Business or Engineering...can't decide

[The BMW Guy]

Can't decide between the two, I'm heading off to UofC next year once I graduate from High School.

I'm interested in both business and engineering. But I can't seem to get my decision straight...one day it will be engineering, the next I will want to go to business.
Right now I am unsure of what to go into.

I have been good at "making money" since I was a little kid selling off my bikes to get money for better ones, then selling the better ones to buy even better ones. I think I went from a $200 (Canadian Tire) bike at age 13 to a $2200 bike (Giant Glory for you bikers) when I was 15. Never lost any money on my sales, only made profit which was used to buy a better bike.
Nowadays I sell other things (legally!), selling electronics. I've made roughly $1000 in profits in the last two months...not bad in my mind for the amount of work I do.

Anyways, so there's my business side. But I'm also interested in the sciences. My grades are top notch (+90% in sciences) and I'm taking all the high level courses right now, including some university level chemistry/math. Right now I am very interested in engineering, building and fixing things has also been a hobby of mine. I always work on the car and I like to solve for variables and do those tricky physic problems.

But I'm still undecided on which route would be most beneficial to me. I am uncertain.

So I thought maybe some of you engineering/business students/graduates could chime in and let me know the pros/cons of each faculty or the field.

I know in business if I don't go into it directly from high school I will have to wait until my 3rd year of university before I can get accepted. But I would get lots of space for options so I can "explore" the various subjects the university has to offer.
On the other hand, in engineering I can only have one option block, the rest are picked out for me already. So not much exploring if I want to do other things.

Not sure which would be best for me right now.
Perhaps others in other fields could chime in as well, I'd appreciate all the opinions I can get.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[dandia89]

you could always do your engineering degree then do your mba, which is a mixture of both.

[2Valve0]

I was exactly like you by the sounds of it, I've been making money since I could remeber, or scamming kids in trades for pokemon cards. My average going into UofC was 96%, sciences, maths, anything you name it. I chose business. My first mistake was going to UofC at all. The level of teaching at this school is horrible in most business classes, and I've heard in many ENGG classes as well. For example, I have this dumb ass teacher today who droned on for 30 minutes in accounting about fuck all to do with anything(some solar powered houses) when we have a midterm saturday and havn't finished all the material, good teacher right?

My suggestion to you would be DO NOT GO TO SCHOOL IN CALGARY! If your like me and have to much here that you can't leave then your shit out of luck haha.

But as for your question most people I know in business have alot of fun, where as everyone I know in ENGG are stresscases with no lives to be honest. Always complaining about assignments and how they never have time to do anything, see friends etc. This is just what the kids I know in ENGG are like though may not represent all(I only know about 10 ppl in ENGG).
If your getting 90's in highschool and you were like me that didn't have to study crazy and have no life to get them, I'd suggest business to be honest because I don't study much or apply myself 100% and still am doing good. If you are one of the people who study all day and don't have a life, I'd suggest ENGG because it seems like thats what they do.

Just remember if you go into business always check rate my prof before you go into a class because we have alot of horrible damn teachers, could give you a list to run and hide from.

[msommers]

Do you want to work your ass off or dress up for school I kid I kid

[Dr_Funk]

^^I would have to disagree. I finished engineering last year and I never really had to study all day and night. Yes there are definitely kids who did nothing but study, but there are people like that in all faculties. Its up to you on how you handle the stress. Some people don't handle it very well so they study study and study. Others are better at managing time so can get more done in shorter time.

The first 2 years of engineering are fairly difficult, but its nothing that would prevent you from having a life. If anything I found the engineering kids party alot more than other faculties. The final 2 years of engineering are so much better. The profs are better, and you actually are learning in the department of your choice so no more taking classes that you don't really care much for.

Also with the Schulich funds, you get to a lot of opportunities to travel abroad to conferences and exchange programs and such.

As a precautionary note though, most engineering through the UofC are towards the energy side and most jobs in calgary are energy-related. So if that's not what you want, you may want to consider business or go to a different engineering school.

[dandia89]

Originally posted by 2Valve0

If your getting 90's in highschool and you were like me that didn't have to study crazy and have no life to get them, I'd suggest business to be honest because I don't study much or apply myself 100% and still am doing good. If you are one of the people who study all day and don't have a life, I'd suggest ENGG because it seems like thats what they do.

you know what, i'd like to agree with this to some extent, but if you really have a passion for pursuing something, you'll change your habits to study more. i didn't study at all in highschool and barely got by, i had to do a year of compsci just so i could transfer into engg, and i'm spending so much more time studying and doing much better than i did in highschool. and if you study smart, you won't have to put in all those hours as most people do.

[SJW]

Do you wanna be rich or just well off and shit on by society?

[davidI]

Definitely Engineering.

I did my BComm and regret it.

In a lot of industries, the CEO / COO / CFO are all Engineers. This especially applies to resource, chemical and manufacturing companies.

As someone else pointed out, you can move on to do your MBA down the road if you want to build up your business knowledge.

All of the things I thought I'd be doing with a business degree are done by Engineers in my company (large oil and gas). There is a brotherhood amongst engineers where they seem to look at anyone not holding a B.Eng as inferior or incapable of doing certain jobs (even economics or portfolio management jobs which one would think would fall within the realm of a BComm grad). I personally disagree with their view, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Remember, an engineer can become a businessman - businessmen cannot become engineers.

[CHICHARITZHI]

Originally posted by davidI
Definitely Engineering.

I did my BComm and regret it.

In a lot of industries, the CEO / COO / CFO are all Engineers. This especially applies to resource, chemical and manufacturing companies.

As someone else pointed out, you can move on to do your MBA down the road if you want to build up your business knowledge.

All of the things I thought I'd be doing with a business degree are done by Engineers in my company (large oil and gas). There is a brotherhood amongst engineers where they seem to look at anyone not holding a B.Eng as inferior or incapable of doing certain jobs (even economics or portfolio management jobs which one would think would fall within the realm of a BComm grad). I personally disagree with their view, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Remember, an engineer can become a businessman - businessmen cannot become engineers.

i agree businessman cannot become engineers but they become a billionaires..

[pf0sh0]

Originally posted by CHICHARITZHI



i agree businessman cannot become engineers but they become a billionaires..

So can engineers... lol

[CHICHARITZHI]

Originally posted by pf0sh0


So can engineers... lol

no, because they don't wanna be a seller. they're engineers..

[believe]

Originally posted by davidI


Remember, an engineer can become a businessman - businessmen cannot become engineers.

This.

Most people I know who are interested in business are interested in doing MBA programs down the road. You can absolutely still do this with an engineering degree. On the flip side, a Commerce student would not be able to obtain a P.Eng and what not, so if you change your mind about business later, you still have a pretty good fall back.

[The BMW Guy]

So why can't businessmen become engineers exactly?
Can you guys elaborate more on this.

[msommers]

You could, but you'd have to go back to school to get your degree.

[2Valve0]

I'm in business and could become an engineer?
Business students, by history, will on average make more money then engineers both graduating from UofC without a doubt. An engineer can become a businessman but engineers after they're schooling I found have a very different mentality than what you need for business, not all but most.

[CHICHARITZHI]

Originally posted by The BMW Guy
So why can't businessmen become engineers exactly?
Can you guys elaborate more on this.

many answers....

businessmen =seller

engineers = builder

[tobslau]

I'd say eng if you had to choose. Some say its easy or hard. In my opinion i think the workload and difficulty is much greater in eng. I've got plenty of friends in ENG who have a WAY bigger workload than me.

In reference to your high school marks, it doesn't matter what you have. In general, there is a large margin between the difficulty of high school and university. That being said, if you've got a great work ethic then it doesn't matter what level of education you are at. There are the prodigies and "smart" people who choose to work hard.

In the end, no matter what you choose, just do well in it. In the words of my father, it's not about the choices you want to make, its about the choices you have access to. So if you keep your grades up, you can always xfer to a different program.

And realistically speaking, it's perfectly normal to not know what you want to do. You decide what you really want to do after experiencing life events, whether it's an education program or a career. Things are always different from your point of view.

As for the University of Calgary:
While I think it isn't that great of a school, if you do poorly you can't blame anyone but yourself. Profs do make a big differences, but i find the people who bitch and moan about the University and teaching staff are the ones who just failing and want to blame someone/something. If profs are huge deal to you, just make sure to research up on who the best profs are around for the particular course (yes, I know sometimes you are stuck with a shitty prof, but common it's not like other university has bad professors as well)

That being said, my biggest regret was going to UC. I really would have liked to study abroad, but it is natural to understand if you have a financial constraint.

[2Valve0]

Originally posted by tobslau


As for the University of Calgary:
While I think it isn't that great of a school, if you do poorly you can't blame anyone but yourself. Profs do make a big differences, but i find the people who bitch and moan about the University and teaching staff are the ones who just failing and want to blame someone/something. If profs are huge deal to you, just make sure to research up on who the best profs are around for the particular course (yes, I know sometimes you are stuck with a shitty prof, but common it's not like other university has bad professors as well)

Haha I bitch and moan about lots of the horrible teachers and I'm one of the top if not top in the class. I think people who bitch are ones who expect more then a teacher who can barely speak english or ones that cancel 5 lectures a semester, or ones that just don't give a shit about you or your marks?

[tobslau]

Originally posted by 2Valve0
I'm in business and could become an engineer?
Business students, by history, will on average make more money then engineers both graduating from UofC without a doubt. An engineer can become a businessman but engineers after they're schooling I found have a very different mentality than what you need for business, not all but most.

Sorry to double post, but on average engineers have a higher initial salary.

On what basis would you even say that business students will on average make more money than engineers. Not only have you not specified what field of business, you don't even need to go to school to be a business man. If you work for a large company, you are going to have to learn most of the basic business processes.

And you learn business mentality at school??
This idea is why we have so many people graduating haskayne expecting 6 figure starting salaries.
School does minimal on your performance at work. You learn everything about how to excel in your career in your career. Personality also plays a big part.

Just to add, many of my wealthy family and friends who started their own businesses, began as engineers.

Note: I'm not in eng, I'm actually a B.A. Economics, so I'm not biased towards eng or anything

Edit: Can't spell...sigh

[2Valve0]

^^
Are you saying that a good engineer in their lifetime will make more money than a good businessman? I call on that. Obviously ENG's make more starting salary? Business you work your way up, and fast if you have any common sense and people skills.

Just to add many family members of mine and friends that are engineers continued to be engineers and are very well of but not rich by any means.

I'm not going to try to argue that in a lifetime a business student will make more then an engineering student, its pretty obvious unless you get a tourism or economics degree and don't continue to go to school?

I'm not very biased either I think UofC sucks altogether haha I would rather have went overseas, U.S. or even Toronto but couldn't