<p>Um.... yeah, you <em>can</em> shift programs, but you're going to be in grad school forever making up the prerequisites. Which is okay, I guess, so long as you're willing to do it, and so long as the university's willing to foot the bill for all the extra semesters it takes you to make up the work.</p>
<p>What if you have a minor in EECS....would that be helpful?</p>
<p>yes it would</p>
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sakky...could you tell me about the program at MIT in which you can get an MBA and simultaneously get a degree MS degree in any engineering field? Is there a website where I can more information? thanks
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<p>Well, almost any engineering field. Still doesn't include NuclearEng. </p>
<p><a href="http://lfm.mit.edu/academic.html%5B/url%5D">http://lfm.mit.edu/academic.html</a></p>
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Um.... yeah, you <em>can</em> shift programs, but you're going to be in grad school forever making up the prerequisites. Which is okay, I guess, so long as you're willing to do it, and so long as the university's willing to foot the bill for all the extra semesters it takes you to make up the work.
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<p>I think that has to be taken on a case-by-case basis. The way I see it, the school wouldn't admit you if they didn't think you could do it. Depending on what undergrad courses you took and what you plan to focus on in grad-school, there may not be anything for you to make up at all. For example, the guy I know who got his bachelor's in Biology and is getting his graduate degree in Civil Engineering at MIT didn't lose any time.</p>
<p>Woah, sakky... you've gotta be kidding...!</p>
<p>And now, for the obvious barrage of questions! =)</p>
<p>What was his specialty? Was he going into engineering practice or research? Did he take civ eng courses as an undergrad, as well? Civil's probably one of the toughest ones to make up the undergrad credits for in grad school, and I'm pretty skeptical (but not saying it can't be done!) as to the feasibility of going into a grad civil <em>design</em> program coming from a different background, so my guess is he didn't go into design... right...? I just can't see a program like MIT releasing a civil on the world after a year and a half without Structural Analysis I, Mechanics of Materials, Steel I, Concrete I, Geotech, Fluids, Environmental, Hydrology, and Senior Design from their undergrad years, and that's a good year or so of classes, if you're really hoofing it. There had to be a lot of advance knowledge that he was going into Civ after getting his degree in Bio.</p>
<p>Bottom line is, and what I probably should have said is, you shouldn't graduate with your psychology degree and then decide, "Hey. Wouldn't it be cool if I were an astrophysicist?" If you're going to switch programs for graduate school, you need to start a dialogue with some graduate programs as to their requirements for entry a good deal before you graduate with your bachelors, and you'll probably need to plan in a few electives so you're not way behind.</p>
<p>//head essplodes... can't imagine getting through her grad courses at UIUC without prior degree in engineering... eaugh!</p>
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Civil's probably one of the toughest ones to make up the undergrad credits for in grad school, and I'm pretty skeptical (but not saying it can't be done!) as to the feasibility of going into a grad civil <em>design</em> program coming from a different background, so my guess is he didn't go into design... right...?
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<p>I actually talked to an admissions officer at MIT's graduate civil engineering office. I talked to her specifically about the 1 year civil / structural engineering "Master of engineering" program they had. She said that anyone who had a quantitative major like math, physics, or any kind of engineering (including EE, mechE, chemE) could apply and get the degree in 1 to 1.5 years time. </p>
<p>She said that many people from different backgrounds come in and get the degree.</p>
<p>Aibarr, well I always said that the example was an extreme one.</p>
<p>Basically, the MIT Civil Engineering department is a large and rather odd smorgasboard of skills and disciplines. While much of MIT CE has to do with what we would think of constructing buildings and bridges, others are quite nouveau. For example, MIT does not have a separate "Industrial Engineering" department the way that many engineering schools do. Instead, all of the Industrial Engineering classes are housed in the CE department. So you got all the supply chain stuff, all the factory optimization stuff, all the logistics stuff, etc. So you have all these MIT "Civil Engineers" who don't know a thing about constructing bridges and dams, but can optimize the hell out of your factory's supply chain. </p>
<p>Perhaps even weirder is that all the Information Technology classes are also housed in the Civil Engineering department. Perhaps the logic is that since the department houses all of the physical infrastructure classes like transportation construction, airport construction, and water systems construction, and since IT is a form of instructure, maybe that's why CE houses it. Either that or it's because IT has always been intimate linked with Logistics and Supply Chains, which are housed in CE like I said. I still believe that IT should actually be housed in the EECS department, but what can I say? Nobody asked me. </p>
<p>It is in this way that that guy with the Bio degree got into CivE at MIT. Note - he didn't get in right after undergrad. He actually worked for a number of years in - surprise surprise- IT. It is mostly because of his strong proven professional experience in IT that he got in. So, again, he doesn't know a darn thing about designing structures and materials, and he will admit it. On the other hand, he can design for you one heck of a good Information Technology system. </p>
<p>But don't take my word for it. Go ahead, peruse the CE (course 1) MIT classes yourself and you will see how vast the department is and how it encompasses many disparate disciplines. </p>
<p>Also take a gander at the various ways you can get a graduate degree in CE at MIT. Notice how some of them do not require much of any background in Structures or any of the other things that you cite. </p>
<p><a href="http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=4321&isa=Category&op=show%5B/url%5D">http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=4321&isa=Category&op=show</a>
<a href="http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=3646&isa=Category&op=show%5B/url%5D">http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=3646&isa=Category&op=show</a></p>
<p>I said that I found it odd that MIT would choose to house Information Technology inside its Civil Engineering department. After poking around, I realize that it's not as odd as I thought it was. </p>
<p>For example, Illinois has the #1 ranked graduate civil engineering department in the country - even higher than MIT's Yet I see that Illinois also houses Information Technology in its Civil Engineering department. </p>
<p><a href="http://cee.uiuc.edu/Areas/IT.html%5B/url%5D">http://cee.uiuc.edu/Areas/IT.html</a></p>
<p>So the point is, it's not entirely without precedent for MIT to choose to teach IT through the Civil Engineering department.</p>
<p>I thought UC Berkeley housed the #1 graduate program in Civil Engineering</p>
<p>Berkeley and UIUC are tied for #1, followed by Texas at #3, Stanford at #4, and Georgia Tech and MIT at #5.</p>