What I told him is to identify his 'dream job' and then talk to MIT alum that have that job (he has a good alum network through his fraternity) and ask their advice on how to best prepare for it. However, it is still hard for an 18 year old BOY, yes he is a boy, to know what that dream job is. He is great at math and physics, so all the coursework in either major is easy for him, so that's not the issue.

I guess the problem is closing doors. It sounds like course 6 keeps more doors open (although realize at MIT all students end up with significant technical training regardless of major) and in my mind takes better advantage of being at MIT, afterall it is a technical institute, and he can always aquire business training later, but that does take longer and he is also interested in getting into the world of work sooner rather than later. If he gets the microsoft internship I think that will help a lot for him to see the world of work first hand. If he doesn't he has a guaranteed UROP (research) on campus for the summer, so either way he'll get some real world work experience. He said the problem is if he wants the microsoft internship he needs to say he is a course 6 major while if he wants an internship at a NYC bank he needs to say he is a management science major, and he just isn't sure yet.

Our kids face tough decisions. Our daughter is majoring in neuroscience at Wellesley, but for her its deciding between a research career and medicine. At one point she decided on research and didn't want to finish her pre-med requirements, but we encouraged her to keep options open so she did take the courses, and now she is considering psychiatry so it is good to not close doors, at least at the tender age of 18 or 19.

Please keep posting, I look forward to more feedback. I guess what I am really looking for is not which major gets you hired, my impression is a bright kid graduating from MIT with good grades won't have a hard time getting a job upon graduation, its what will prepare him best to excel in that job.