Does a Non-Thesis Civil Engineering MS Degree Look Bad to Employers?

<p>I am an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech, and I will be applying to the 5 year BS/MS program for structural engineering. There is a thesis and non-thesis MS option. I have no plans on getting a PhD...my goal is to get a job directly out of school. Would an employer prefer the thesis option or does it not really matter?</p>

<p>If you are industry bound, you don't need to do a research thesis. Your employers will not care. In fact, I think it might be better for you that you don't do graduate research. Many students who do research end up delaying their graduation because oftentimes things go wrong and they end up having to postpone their tasks.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter at all, they're not going to ask.</p>

<p>Graduate research can help you, you never know when your firm will need a quasi-expert on your field of study. I wouldn't say it's better for you to not do graduate research at all. I did research, but (technically) didn't write a thesis.</p>

<p>So I'm I correct in assuming that the thesis option is geared for students who plan on pursuing a PhD or further research, and the non-thesis option is for students planning on just getting a job?</p>

<p>More or less. The thesis option is also for MS students who are having their masters degrees funded by a research assistantship. Many of my colleagues here at work wrote a thesis for their masters degree, and we're in industry. It's just kind of up to you and your advisor. If you do want the option of going on to get your PhD, though, it might be a good idea to at least be open to the idea of writing a thesis.</p>