I did "systems engineering", which was OR and control theory. While it was somewhat soft engineering for the first years, the final year was intense optimization once a proper mathematical and computational background was established.
on one hand its true, cuz i spent almost my entire last 2 years in 'hardcore' optimization, network flows, computer simulation etc, with only a couple 'filler' courses in facilities design, efficiency etc...
on the other hand i got into the major cuz my GPA was horrid, and my advisor who was one of the leaders of the engineering physics department was like yeah dont bother to apply to the engineering physics you should apply to orie instead...
