Funding for Grad School (engineering)?

Graduate School
1

<p>Well, I have a few questions concerning whether I should go to grad school, and if so about funding.</p>

<p>First, some background: I just finished my Junior year in mechanical engineering (along with a couple civil classes) at a small school. My GPA is 3.33 (3.5-3.6 in major and it's been going up, I had a 3.8 last year). No GRE yet. I have some limited job experience (grading for a couple classes and a REU Biomedical Engineering internship). The other thing to consider is that I am legally blind (I have some functional vision and am generally fine with computers and such, but am slightly limited at times with hands on work) and what effects this might have. </p>

<p>Now for the questions:
1. I'm currently trying to decide between mechanical and structural engineering and was curious which field (in general, especially as far as graduate research goes) is more visually demanding?</p>

<ol>
<li>I think I'm going to want to end up in industry and I know that especially for structural engineering MS's are quickly becoming the standard in that field. Now, from what I've been reading MS students rarely get funding compared to Ph.D students, and while I'm not necessarily against a Ph.D, it's not my first choice at the moment. I just wanted to know if others found this to be true. (I would most likely need funding if I wanted to go to grad school).</li>
</ol>

<p>Also, the schools I'm currently looking at are Oregon St. Washington St. and University of Washington.</p>

<p>Thanks!!!</p>

2

<p>I can’t speak to the vision requirements, but it is true that MS students are less likely to get funding than PhD students. Funding mostly comes from TAships and RAships, which tend to be preferentially given to Ph.D students. Terminal masters degree are slightly closer to professional degrees, where you are expected to pay for the schooling with future earnings. This however varies widely from program to program, and so you will have to look into the funding situation at each program of interest.</p>

3

<p>If you are not sure of which degree to pursue and you want to work in industry, graduate, get a job and work for a couple of years before taking a Masters degree (or even a Ph.D.). You will have a better idea of what kind of degree will advance you in your chosen career and you will have the real-world experience that many engineering programs appreciate. If you go for a Masters, your company may even pay for it!</p>