engineering would offer more flexibility down the road. It would be less fun and more work in college. I would have a lower GPA than in a business major. I would be branded as an anti-social engineer during recruiting.

The business degree would make it much easier to break into ibd right out of undergrad. A business degree would limit me during a career switch down the road. MBA admissions are flooded as it is with undergrad business majors who work in finance.

Should I major in business or engineering?

For those that are entering college, choosing your major can be a big deal. However, when it comes to Wall Street, all majors can be considered.

The main point highlighted by our users is that you should pursue the major that you are passionate about between these two choices - engineering and business. If you major in engineering because it sounds / looks good on a resume and you are not passionate about engineering or you hate math / science you will be miserable and that will reflect in your GPA. When it comes to recruiting, GPA is one of the most important things in the screening process. Check out the video below discussing this dilemma.

One important note to consider is that if you are coming from a semi-target school or a non-target school, your major may matter more than you think. You should do research about how companies recruit from your school. If they only recruit business majors - then you should make sure that you major in business so that you will come up on their radar. However, at most target schools you can major in anything you choose. You can figure out if your school is considered a target school here on WSO.

Check out another popular thread on WSO here.

Read More About Engineer vs. Finance on WSO

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I wouldn't assume that engineering means lower gpa. I've found out the hard way you need to study what you enjoy as soon as you can. You can get into banking with whatever major you want, just do well.

 
Best Response

What the hell?? You don't AIM for a low GPA! How the hell can you just say you'll get a low GPA in engineering than you would in business? Yes, engineering is definitely a challenge, but surely, life will throw you a few challenges as well! But you don't go through life thinking "Oh, I'm just gonna barely get by.." Change your mentality. Be ambitious. If you want it bad enough, work hard & get it. If you get a low GPA, don't blame it on the major saying it's just hard...just don't play that victim card.

And you being branded as an anti-social engineer? Yes, it's stereotype, but your major doesn't define you! It's just shows you're interested about whatever you're (hopefully) learning. I've personally met two people who went into BB IB as engineering majors. Both of them were badass superstars! One of them double majored in Finance & Engineering & the other majored in Engineering & minored in something. Both had high GPAs & they were from two very different backgrounds but they were both unique in their own way and just completely badass! Take charge of your life! If you want to do something bad enough, go make time & just do it!

You sound like a guy who doesn't know what he wants. Don't go into engineering just so it looks better. If you don't enjoy it, you'll suffer. And judging from your mentality, you sound like a coward making excuses for not taking charge of your life so just don't go into engineering...cause for a person like you, it's probably too hard.

Just because you're in engineering doesn't mean you're an anti-social freak who has nothing but academics (assuming you at least have that in the first place..for a guy like you, you'll probably meet your expectations & get that low GPA). It also doesn't mean shit if you have a high GPA. I know plenty of people who ace their exams only because they had answers to past exams which were identical or they just memorized everything & didn't learn shit.

Do not let your major or GPA define you! Your work will always speak for you & shows whether you're as passionate and hard working as you'll probably say you are. So just take charge of your life and be confident in yourself that you'll make it. And do not think that there's only one way to get to where you want to go - go make your own damn path! You don't always have to follow the norm - in any industry, I would think you'd want to stand out.

I don't mean to be rude. If I was, you just caught me on one of those nights when I feel like being a bitch. Don't ever play that victim card & make excuses for yourself - no one will respect you for it. I also don't mean to sound arrogant or as if I'm preaching. I used to be like you...no, not really - I wasn't as pathetic as you but I learned some of the things I've said above the hard way.

So yeah, just sharing my 2 cents..take it or leave it - your choice, your life.

 

Are you going to be at a target or non-target this fall? Also, what type of engineering are you thinking of doing? You also need to take into account how good you are at math/physics. How well have you done in ap calc, ap physics, etc? A lot of people in my engineering major freshman year kinda sucked at calc/chem/physics and later failed out.

 

This is a very relevant combination for a variety of finance roles. The quantitative and problem solving skills learned in engineering are widely applicable. In my opinion, a double major is the best way to go. I don't know about the Ivy's, but I'd recommend you focus on schools that are good in both business and engineering... Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, UIUC, etc.

Disclaimer: I studied engineering and finance so I might be biased.

 

If you like engineering & actually have a genuine interest in it, then do it. If not, just do business. Even if you do well in college & etc, you may be perfect on paper but idk..something about your mentality just ticks me off. Good luck to you..

 

In Canada, recruiting for finance positions (we're talking IBD, S&T etc.) occurs primarily from UGrad business schools, though that doesn't mean as an engineer you won't get a shot.

PMF is highly regarded both in Canada and NYC specifically, due to the alumni. If you get in, then graduate, you'll have a good shot at GS/MS/PE straight out of undergrad. Last few grads from PMF program (that I know personally, there were others) went to GS TMT/JPM/MS M&A and one went to Apollo. They are a very small sample size though (~6-10), compared with Ivey/Queens that are more targets compared with UBC. Those who don't do PMF at UBC can still get Canadian spots with RBC/BMO etc.

Point is this - if you are a rockstar, you will get a shot regardless of where you go to school. The real question is, how much are you willing to hustle? You'll need to do more if you are at UBC vs. the Eastern schools. If you want the best possibility of high finance from your current offers, then the process is obvious:

UBC Commerce -> rockstar 1st/2nd year (grades + internships) -> PMF -> Set.

 

You said you know some PMF grads personally. Do you have any idea of their qualifications and the things which allowed them to gain entry to such a competitive program? I'm willing to work hard, but I also want to have an idea of the things that I should pursue which will make me a better PMF candidate and improve my resume in general.

 

I don't actually know anything about PMF - I only found out more about it following pr4mence's post and looking it up. Seems like it is a pretty good program - but the select number of students that actually get picked for it is limited to a small handful (like 10 people) and it's something you apply for during your second year.

I would say - if you want to do finance, just do undergrad business. So go to undergrad business program at UBC and in your second year apply to both the PMF program and Ivey HBA program. Then if you get both, you can choose which one is more suitable for you.

Ivey is a target for GS NY/MS/JPM/the elite boutiques/Canadian banks, etc. And in recent years - for the rockstar top 1-2 students geared towards finance - they've gotten internships/FT offers at places like Leonard Green and SilverLake. The PMF program (again, just from a cursory glance) looks legit - but a very small program, so if you get in and do well, seems like it can also open great doors too. PMF is more practical-investment experienced focused, while Ivey is case-study based. Ivey would be a better option if you decide halfway through that finance is not for you and decide to do consulting, or something more entrepreneurial in nature.

I will say one plus of engineering is for students at Ivey that pursued the engineering + HBA option, they bought themselves an extra year (re: 5-years to graduate instead of 4), which translates to an extra summer to get a good internship. This could be big if you don't get a top-tier internship (or at least, not something that was top of your list), and you get another shot at it with a stronger resume before needing to go through the full-time recruiting cycle.

 

Let me clarify a little bit for you, engineering is much, much more rigorous than a basic business major. If you do not have a passion for creating, finding out how things work, and basically all things nerdy, you fail and end up in the business school anyway with a huge GPA hit.

Personally, I am an engineer, so I am probably biased, but I have never heard someone ask a question like yours that didn't fail out of engineering or transfer after one semester.

 

Engineering Pros: -More versatile degree: can do an engineering type job, math/physics/engineering grad school, finance, quant finance, consulting, patent law -You will learn more and prob increase your overall intelligence with engineering compared to business. -No one will ever question your quant skills. -Your classmates in engineering will prob be smarter -Not a huge deal but, if you do EE/ChemE you get almost instant respect from ppl, even from other engineers/science/premed majors Cons: -hard to get decent gpa > 3.5 -Can't speak for all engineering, but for chemE the workload is downright insane and it will put a strain on other relationships you have with non-engineering friends, girlfriends, etc. -Hard to relate to the average college kid when you're literally just doing/worrying school work the whole time. -ugly girls and a lot of ppl that are just really socially awkward. -If you go to school that parties hard you will be miserable. -If you're good looking you'll get laid once in a while. If not good looking you'll be whacking it (when time permits) -Basically, your actual college exp will be pretty shitty compared to what it could have been as a business major.

Business Pros: -Easier -Better social life -Hotter girls -Cooler classmates Cons: -Won't learn as much/develop analytical skills -Not as impressive -If you don't get a FO position, you could be stuck in BO/MO, which is prob not as good as an engineering job

 

You could always sack up and do both. Obviously it would be challenging but if you're up to the challenge then you'll get the best of both worlds and (if you can hack it) you could somewhat set yourself apart from the pack. I know a good number of people who have landed awesome FT positions while majoring in engineering and getting a minor in business (which is a joke, but sufficient on the application). GL

 

I am an engineer minoring in economics, and there are many people like me at my school. I feel that though as an engineer, even as an industrial engineer or management engineer, you still may get stereotyped by companies as a quant / risk type of person, even if you want to go into FO. I know that many of my friends who are engineers had more difficulty with SA recruiting than people who were Econ majors at my school, and the people who got jobs were mostly ones that were somewhat quant. It is difficult to break the stereotype of being an engineer = wanting to do quant stuff. That being said, I do know people who have broken that boundary and gotten IBD internships - most notably, a friend who is an electrical engineer.

And your GPA would most likely be more than 0.2 points lower as an engineer than as a business major. If you were to choose the engineering route, be prepared to be cut off from consideration by many companies that secretly really only consider if you were above a 3.7.

 

I'm a finance major who had strong mathematical inclinations when coming into college but chose against pursuing them in exchange for a higher GPA and easier college career (both of which I have enjoyed) figuring I wanted to go into "business" after college anyways. I'm going to be a junior in the fall, and if I could do it all over again, I'd be an engineering major (I refuse to graduate late). You still have the option of a finance career, can take a couple accounting courses (which is really all you need), and what you'll learn will actually be kinda interesting and infinitely more useful.

 

I'm also a finance major, and I'm pretty satisfied with my decision - biology made me miserable. However, in retrospect, I personally wish that I had decided to major in computer science (although very difficult) and programming. I feel like it would have equipped me with not only more interesting job prospects, but vital technical skills as well. My finance/economics/accounting background will provide for a more service-oriented job prospect.

Either way, the decision is entirely up to you. If you go in (and actually stick with) an engineering major, chances are that by graduation time, you'll no longer be interested in working on Wall Street or in the business world.

Good luck with your decision.

Money may buy the husk of things but not the kernel. It brings you food but not appetite, medicine buy not health, acquaintances but not friends, servants but not faithfulness, days of joy, but not peace or happiness. -Henrik Ibsen
 

You'll have to work very hard if you plan to be an engineer, and you must be mentally prepared for it. Business, on the other hand, is relatively easier. If you're prepared to slog go for engineering. If not, you'd be better off with a business major. Unless, you opt for engineering, and get your business degree through online education. It could eat into your personal and social life, but once you graduate, armed with both degrees, the number of job opportunities coming your way will be well, awesome! Which brings me to Stevens-Henager - they offer an MBA that can be pursued online, and can be completed in less than the normal completion time. Take a look at the college website, or read a few Stevens-Henager College reviews to know if it works for you.

 

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