<p>Hey all!
This is my first post, so a little background. I graduated with a BA in Clinical Psychology in 2007 from a small liberal arts college. I had originally majored in Computer science and Clinical psychology. My parents were (and still are) very ill, so I never got any real financial help. This led to me working numerous jobs through college - usually 2-3 at a time along with being a full time student. The computer science major had to get dropped because I simply didn't have the time to dedicate to the lab.</p>
<p>However, I have no real use for my psych degree. All through college I worked in IT, my last job started me in IT and led me towards engineering. Now I'm working at a fortune 500 company as an engineer. I think I found what I'd like to do.</p>
<p>I would love to go for a master's degree, specifically in electrical engineering, however all programs that I've found require me to have a BS in Engineering or Physics. I don't have either.</p>
<p>So, I'm left with the option of going to school part time after work to get a BS in Electrical Engineering, or not going anywhere since I don't think there's really any hybrid masters that would allow me to leverage my psych degree.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed?</p>
<p>If you have a specific university where you would like to complete the M. Eng., sit down with that institution’s admissions requirements, and match them course for course with your records. How many are you missing? Is it a full second BS, or is it something that you could get through in one year? Draw up a formal plan. Then, go talk to the graduate admissions person in that department. Find out what that person thinks. Maybe you can work something out.</p>
<p>I agree with happymomof1 – if your goal is a formal MS degree in CS or EE (a good credential to have!) then working with the graduate school CS or EE head and/or admissions officer is the best way to go. You may be able to “skip” the second B.S. degree and start the MS degree with the understanding that you have gaps that you’ll address. That you have several years of relevant work experience would be a big help in getting the university’s attention, and support in starting the MS degree program (without a second B.S.). Practical work experience is a big plus for MS candidates – and is often part of the career path for software engineers. I encourage you to emphasize that in your discussions with potential universities.</p>
<p>An observation is that the gaps that you’re likely to have for the EE MS degree are much more difficult to address (in terms of effort and time) than those for (say) a CS MS degree. Depending on the university the CS degree likely requires less math and science course. So if you have not done advanced physics, partial differential equations, material science, etc. then that may not matter for the CS degree, but it would be critical for the EE degree.</p>
<p>A second observation is that (as I expect you’ve already observed) that CS and IT professionals often do not have their core training in CS. For example I know history majors who are very strong CS professionals. Once they start their career (regardless of their major) and they prove themselves their BS major doesn’t greatly matter. It’s only when they change jobs that the major becomes an issue. Even then you can mitigate the career concern by taking university extension courses in various aspects of CS, and this is convincing to most employers.</p>
<p>For EE professionals the degree matters a lot more, and filling gaps with extension courses is much more difficult. This is in part because the courses require deep math, and science, and an EE foundation, and also because advanced EE courses are infrequently offered in university extension or university remote programs.</p>
<p>So the bottom line is that focusing on a CS degree rather than an EE degree is likely to be easier for you. And as important (from a job perspective) is that a specific degree is less critical in CS positions so long as you acquire the technical knowledge through extension courses. Indeed your current employer may help you and encourage you. Some employers have relationships with major universities and some of the university programs provide remote learning.</p>
<p>Sounds like you need to talk with a school. To be an engineer you HAVE to have an engineering degree. Most states, the title “engineer” is title protected meaning you cannot call yourself that unless you have the degree to back to it. Similar to Psychiatrist, Social Worker, Doctor… those jobs are title protected. The job you have now must not be an actual engineering job. My bf works as an engineer but his degree was in computer science or something. His job title is actually “technition” or something but he does the work of an engineer but he doesnt have the degree to back it up yet. As the engineering career becomes more in-demand, you will need the degree if thats what you plan on doing. Luckily, in grad school your parents income is not looked at so you will hopefully be able to get FA or maybe a scholarship. Sit down with some schools and see how many undergrad and grad classes you need. Good Luck!</p>
<p>SallyNYU you don’t have the correct information. While what you state may be true is some fileds like “civil engineer” the custom is very different for software engineer, computer engineer, electronic engineer, and other similar positions in high technology firms – such as many in the Boston area, San Francisco area, etc. There are accreditation bodies that have tried to “formalize” these professions, and while some engineers do seek the certification it has minimal merit in most private leading high tech organizations (such as Microsoft, HP, Google, etc.). For them the workforce is international – often distributed among locales – and where talent and not “certification” is king. Indeed if you look at where high tech companies recruit, and who they recruit you’ll find mathematicians, physicists, and even philosophy majors among the hires. It’s all about talent and potential.</p>
<p>For professions such as “civil engineer” the engineer accreditation is critical because many positions require knowledge of government regulation, engineering standards (for structural/earthquake worthiness, etc.), because many jobs are in public practice, and because of potential liability issues for companies who hire uncertified personnel.</p>
<p>You’re welcome to send me a private mail if you would like more specifics.</p>