<p>I am a high school senior trying to make a college choice while keeping my future in mind, and I am curious how much an engineer should expect to pay for graduate school.</p>
<p>If you’re going for a PhD, nothing. They should fund you, meaning your professor or the department pays your tuition and gives you a modest stipend in exchange for research or teaching work. If you’re going for a Master’s, then that varies by department. Most master’s degrees are unfunded, some are funded, and some offer funding only to some of their applicants. Obviously, the funded programs are more competitive and harder to get into.</p>
<p>Usually you get paid for an engineering PhD. (Though not enough cancel opportunity cost.)</p>
<p>Some companies will pay for you to get a master’s degree while you working.</p>
<p>Go to Grad School for the Right Reasons.</p>
<p>I recently posted on another thread, that engineer DS is behind his engineer classmates by at least $90,000, nearly 5 years out of BS school. This value takes into account the full grad school scholarship + stipend, year of internships, and entering the job market in 2009 rather than in 2006.</p>
<p>The upside, DS can afford the difference and got a bigger network.</p>
<p>Thanks.
So my question is: how likely is it that I won’t have to pay for grad school? (Either by getting it paid for or by realizing that I don’t want/need it)
What decisions can I make as an undergrad to avoid paying for grad school?</p>
<p>Focus on the academics first, partying second.—get awesome grades.
Look for research/internship opportunities early and often.
Get to know your undergrad professors.
The top students get the best funding, as well as their pick of grad schools.</p>
<p>“…keeping my future in mind”
“Go to Grad School for the Right Reasons”</p>
<p>I, for one, applaud your long term financial planning. God knows at 17 I wasn’t responsible enough to do this. One can pick their career plans for whatever reasons they like, whether others think their reasons are correct or valid. I hope you took away from this exchange that the engineering career path need not require an investment upfront and instead includes a paltry salary along the lines of an entry level job (albeit not an entry level engineering job).</p>
<p>I would like to throw out there that engineering isn’t unique in this. This is true in the sciences in general. In addition, graduate students in the social sciences and humanities often are paid via fellowships, research assistantships or teaching assistantships. Also, dual degrees, that is professional degrees like PharmD, Nursing, MD, DDS and MPH combined with a Phd, are also compensated in the same way as a run of the mill Phd program.</p>
<p>Since you seem to be forward thinking and are concerned about the crippling effect of student loan debt and the relative merits of advanced degrees, I would suggest you look into whatever you think you would enjoy the most. There will be opportunities for professional advancement in whatever field you end up in. </p>
<p>“What decisions can I make as an undergrad to avoid paying for grad school?”
The most obvious decision is to not accept a spot in a program that doesn’t guarantee funding. If you’re asking what you should do to make yourself most competitive for graduate programs, then the advice was spelled out for you by astrophysicsmom.</p>
<p>Finally, awesome grades are great and all, but you needn’t feel defeated without them. There are a number of factors that are more important for graduate school than a grade point average printed on a transcript. Promising research experience and a clearly articulated career goal will do more for you than a 4.0 </p>
<p>If you are picking colleges to apply to based on overall cost and you are concerned that you will exceed some lifetime educational cost threshold, then why not hedge your bets are pick a modestly priced institution. If you are picking colleges based on the notion that you would get better grades at one than another, this is naive and wrongheaded.</p>