Engineering vs. Math -- What to major in?

GLOBALTRAVELER
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:40:33 +0000

A nice combination would be to take a good concentration in computer science at the undergrad level. You do NOT need to double major, just take the courses that UCBAlumnus pretty much laid out. Even if you do not care too much for software development or I.T., there are jobs out there so it is a good fallback plan.

At the graduate level, I would look into either systems engineering or engineering management. Either program will take math majors unless you choose U-Arkansas, lol (sorry, still kind of mad at that school for turning nose from non-engineering majors). As you get higher in position in engineering, you will need to be able to guide/manage end-to-end engineering efforts and that is where systems engineering or engineering management comes into play. Both majors, give you courses in technical management while allowing you to take a 4-5 course specialization.

While at the “grunt” engineering level, you will see math and physics majors working alongside of engineering majors and doing similar work, from WHAT I HAVE SEEN, it seems like higher engineering positions want graduate degrees in engineering instead of graduate math/physics degrees. It was the main reason why I decided to complete a graduate engineering degree than a graduate math degree.