CA Vs Engineering: Which Career Has A Better Future?

rediffGURU Dr Karan Gupta, an international educational consultant, offers career guidance for young aspirants on how to choose the best course and career in India and abroad.

Is finance a better career choice than engineering?

Can an MBA degree boost your career growth?

What can one do to improve your chance at securing admission in an international university?

rediffGURU Dr Karan Gupta, an internationally recognised education counsellor, TEDx speaker and the founder of Karan Gupta Consulting, offers personalised career guidance to young aspirants and parents on how to choose the best course and career both in India and abroad.

• You can post your career-related questions to rediffGURU Dr Karan Gupta HERE.

Anonymous: Is CA or engineering a good career option for the future?

Both CA and engineering have strong career prospects. What you choose depends on your interest and skills.

If you're good with numbers, analysis and finance, CA offers stability and growth in accounting, auditing or corporate finance.

If you enjoy problem-solving, design and technology, engineering has wide opportunities in manufacturing, IT, infrastructure and emerging fields like AI and renewable energy.

Anonymous: Hi sir, I have completed diploma in automobile and BTech through IME in mechanical engineering.
I have been working in the construction industry for the past 19 years.
I want to pursue further education to support my career growth or other opportunities. Kindly suggest what I can do.

That's great to hear. You already have a strong technical base and good work experience.

Here are a few good directions you could consider:

1. MBA in project management or construction management: This is one of the most valuable choices. It'll help you move into leadership or senior management roles in construction, infrastructure, or operations.
2. Postgraduate diploma in construction management or contract management: Shorter programmes (one-year duration) that add strong value to your current profile and are less demanding time-wise.
3. MTech in industrial or structural engineering: If you want to stay on the technical side, this will deepen your mechanical background while connecting it to construction applications.
4. International options: You can also look at part-time or online master's programmes (like MSc in construction project management or engineering management) from universities in the UK, Canada, or Australia.

Swapnali: My son wishes to apply for engineering at NUS Singapore after clearing CBSE class 12 exam from India.
How can he get admission?
What is the academic fee for engineering for the year 2026-27?

For admission into NUS Singapore, your son needs to meet the following high-school criteria:

• He needs a good passing score in five subjects including English under Indian Standard 12 to apply.
• Strong performance in math, physics, etc, will help his engineering application.
• Sometimes extra assessment or interviews are required.
• Strong grades + holistic profile is a must.

Since many candidates are excellent, he should have top marks and good extracurriculars/projects.

NUS gives an 'indicative grade profile' for engineering; past cohorts (students who were admitted in the previous academic years) show they admit students with BBB/C up to AAA/A in A-Levels.

• As Indian board student, his board marks and school reputation will matter.
• Also, English proficiency (if required) and solid statements or reference letters.

How to apply for NUS Singapore

• You can apply through NUS's international admission process
• He must submit his class 12 (or predicted) results by the deadlines.
• You can follow NUS's application portal for international students.
• Watch out for deadlines, document verification, etc.

Estimated fees for engineering (2026-27)

You can expect around 18,000-40,000 Singapore dollars per year for engineering as an international student (depending on programme and subsidy). The precise, up-to-date figure will always be found on NUS's official website.

• You can post your career related questions to rediffGURU Dr Karan Gupta HERE.

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