Starting To Panic Again

sorry, I meant to say that I'm leaning towards EE, not Chem E

First of all, like you said, you need to relax. You're snowballing, and I know it's hard not to think like that, but take a deep breath. Nothing is going to come out of stressing out about this.

I don't know much about consulting, but as for banking, you can major in whatever you want. Nothing is going to come out of panicking, if you don't have the confidence in yourself to get a job in consulting while majoring in EE, don't do it. You know your goal so just work towards it. Try your best and network.

Don't worry about not being able to get in and etc. Things usually work itself out, and if you do your best, you'll have the satisfaction of having done everything you could have done regardless of what happens.

I learned that much this past year. Don't stress out because there's a possibility of having physical symptoms that will interfere with your work (I speak from experience). Try to relax somehow because if you can't handle the stress now, how are you going handle it in the future when you're working in banking or consulting? Just do your best and don't worry too much.

consulting is overated, dont fall in love with the "traveling lifestyle" ... I have a relative that works at MBB and he is sick of the constant traveling, most of the time to shithole places that no one wants to go to

If you go to a M7 school, your background is really irrelevant to getting a good sell-side job. There are a few exceptions from what I've seen (e.g. Kellogg to S&T) but by and large the hardest part is getting in.

If you want to do consulting out of undergrad, I would tell you unequivocally to not do engineering. Do the major that will give you the highest GPA that isn't total fluff. Of course, this doesn't take into account actual love of learning.

Dude... MBB isn't the only way into consulting; just relax... you're not even a freshman yet.

@Ideating - A couple of questions:
1) Why do you say "unequivocally"? I ask because it seems like your phrasing suggests that there is no worth in the engineering major itself (relative to the goal of getting into consulting).
2) What fields are you generally referring to as "not total fluff"? I tend to (unfairly) dismiss most arts / humanities / social sciences in the "total fluff" category but at the same time regard most anything else as fairly serious/viable.

I ask this because it feels like (at least to me) that there must be some inherent value in the field of study itself (relative to the goal of getting into consulting out of undergrad) outside of just how easy it is to get a 4.0 in that field. I am currently under the impression that engineering-type majors are a good preparation for consulting work because they stress problem-solving skills that are generalizable to most subject areas... which is certainly worth something for consulting. All else equal (other than the difficulty of the major), would you really take the 3.8/3.9 not-total-fluff major over the 3.5/3.6 engineering major?

For what its worth / full disclosure, I'm a computer science major at Carnegie Mellon (hence the defense of engineering in general).

First, you're not trying to convince me, you're trying to convince the recruiting team. If you are positive you can do VERY well, by all means, do engineering. However, there are far more 3.8+ English majors in consulting than you can imagine. The education itself has very little benefit in my opinion (though others will disagree). Consulting firms play up the benefits of the major because they are hoping to snag those few very smart, socially aware engineers. From a recruit's perspective, much easier to do an easier major, get better grades.

The biggest mistake students make is they think firms give a fuck about majors/minors. They only care enough to bucket you, no more. "Oh he's an engineer, quant isn't a problem." "Oh she's a psychology major, soft skills aren't a problem." Fair? No. But that's the way it is. If you can demonstrate analytical skills (build a model in an internship, test scores, a few quant courses with good grades, etc.) your major really doesn't matter as long as it's not too fluffy.

English, history, literature = not fluffy. Women's studies, theater, cultural studies = fluffy. Hope that clears it up. As a point of reference, if you are an economics major, your quantitative ability will not be questioned despite a lot of econ majors being horrible at it.

So you guys recommend econ over engineering then? See the problem I have with Econ is what can I do as a backup career if I don't get into the top banks or consulting firms, which is already going to be hard with an econ vs finance degree? This is assuming I don't make it as a transfer to the business school

Ideating,

Thanks for the input. What do you make of a Psychology major as an undergraduate and a masters in organizational psychology (with a major focus in statistical analysis)? Would that be considered fluffy to consulting firms? I was hoping to go for a combination of interpersonal/soft skills with quant. skills.

A big reason why people get MBA's is to switch careers. I would imagine that it would not be too tough to work as an engineer for a while, get into a good b-school, and do consulting from there. I work at a consulting firm with someone who did engineering before doing an MBA, and I know someone else who did engineering before doing and MBA and doing equity research. Your major and your first job doesn't determine the rest of your life.

Try to relax a bit, take classes that you find interesting, and see where your interests lie, and keep an open mind. Maybe you'll even get into a totally different career down the road.