My husband's gazillionaire financier friend told our kids to study engineering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've read a couple articles in the past year about how employers say that recent college grads, who for some time have been encouraged to major in "hard" science, engineering, math fields, are missing "soft" skills (communication, PR, etc.) and that it's a problem. So there's that to consider as well.

You're right. My DH is a senior manager in an IT firm and bemoans the fact that there are plenty of applicants (and employees) who have computer science, math, engineering degrees etc. but who are terrible, or at best mediocre, at interacting with their clients, writing e-mail that's clear and understandable, writing reports that are useful, etc. He feels that many colleges must be cranking out grads without any training in how to communicate their STEM work product so users, clients, budget officers etc. can use and understand it. The people who will really climb in their careers, and get out of the engineering or programming trenches, are the relative few who pair STEM knowledge with ability to function well as communicators. He says he is seeing that combination much less in recent years than he once did.

Lemme guess - the applicants are mostly Indian or Chinese. Of course they can't communicate well ... In English..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most undergraduate business schools require the students to take a wide range of core courses. They will take classes in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities in addition to the core business classes like accounting, economics, finance, and marketing. They will then declare a major in the business school. Most quality programs also allow the student to double major and they can choose anything from outside the business school such as history, music, English, etc. Business students are well rounded. The idea that a business degree has no value is ridiculous. If a student wants to major in engineering because that is where they feel they will do well that is great. We need good engineers to solve world problems. We do not need all our engineers working on Wall Street.

It's typically a double major because alone it's pretty worthless.

Says who? A tiger mom who will only let her kid study engineering or medicine? My father has and undergraduate degree in engineering and an MBA and his life is just as normal as someone with an English degree or communications degree.

Just as normal? What does that mean? He didn't get a great job?

IMO the only MBA worth getting is from a Top 10 program. Otherwise it's not a great investment.

-engineer undergrad & grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most undergraduate business schools require the students to take a wide range of core courses. They will take classes in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities in addition to the core business classes like accounting, economics, finance, and marketing. They will then declare a major in the business school. Most quality programs also allow the student to double major and they can choose anything from outside the business school such as history, music, English, etc. Business students are well rounded. The idea that a business degree has no value is ridiculous. If a student wants to major in engineering because that is where they feel they will do well that is great. We need good engineers to solve world problems. We do not need all our engineers working on Wall Street.

It's typically a double major because alone it's pretty worthless.

Says who? A tiger mom who will only let her kid study engineering or medicine? My father has and undergraduate degree in engineering and an MBA and his life is just as normal as someone with an English degree or communications degree.

Just as normal? What does that mean? He didn't get a great job?

IMO the only MBA worth getting is from a Top 10 program. Otherwise it's not a great investment.

-engineer undergrad & grad

SLAC grad here. I can say "You want fries with that?" in three languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most undergraduate business schools require the students to take a wide range of core courses. They will take classes in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities in addition to the core business classes like accounting, economics, finance, and marketing. They will then declare a major in the business school. Most quality programs also allow the student to double major and they can choose anything from outside the business school such as history, music, English, etc. Business students are well rounded. The idea that a business degree has no value is ridiculous. If a student wants to major in engineering because that is where they feel they will do well that is great. We need good engineers to solve world problems. We do not need all our engineers working on Wall Street.

It's typically a double major because alone it's pretty worthless.

Weird. My daughter is looking for summer internships and pretty much every single one lists business as a preferred major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most undergraduate business schools require the students to take a wide range of core courses. They will take classes in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities in addition to the core business classes like accounting, economics, finance, and marketing. They will then declare a major in the business school. Most quality programs also allow the student to double major and they can choose anything from outside the business school such as history, music, English, etc. Business students are well rounded. The idea that a business degree has no value is ridiculous. If a student wants to major in engineering because that is where they feel they will do well that is great. We need good engineers to solve world problems. We do not need all our engineers working on Wall Street.

It's typically a double major because alone it's pretty worthless.

Weird. My daughter is looking for summer internships and pretty much every single one lists business as a preferred major.

That's weird. What type of internships? Where?