Major in engineering or economics?

I made this identical post on the Z forums, so keep in mind that was the original target market. I'm not like the other kids who come on here asking "Whaddya do to earn money for that Ferrari!?" I just figured you guys would have more experience in top-tier education and occupation than the guys on the Z forums.

 

A favorite quote by George Burns when he was asked the secret to his longevity (on Johnny Carson): "Do what you love for a living."

Follow your passion.

Mike

 

Aye, I understand. I have a passion for numbers and mathematics. I also have a big passion for physics. Something like nuclear engineering would suit my passion for physics, but economics quenches my thirst for numbers just fine. I think I'm starting to see myself more as an investment banker than an engineer, though. I'll have to keep looking into it.

Trust me, I'm not dumb enough to do something I don't want to .

 

Also... Trust your gut instincts.

 

Just wondering which Z forum?

Edit: nvm just read Hraes lol.

 

If you were set on engineering but now economics is really making you rethink that plan, the odds that you weren't meant to be an engineer. I say this from my own experience so you could totally be different, but that’s just how I see it.

Mark

PS, I was an economics major and am now in law school.

 

do engin if you can handle it, get good grades and you can always get an MBA. plus the MBA admissions will know you took a harder path. anyone can do a biz degree.

 

I'll keep that in mind considering 'handling it' in college isn't a big concern for me

 

Dang...were kind of the same...Well for me management, than economics...

I had the same question and mostly all of them were answered in my thread, a lot of information would probably be uselful for you in the thread...

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94807

I myself dont mind whereever i go...im just concentrating on gettting into college...right now i have a full ride to Utexas to McCombs on the table, but waiting until a month or two for all my other collleges....

Good luck..

 

If you are planning to work in finance go with econ - if only to preserve the GPA in order to get to the interview stage for the Ibanks. If I remember correctly Duke gets most of the Ibanks recruiting at the undergraduate level.

However, I feel that engineering will perpetually be a safer bet (for most students) due to it's higher average salary intially (and throughout the career) when compared to virtually any other undergraduate major. Assuming you can get a high GPA in engineering it will almost always be seen as more impressive when compared to econ. And, if you do want to go the Ibanking route, a higher GPA in engineering will be better in terms of getting hired when compared to econ. The question is if you can get the high GPA in engineering.

 

Let's try a bit of a test:

You go into a public restroom, wash your hands, and find that the paper towel dispenser isn't working.

If you:

.. bypass the locks, open the thing, and fix it. --- you're an engineer.

.. complain to building maintenance -- you're a manger.

.. send a registered letter to the building owner -- you're a lawyer.

.. wipe your hands on your handkerchief, and take the cleaning off as a tax deduction -- you're a CPA.

.. wipe your hands on your pants -- you work at McDs.

.. spin around in circles with your arms out to dry your hands. --- you're a figure skater.

.. pat the first people you see on the back to dry your hands -- you're a business major

 

I've got the answer for ya! Get your PhD in Physics (you said you like it) AND get an MBA concurrently. Start your own hedge fund and make a gazillion dollars!

Mike - (wifey used to be a hedge fund analyst)

 

problem is you won't get into a good MBA program just doing physics phd with no leadership. i know someone doing a phd i physics and princeton and HF's come knocking all the time for the graduates, but only want them for quants.

if oyu do engineering you can go to any recruiting event that wants biz majors like MC (McKinsey/Bain/BCG) or IBanks with no problem.

Go to the best school you get into brand wise, forget about any $ you may owe and do your best and have fun.

 

Forget the money for a second. Find a field that you really do love (and not just giving it lip service because the pay is good). If you want to get to the top, you'll be putting in 80-100 hour weeks. This is key on the MAKE SURE YOU LOVE IT comment.

As for biz versus engineering, if you are creative, go down the engineering route. The trick will be thermodynamics. If you ace that class, everything on the finance and accounting side will be easy. If you can't get through thermo, then switch fields.

MBAs are starting to be recognized as over rated, people are looking for experience for leadership roles, not a piece of parchment in the nice walnut frame...

 

A guy who works for me as a mortgage loan officer has a masters in electrical engineering. No jobs.... they all got exported.

Engineering isnt the future here. China and India are cranking out top tier engineering folks in mass quantities who can and will do anything our best can do for 1/4 the costs.

Finance. Get a degree in Finance and then get an MBA. Then, try to find a job in an industry your interested in and work with an eye toward learning all you can so you can start your own biz as quickly as possible.

There are 2 realistic paths to wealth: Self employment and/or real estate investing. (note: commission sales is self employment!)

As a wealthy and wise man once told me: "If you want to get rich, you can choose to either deal with employees or tenants. Both suck"

As to doing what you love, that sounds great and all but for many its just not realistic. Thats REALITY. Through my entire childhood all I EVER wanted to do/be was a fighter pilot. I'm not talking a normal kids interest.... im talking FANATICAL. It consumed me, it was who I was, it was all I wanted from life. To fly fighter jets was all I ever dreamed of from life. When I was 13 years old an eye doctor made it very clear to me that I would never be a fighter pilot. Sucks, but that was reality.

I love vintage cars and am passionate about driving, racing and restoring them. So, in college I started a shop. We bought/sold/restored vintage sportscars. Doing what I loved... right? It sucked. When I caught a body man who was key to my operations smoking crack in the bathroom.... I came to the conclusion that sometimes making your passion your business only serves to destroy the passion.

Now I own a mortgage company, an industry I am NOT passionate about. But I do like the money. It enables me to play with cars I am passionate about, allows my family to live as we wish and is hopefully going to enable an early retirement.



Terry

 

But it will get you a nice high paying global job if you're good.

 

Judge: I meant go to the best school, be it MIT, Harvard, etc. and pay the loans off, as opposed ot getting a free ride at Sh*tty Ass Univ, not about a job later on.

Tspringer is 100% wrong. If you go to a decent engin school (I went to UMich), you'll have plenty offers with a decent GPA and internships. You'll also be able to do any job a biz major will do. I think your employee didn't go to a good school or had bad grades. I know NO ONE from my engin class that is a mortgage broker. I know kids with 2.8's getting 60K doing a traditional engin job. Don't be scared about people in China and India if you get a good brand school on your resume.

Also, thermodynamics isn't the hard one, it was one of the easiest by far. Fluid dynamics is a bit harder and one of the worst was a materials science class... who the F cares about molecules slipping in a piece of steel...???

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

<SIGH>


Go for engineering then. Im sure most non-self employed engineers working a job are making $500K a year.

Like our good local joke: UGA Grads love GA Tech grads.... we need to employ some engineers from time to time in running our companies.

The guy who works for me has his degrees from GA Tech. He graduated in the late 1960s and had a great engineering career for almost 30 years. Then his field died. The jobs got exported. He didnt know how to do anything else.

My point was not to slam engineering but to simply point out that over 70&#37; millionaires in this nation got there through either self employment and/or real estate investing. So perhaps looking in that direction isnt stupid.



Terry

 

One problem with imagining myself in either field and seeing which I prefer is the fields themselves. I have no idea what I'd be doing as a mechanical engineer. I have somewhat of an idea what I'd be doing as a hedge fund manager. Charlotte, as many of you know, is a major, major banking area. Someone's got to know someone . I'll be talking to people about that.

In either field, I can definitely get into a top 10 school. Several of the schools I'm looking at are top 10 in both. I don't know if recruiting would be an issue in business at these kinds of schools. (?)

 

i agree with you tspringer... self employment all the way...

i'm glad you know whata HF manager does... but with no connections you aren't going to be one for a long time with TONS of hard work... stop following the crowds, find something you enjoy... undergrad is a joke anyhow.

 

Economics? Economics degrees aren't worth much out in the job market. Doing what, analyzing macro/micro trends somewhere in a backroom?

99% chance that whatever you take in school is going to be either
a) useless in the real world ( I have an '82 Comp Sci BSc - I used maybe 2% of what I learned for 2 years, and I'm still in the field)
b) irrelevant to whatever you end up doing

but the experience and thinking patterns you learn are valuable. I personally agree with Tspringer - no matter how much you like a job, it's going to change. "The better you get at something the less you get to do it". running a body shop means managing body shop staff

but you do have to be honest with yourself for what you'll be willing to do 80-100 hours a week, when you feel like crap, to get that fleet of F40LM's.

Learning the rules of money and sales is important - once you've got that down, the rest is just picture frame stuff.

 

Only guy I fired for incompetance graduated from MIT. Twice!

 

That's 10% return on a nice $5mm portfolio.

Some of us managed 17% after taxes and fees this year...

 

Self employment for whatever reason is probably something which should be a long term goal. Generally, don't people go into a business, learn how to do it, and then strike it out on their own? Not that this is right or wrong, but it does take a special person to start and grow their own business. God knows not everyone is that type of person.