Hello,
I am currently a 4th year undergrad at UCLA studying materials engineering. I need to decide whether to stay at UCLA or head off to Cornell for a masters in materials engineering. I am quite sure I do not want to do a PhD and want to set myself up to be able to get a job either in aerospace/automotive or electronics/semiconductor industries in CA. I was wondering if anyone had any firsthand experiences with the Cornell M. Eng program, or if anyone had any thoughts/advice/tips? UCLA (MS) would be the easy comfortable choice to make but it would be a good opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and go to an Ivy League. I’m just hoping that Cornell will adequately prepare me and help jumpstart my career: are cornell’s internships/projects rewarding and comprehensive enough to better myself as an engineer and will it’s geographic distance from CA impact my job search?
Those are good questions to take to the Career Center at each university and to the departments themselves. It really, truly is OK for you to ask.
You already have access to the UCLA network. Go to Cornell for the sake of new opportunities/connections. Geography shouldn’t adversely impact your job search. People from CMU, Cornell, MIT, etc. do extremely well in Silicon Valley.
Cornell M.Eng. capstone is a design project, not a research-oriented thesis like most MS programs require. You take courses, plus the design project. The better the design project, the more worthwhile the experience.
The professors have their own pet projects of design projects stored up. But also people come in with their own projects. Particularly, the people who are sponsored by their companies generally come in with projects provided by their companies.
You might want to get a jump on ideas for a design project. Maybe ask what types of projects they have stored up. Then try to come up with something where you are and see if you can come up with something better. A good project not only improves you technically but also gives you a talking point for interviews.
Materials science is a good program there AFAIK. M.Eng shares general engineering college job recruiting.
Saying geographic distance from CA might negatively impact job search implies there are no good jobs to be had in materials science East of Las Vegas (or wherever). I’m not sure that is the case. Is it? I would expect Cornell is well recruited by the major suspects, but possibly not by every single company in Southern California. If it’s “LA or bust” for you after master’s, UCLA may be better, just because it is there. Not that people there would think Cornell is worse or anything, it’s just that smaller guys are less likely go flying across the country to visit on-campus… They still might hire you though.
Thanks for your input! I just want to return to the west coast later after school. I’ve lived in CA my whole life and my family lives in NorCal and my GF in LA. That’s all I meant! Of course there’s a bunch of nice jobs on the east coast, which I may be open to, but would rather go back to CA or at least the west coast.
Yup! I just hope I’m able to get a good project experience when I’m there, one that will help me find interesting and rewarding jobs after graduation. I’ll take a closer look at the projects/internships offered! Thanks!