Hi,
I’ve already a Bachelors in a Humanities field (history), but since I decided not to go to law school, I feel like I can’t do much with my degree. I’ve been teaching myself web development for a little over a year, and although it’s reasonably easy and I enjoy building things, I can’t imagine being in front of a computer for so many hours a day. But I know I want a career in this area.
If I took prerequisite courses at a community college like Calc I and II, Physics I and II, General Chemistry, Differential Equations, and Biology (This is about 30-35 credit hours total), would I have a decent chance in getting into a Masters Program in Engineering? Or should I aim for a second bachelors with these prerequistes ? The university I went to simply did not offer Engineering , so I feel like I missed out on this opportunity and I believe this is a good excuse if admissions officers ask why I’m looking to get second bachelors.
In short, if I take enough prerequisite math and science courses for the next 1-2 years, could I get into a Masters or second Bachelors degree program in Engineering? Thanks!
One of the problems you will face is that graduate admissions are not just about checking boxes. Yes, you will need to fulfill a certain minimum background in those sorts of math and science courses (and preferably engineering as well), but another big factor in many cases are reference letters, and that seems like something that will be a bit of a stretch for you. I know if you applied for an MS program and I was trying to evaluate your application, I’d have some serious concerns with your background and level of preparation. I think the best you can likely hope for in that case is to be admitted provisionally until you prove (through a semester or two of courses) that you belong in the program.
It would probably be hard to enroll in a masters program for traditional engineering, although I’ve seen some Masters programs for software engineering that were designed for people who already had college degrees and wanted to get into programming. Something like the following, which I picked off the web pretty much at random.
The prerequisites you list are those that one would need in your freshman year in college as as prerequisites for your engineering classes. You would have basically three years of engineering classes after that. Doable but a lot more work than it looks like you’re anticipating.