<p>I recently applied and got accepted to all three schools; USC, UCLA and Stanford for Env Eng. However, I have a job right now in Los Angeles that is well paid and has a great working environment. Given the current market conditions, I'm starting to reconsider about staying in LA, keeping my current job that pays well and going to USC after work. Stanford is a prestigious university esp for engineering and I'm unsure what the future holds in 2010 when I graduate. </p>
<p>I guess my dilemma right now is deciding which school to go to. Do I keep my job that i love and attain a MS at USC or should I go to Stanford and be broke all over again??</p>
<p>I may be biased but USC also has a lot of courses you can take online, meaning you don’t have to set foot on campus. I don’t know if Stanford has a similar program. There are people in other parts of the country in the Master’s program at USC, which makes it more convenient when you’re working.</p>
<p>yea… finding a job right now in this economy is tough. i think the smarter choice is to work and go to school at the same time even though stanford is ranked #1 for env eng.</p>
<p>Wow your dilemma sounds rough- on the one hand you have acceptances from places like Stanford, USC and UCLA and on the other hand you have a high paying job that you love. </p>
<p>The economic recession won’t go on forever and the worst of it will hopefully be over by 2011, so I wouldn’t be terribly worried about being able to find a job in a couple of years. However, what could be so bad about delaying the start of grad school or doing it part time as you suggest, for a couple of years while banking some money. I don’t really have any insight for you beyond general common sense that giving up a high paying job during a recession seems foolish and blowing off a shot at a graduate degree from Stanford is also foolish. Good luck.</p>
<p>I guess turning down Stanford was my hardest decision I’ve ever made. Unless someone else can convince me why I should go there and not quit my job and go to USC for night school.</p>
<p>Another issue to consider: How “secure” is that job you love? Is your company still making money? Have they laid off any employees lately or cut-back in areas like benefits, hours, bonuses, etc.? </p>
<p>How would you feel if you turned down these schools to continue working and then got laid off sometime in the next few months? I’m not saying you should necessarily choose school over your current job. I’m just saying that it’s something you should think about as you make your decision.</p>
<p>Is there any way your job would let you leave, go to stanford, and then come back? Plus, by the time you get out of school, the market will be very different.</p>
<p>If your workplace employs engineers with MS degrees, they might even be willing to offer you a promotion upon your completion at Stanford and if you’re willing to come back. If they like you enough, you might even be able to get them to help pay for a little bit of the schooling in exchange for a guarantee you’ll work for them after graduating.</p>
<p>well, my employer is the city of los angeles. i don’t think they’re laying off anyone anytime soon esp since the stimulus package was passed. i already spoke to my boss and the city wouldn’t let me take a leave of absence since i haven’t passed probation that is 2 yrs. either way, it’s a catch 22. i go to stanford and forego a high paying job that’s secured or get paid, go to USC and regret not going to stanford.</p>
<p>it’s a tough choice gentlemen. i mean who wouldn’t want the money consistently coming into your bank account every 2 weeks. </p>
<p>thanks everyone for your concern. i appreciate everyone’s candor. had it been a better job market, i would have gone without reservation. it’s only because of the recession that has gotten me worried.</p>
<p>I would think it would be pretty easy to get an engineering job with the Stanford name on your resume, even if we do go into a depression.</p>
<p>I have a somewhat similar situation… I have to decide between paying full price for Stanford CEE or going to a lower ranked school with a good funding package.</p>
<p>I’m at stanford now for civil engineering. If you are getting funding from USC, go there. i have classmates here who will be 60k in debt at graduation. They are almost all having a hard time finding jobs. (the cliche answer these days from companies is that they are not actively hiring but are always looking). In hindsight, a lot of my classmates regret the decision. A Stanford degree will not open magical doors like others on this forum would like to believe.</p>
<p>Keep your job. I will agree with a weaker position than Blah’s in that I don’t think you will get a position after Stanford that will overcome the opportunity cost of not working for the year or so you spend getting your MS compared to keeping your job and going to USC.</p>
<p>I will take a different position. See if you can defer the Stanford acceptance for a year and stay in your present job until your two years are up and take a leave of absence (If this is possible). There is no comparison between a USC and Stanford degree in Engineering. My daughter is at Stanford now with Blah and her friend just landed a job with a top consulting firm starting when she completes her studies in June. A good friend of mine’s daughter finishes in March and had no trouble finding a job in Houston which she found through an internship she had last summer.</p>
<p>The OP has not said anything about what he/she likes to do, but yes Stanford might open more doors in that particular field. Not everyone wants to work in consulting, however.</p>
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<p>So? The OP has a job NOW, and further you have no idea whether or not your daughter’s friend would not have been able to work at that company had she not gone to Stanford. I’m not convinced by what information the OP has supplied that Stanford is worth it. The MS is a money-making degree, so I think keeping a job and getting an MS is pretty great for making money.</p>
<p>Both these students were in Environmental Eng as is the OP. It’s nice that he has a municipal job with LA. Maybe this is his dream but it does not sound like it. If you are unable to realize that a Stanford or MIT Graduate degree in Engineering opens doors that a part-time night school degree does not then there’s no more to be said. My point was that Stanford Grads are able to find jobs even now.</p>
<p>I’m sure Stanford graduates are able to find jobs, but that isn’t evidence that USC graduates aren’t. I think the years of work experience will be a significant enough career booster that the OP could hold his/her own even against the “superior” Stanford graduates, should he/she look for a new position after graduation. I don’t know why people look down their noses at night school. Engineering is a profession to be trained for, not the battlegrounds for a fight over who has the prettier diploma. Certainly, Stanford provides an excellent education. And yes, there will be bigoted employers who really do put stake in that pretty diploma. But if the OP chooses USC over Stanford, I’m sure his/her life will turn out fine, and there’s no particular reason to regret the decision.</p>
<p>Nice straw man, but it’s not like the OP is deciding between Montana State and Stanford, he/she is deciding between two well-regarded California schools. The OP isn’t in a typical situation, so I think given the circumstances Stanford isn’t nearly as appealing as say if he/she was a new college grad and didn’t have roots anywhere. If the OP wants to stay in the LA area, I bet USC has the same sort of pull as Stanford. Night school shouldn’t make a difference because no school would risk damaging their name by providing lesser quality night classes.</p>
<p>Engineering isn’t full of prestige w****s so stop trying to act like the OP will be working at Starbucks if he/she doesn’t go to Stanford. Plenty of students from other schools are getting jobs still.</p>
<p>GT is right. An MS here without funding is a major cashcow. Unfortunately, there are a ****load of prestige whores here who are paying just to have stanford on their resume. It’s only at the end that they’ve realized 60k won’t land them the job of their dreams.</p>
<p>A sad story: I have a friend who decided to go to Stanford for an MS&E masters, giving up a secure job and leaving her old field completely instead of staying in the Boston area and going to Tufts part-time, paid for by her company, while holding down her job. She decided beforehand that if she could add Stanford to her resume, she would drop everything to do so. She is now due to graduate soon (in debt from no funding) and has applied to an astronomical number of miscellaneous jobs… 0 hits. Purely anecdotal, but it was so similar to the OP’s situation that I had to share… goes to show what a crap shoot life is.</p>