<p>I'm not sure where this topic goes, but what do you guys think of 5 year bs/ms programs? I've heard that it's good to work a few years after getting your bachelor of science degree, and then going for your masters degree, but what about the 5 year route?</p>
<p>I was waiting to hear if I got into one at Villanova, which even offers free tuition for the fifth year. I did not hear back from the director soon enough... as in TONITE (this was not through the normal app route) ... so I just sent in my deposit to Boston College :-). Oh well, I'm interested to hear what anyone else has to say about these type of programs.</p>
<p>far as I know, the only time it is better to work between the Bachelor's and the Master's is for an MBA. In fact most of the top MBA programs will not even admit students without a few years work experience.</p>
<p>bump, I would like to hear some more responses. </p>
<p>Basically my college (VT) gives us the opportunity to go for a masters degree in mechanical engineering after completing 90 credit hours. I'm a sophomore right now majoring in ME, so I don't know if it would be a good idea to take advantage of this program, or wait a few years and then go for my masters.</p>
<p>OP, do the 5 year program in engineering (with one caveat, to follow). There is never a better time for engineers to get their MS! You are fresh from the undergrad classes you will need for the MS program, so you don't waste time relearning things you have forgotten. Once you're out if you decide to go back many programs take 2 years, so that's one extra year of schooling and the lost income. And its easier to live as a "starving student" one more year than to work for a few years and get used to the nice things (car, vacations, etc) and then go back to a year or two of low income. Although plenty of people may plan on working for a few years and then going back for a MS, few actually do it. Those that still want the MS usually sacrifice all their nights and weekends for a few years while they do it part-time because their employer pays for it (and they keep their regular pay coming in).</p>
<p>The caveat is that you need to know what sub-area you want to specialize in and that you want to be an engineer. You don't know by thinking about it, you know by spending one or more summers doing internships to find out what to specialize in and more importantly to find out whether you really like engineering enough to work as an engineer after college or whether you'll take your degree and try something else. College engineering classes are not like the career (which may be good or bad news).</p>
<p>I think it's a really good idea, but I'm not quite sure about all the details -- the rigor, etc. I hope to be able to do so with linguistics.</p>
<p>if you intend on getting an ms anyways, then it's probably better to get it in a nice 5 year bs/ms program. There might be additional incentives also, like USC allows you to "overlap" the bs/ms course requirements so you can complete the MS in 2 semesters instead of the ordinary 3 if you came back later for an ordinary masters.</p>