Is a BEng + BCom Double Degree a Good Choice for an Engineering Career?

[danago]

Hey. I have a few days to submit my final preferences for uni. I am going to go into engineering (chemical probably), and ill probably do it as a double degree with a bachelor of commerce (maybe majoring in quantatative finance).

Anyway, does this sound like a good combination? Would the two degrees go together well in an engineering career? Does the addition of the business degree open up a large new range of potential careers?

 

[plutoisacomet]

Sounds great. You may want to focus you business classes towards Organizational Management. Together with your engineering degree this intangible difference will vault you over middle management(finance) into corporate management & Strategy. With that bigger picture in mind, you can always make sure you have great finance people around you as you run the company.

In other words, You never see a Navy Seal, Delta Force or Army Special Forces guy make it to be a four-star general etc. Their skill are so critical that they reach the top of their specialty and remain there. Whereas a General officer with a broader range of Organizational-Operational skills will quickly climb the ladder. Well, It's the same in business. If you have organizational and operations business skills then you also know how to marshal the best people for key positions to keep your business growing.
Finance is great but overly specific, I would stick with some type of management track which gives you the skills to manage and marshal your people. You engineering hard skills will put you over the top.

 

[danago]

Thanks for the great advice

The university which i am looking at offers 12 majors (http://www.uwa.edu.au/prospective/undergrad/courses/commerce ). The only reason i thought of doing quantatative finance is because of its mathematical content, but i guess ill be doing enough of that in engineering anyway :P I don't have to decide what I am going to major in until the second year, so I've still got time to decide.

 

[danago]

Hmm i guess if i really wanted to (and if it would help) i could always do a double or triple major in my BCom. That might be pushing it in terms of the workload though, since engineering isn't exactly the easiest degree (or so I've heard).

 

[plutoisacomet]

UWA is a great University by the way! Keep working hard..

 

[plutoisacomet]

Well if you continue your studies year round including summer then you won't have to overload. Here is an extreme example. Here at the University of Alabama a student completed his BS-physics in 2years. He averaged 30 credits per semester. That is double the workload of the average physics student. Also, there should be common courses to both Degree programs. Myself, I am Electrical Engineering/Physics major and I will be going to Graduate school for a Masters in Business.
Keep in touch!

 

[danago]

I was looking at a few MBA programs and it made me think; would i be better off just doing a single engineering degree now, and then doing an MBA later on?

 

[danago]

Ok well I've put my first preference as BEng + BCom, however i still may drop the BCom. I am getting mixed ideas from different people; Some say definitely do the double, while others say do the single degree and then do an MBA later on.

Id like to hear more people's thoughts on the topic.