Civil Engineering and MBA

[ddt21]

I have looked over a few websites and still have not found a good reference to determine what type of MBA emphasis I should go with. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

My initial thought was to go with finance and become a real estate analyst or something along those lines.

 

[Road Guy]

If you want to do real estate then Finance would be a good choice, but most of the classes are geared towards bonds, international finance, corporate finance, banking, etc, you will get a good dose of the time value of money.

I did an MBA with a general background, mostly because I was going to school at night and just had to take what classes were offered that fit with my schedule. But most of my "extra" MBA classes were in Finance, since they had numbers in them, they were more comfortable to me than some of the fru-fru economics classes. Engineering Economy doesnt = Economics, Engineering Economy is more like a simplified version of finance.

The marketing,accounting, and management classes are a nice change from what we saw in engineering school, I enjoyed my program and would do it again, it also gives you a segway into another market down the road if you choose to do so..

 

[ddt21]

Thanks for the information. Any other insight would be appreciated...

 

[udpolo15]

Thanks for the information. Any other insight would be appreciated...

I think it really depends on what you want to do. Are you staying in engineering? Are you looking for a career change?

I am in an MBA program as well. My advice would be to focus on the classes that you are interested rather than trying to fill a check box. i have looked through the course catalog at my school and have a list about 30 classes (I'll take 20) that I find interesting and that I feel would help me with my career goals. As it happens, I'll probably end up with a finance and a decision science concentration. However, rather than focusing just on those, I'll have take some advanced (beyond core courses) marketing and accounting courses as well.

In short - once you decide on your focus - take the minimum to get the concentration and then round out your MBA.

 

[ddt21]

This is my thought process at this moment... It will take me approxiamtely two years to complete my MBA. I have already achieved my goal of obtaining my PE in civil engineering. A career change is a possibility, but I also don't want to hamstring myself in my current profession.

I am looking at if I want to stay in my current profession; I want my MBA to help me to either start my own firm or advance my engineering career futher. I also want my MBA to serve me if choose to change careers. That is financially serve me. I don't want to change careers and make less that what I am making now.