<p>So I'm from Perth, Western Australia.
I'm currently doing a Double Bachelors Degree in Science and Commerce, I've got majors in Corporate Finance, Investment Finance, Anthropology and I'm studying towards Engineering too!</p>
<p>I've really fallen in love with Engineering, and I fell in love with the US when I did my study abroad there awhile back. </p>
<p>In my current degree, I'm only able to complete a few Engineering Units (Intro Physics Unit, 2 Math Units, 2 Intro Eng units (1 is partially Materials / Civil, the other is Partially mechanical/Electrical) and a Matlab Unit)
Normally I would then continue on to do what we call in some of our unis a "masters in Professional Engineering" - a masters by coursework really. This would allow you to pick your field of specialisation (Electrical or Chemical for me!), and upon completing it (2.5 years more work for me), I would be a qualified Engineer and able to work. </p>
<p>I'm really hoping to transfer to the US after my undergraduate degree (I graduate Mid 2015), and complete my Engineering studies there.
However, I'm not actually entirely too sure what degree I am meant to be applying for.
Would I be applying to a Uni in the US for an Undergraduate Engineering Degree? Or a Masters Degree? And if a Masters degree, what kind (Professional, Coursework .. there are so many!) </p>
<p>I'm about to take a trip to the US (yay!) - Going to see UT Austin and Georgia Tech, I hear they are great Engineering Schools, and have lovely campuses, although it really does seem like all of your Universities have amazing campuses!
I'm hoping they will be able to help me out, but I thought I would try and do some research before going so I didn't look too daft! </p>
<p>Looking forward to hearing from everyone and thanks for the time! </p>
<p>If you want an undergraduate degree in Engineering, you would apply as a transfer student. Many places will let you apply for a second undergraduate degree if you will have finished your first program before enrolling here. However, there is no financial aid for second undergraduate degrees, and it is likely that you would need more than just two years to finish up.</p>
<p>If you want a graduate degree, you would apply as a graduate student. </p>
<p>In either case, you need to contact the programs that are interesting to you, and ask them what your options are.</p>
<p>would I be admitted as a graduate? I’m only a short ways through an Engineering Degree.
I will definitely be emailing and visiting Uni’s I’d like to attend and talking to them about my options </p>
<p>I’m confused about how much education you’d actually receive in your current degree program. A Bachelor’s degree from Australia may or may not be sufficient to enter the graduate degree program of your choice. Some American universities accept foreign 3-year Bachelor’s degrees as being equivalent to an American 4-year Bachelor’s degree, but some universities require 4 years of prior university education from all applicants (e.g. a foreign Bachelor + Master).</p>
<p>If your current undergraduate program can be finished in fewer than 3 years, or does not qualify you to work as an engineer, odds are that you would be underqualified for American graduate engineering programs. In that case you could either transfer to an American university to complete a Bachelor’s degree in engineering there, or apply for admission for a second undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response!
The full Engineering Degree is actually 5 years (3 years undergraduate, 2 years “masters”), to qualify you as an Engineer at my uni.
However, my situation is a little complicated, I will try and explain it as simply as I can</p>
<p>I am enrolled in a Double Bachelors (Science and Commerce) - Graduating in July 2015.
By this stage I will only have finished about 2.5 years of the standard 5 year Engineering Curriculum, and would need to finish the final 2.5 years in the Masters (normally 2 years, I would do a 6 month “bridging” course) </p>
<p>However, since I’m graduating from my undergrad in mid 2015, I figured that would be a good time to transfer and finish studying Engineering in the US.
At that point, I would probably have completed only 1 physics unit, 2 math units, 1 matlab unit, and maybe 3 intro eng units (which together cover intro to civil, materials, mechanical and electrical Engineering). Really not much in depth, unfortunately my course doesn’t really get into much depth until 3rd year! </p>
<p>I visited a few US unis after my study abroad, and some had told me I would not be allowed to study another undergrad degree, and could only do my Engineering Studies in the Graduate Degree - A masters by coursework or something similar, and take a fairly long bridging program first.
However, I wasn’t sure if that was the general system in the US or just specific to a few Unis. </p>
<p>I’m not entirely too sure of the best way to proceed from now since I’m not too familiar with the US University System, but hopefully my trip will clear a few things up! </p>
<p>Get an online copy of the course catalogs for the universities you’re thinking of attending. See if the courses that you are currently taking match a similar course description in that school’s catalog. You can then compare and see how much your curriculum “matches” the other schools, or, lacks any requirements. You will know where you stand after that.<br>
I would suggest you enter as a transfer undergraduate student since you seem to be short in engineering courses for an engineering degree in the US.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a “general American system.” Every university does its own thing. You’d have to find out for every single university, which (if any) of their degree programs you’d be eligible for and under what conditions. </p>
<p>If you want to attend a university with well-known engineering programs (GA Tech, UIUC, MIT, etc), your best odds are to complete an American undergraduate engineering degree (as a transfer or second degree student) and then apply to Master’s degree programs at the top universities. The better universities don’t accept undergraduate applications from students who already have a Bachelor’s degree, but the better universities also don’t admit underprepared applicants to their graduate programs.
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<p>thanks for the advice!
i am in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment. </p>
<p>I did find that to be a problem - many of the Uni’s I spoke to did not accept applications for an undergrad if you already held a bachelors degree, which is a real shame. I really enjoyed the US College Undergrad experience in my 6 months over there.</p>
<p>I should probably also consider just finishing my Engineering Degree over here and then going to the US for a Master’s. Just really missing the states! It was awesome being there, and really enjoyed the educational experience also, top teaching quality! </p>
<p>Also, as I’m really into research, I would have loved to do my Engineering Degree in a Uni which supported Undergraduate Research, so I could build up a bit of a research CV, to be a good candidate for Masters. Unfortunately Undergraduate Research is almost unheard of in Australia, although we must complete a Thesis as part of our Undergrad Degree. But unfortunately the majority of topics here (in WA especially) tend to be focused on mining - not really one of my interests. </p>
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