Should I major in engineering?

Tinuviel8
Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:56:35 +0000

“I can also tell you that since 2010, at least for my school, the median starting salary for businesses majors has been higher than engineering majors, though the difference isn’t large enough to be relevant.”
I’m sorry, but I don’t believe this at all. Look at any listing comparing salaries of majors or a list of the top paying undergrads and you will find engineering taking up around 7/10 spots. Regardless of what one school says, “an undergrad degree in business” is nowhere on these lists. One reason this is very likely is because a B.A in business does not correlate to any particular job; whereas an engineering degree does at the same time it opens up all the doors for so many others.

Here engineering does indeed hold 7/10 top spots:
[Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary](Common Jobs for Majors - College Salary Report)

“You cannot do accounting with an engineering degree.
You also cannot do engineering with an accounting degree.”

You are wrong. Engineers very often take jobs in finance and accounting. The reverse though would not be true: someone with a degree in accounting could not qualify for an engineering job.

The basic idea is that an engineering degree trumps a business/finance/accounting degree in difficulty, knowledge, and skill set; as a result the engineers can take jobs in those ‘lesser’ fields. But it does not work the other way around of course.

“You’re much better off being an accounting major than an engineer major with below a 3.0.”

Actually, not really- not really at all. It’s not uncommon for engineering students to have much lower gpas in comparison to other non-STEM majors due to the difficulty/effort required. It’s not really comparable, and doesn’t mean that it’s better to get a higher gpa elsewhere.
In fact, all else being equal (interest etc.) it would be far better to get that degree in engineering even with a lower gpa because the engineer can take the accounting major’s job. This is true even if the engineer wasn’t taught certain accounting concepts because the employer will be willing and often preferring to hire on the engineer who has proved he or she is highly capable and able to learn what is needed/be trained on the job- an engineer is that much more valuable. It is in this way that the engineers very often and easily can take non-engineering jobs (not uncommon at all).