Mech Engineering vs Economics

Mechanical Engineering.

I was in the same situation, I'll do economics later.

 

Economics majors are regarded as basically the same as Finance majors. Most jobs will say "Finance/Economics majors" for beginning jobs. After you get your first job, it doesn't really matter what degree it is. Based off of experience. Pick whichever major interests you most and stick with it. Double major if you like both and think you can handle the work.

 

Do you have an aptitude for both or are they majors that other people are suggesting to you? ME can get you a lot of jobs in different industries (auto, aerospace, tech, etc), but some of those industries are outsourcing/offshoring and times may get harder as more ME's try to compete for fewer jobs (in the US). Economics is more Finance related (banks, investment firms, brokerages, etc) and that will probably be relatively stable for a while. But I always recommend that you do best if you do something you really like. After all, you're going to be doing it for a long time. And most jobs there's enough crap that goes along with the job, that if you don't like the basic work then there's nothing that makes it worth trying to do a good job.

 

What will make you happier?

 

Why not do both?

I did Econ. Not because it has any practical value whatsoever (it doesn't), but because I enjoyed it. Did CS and Philosophy too, but they were wholly useless and uninteresting.

--Dan

 

Major: Mech. Eng.
Minor: Econ

Personally, I wanted to be challenged. Most people I know who are going Econ don't have a plan for after college. Or if they do have a plan it includes "JD" or "MBA".

 

Do mech eng first. You're not going to be "smarter" after either degree, but the engineering degree will teach you better problem solving skills. If you still have a desire on the business side, work for a few years and then get the MBA, you'll be much better prepared than the average econ student.