holasenor

Hi IEOR graduates,

I have read a lot of your insightful responses in the
Berkeley forum, and I feel that you guys are the only ones
experienced enough to help me with my current dilemma.
Please let me know your opinions if you have time. I
would appreciate it a lot.

I am currently an electrical engineering major at UCLA
with an emphasis in computer engineering (it's called
EECE here, which is sort of similar to EECS at
Berkeley, but of course it does not have the same
reputation as Berkeley's program). However, I recently
applied to Berkeley as an industrial engineering major
and was accepted.

I am sure you know what my question will be, but first
let me go into the details of what I want my future
career to be. I love new technology, and I want to go
into a career that will always keep me learning new
things and keeping up with the latest technology. As
such, the EECE major here at UCLA will be great for
that. However, I am also very interested in becoming a
project manager later on in my career (probably a
project that deals with technology). Since industrial
engineering is about improving workflow by optimizing
people and resources, I feel that it would prepare me
greatly for that. Eventually I would like to climb up
the corporate ladder, and as I delve deeper and deeper
into my future company, I will probably have an
advantage in the stock market with my company. As
such, I feel that industrial engineering will also
prepare me for a future in finance when I finally get
my feet wet in the stock market.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I eventually
want to become a project manager (and possibly even
higher) for my company, but I would also like to be
knowledgeable about the finance side of engineering so
that I can take full advantage of the opportunities in
the stock market. However, my career will most
definitely follow the technology path (ie. creating
new products based on new technology, projects
involoving new technology). So what do you think?
Eventually I will probably get an MBA after I get a
few years of work experience, but which undergraduate
program do you think will prepare me the best for my
future career?

Respectfully yours,
holasenor

kenf1234

You don't say "I want to program and/or design computers or computer components". So I say, go to Berkeley. Either major will be fine for your long-term career goals and grad school plans. I can't help but think that recruitment at Berkeley will be better, and thus afford you more job opportunities immediately on graduation.

holasenor

Thanks ken.
BUMP

Any other opinions would be greatly appreciated!

cpchang

you can minor in EECS here as well. I have a friend who also transfered in as IEOR and did a minor in EECS and finished on time.

since it seems as if you're not looking at working as an engineer doing R&D, I would say go to Berkeley. I transfered from another UC as an EE major as well and did not regret my decision at all. A newly emerging field in IEOR is financial engineering and you can take grad classes in FE here.

Best of luck.

holasenor

Thanks so much for your reply. I just noticed that I am asking in the Berkeley forum, lol. I was just kidding; I appreciate your help and by no means does asking this question in the Berkeley forum affect the validity of your valuable opinions.

BUMP

Any more opinions would be great appreciated!

double

as a berkeley ieor major, i am really in the middle on this one. the upside to transferring to berkeley is the job recruitment, i'd say. especially so, if you were to be able to keep up your technical abilities while at berkeley. ieor + eecs would be a powerful combination, even if it is an eecs minor.

my reasoning is this: i don't believe your major will determine everything you are able to do in the future. for example, even if you were to stay at ucla eece, you can take business-type classes which would prepare you for project management type positions. similarly, if you were to transfer to berkeley, the ieor courses would fill that need, but it would be good to take more eecs/technical courses to cover the technical understanding aspect of project management. in short, i am saying that either way, the most important thing for you to do is to GAIN THE SKILLS for what you want to do in your future career. this means venturing outside of the bubble of classes required by your major and instead, enrolling yourself in classes that are not just for a major, minor, or requirement, but rather for your own education - one which will benefit you in the future. hope this helps!

CalX

holasenor,

Going to IEOR is a good step if you feel you're more interested in the management side of engineering than the technical or R&D side. As well, a lot of IEORs go on to MBA programs (I did). This being said, if you really like the technical side, you can still get your EECE degree and go on to an MBA later just the same.

unlimitedx

is this IEOR graduate school or ugrad you got admitted into?

holasenor

This is undergraduate. Thanks for all of your insightful responses.