<p>Son will be graduating from GT with a 3.0 - 3.15 gpa in mechanical engineering. He would like to go on for a masters in engineering after working for a few years to earn money for his masters or possibly he'll work for a company that offers tuition reimbursement. Does working 2 - 3 years after getting your bachelors improve your chances of getting into a good masters program? He took a practice GRE: Q = high 700's; V = low 600's. Also, do you increase your odds of admittance if you are working full-time and are pursuing your masters as a part-time student? Yes, it would have been nice if he had a higher gpa, but he worked to put himself through school and I know he did his best, so it is what it is.</p>
<p>Is he interested in a research graduate MS program or a professional graduate MS program?</p>
<p>He is interested in a professional masters program.</p>
<p>“He is interested in a professional masters program.”</p>
<p>He will get in…and if he doesn’t the first time then have him take about 2-3 graduate courses at the school of his choice as a “non-degree” student. If he aces those first 2-3 courses, he will get in…and having his employer cut those reimbursement checks to the school will help also.</p>
<p>Remember, universities/colleges are businesses and they are not going to turn away someone who can ace 1/3 of a masters program (assuming that the program is 30 credits) AND who has reimbursement payments hitting that bursar’s office.</p>
<p>I know. I did my M.S. at Wisconsin which is Top #10 in I.E. (I was systems engineering) and I didn’t even have a 3.0.</p>
<p>I know that minimum GPA requirement to get into Georgia Tech as graduate student is 3.25 in ECE as Gatech undergraduate with decent GRE score or if the student have 3.5 GPA, he/she can do 5 years B.S. / M.S. program without GRE requirement. </p>
<p>I am not sure about M.E. department but, if he have above 3.0 GPA, i think he have chance at getting into Gatech graduate school. He just have to work harder in GRE score than other candidate with high GPA. </p>
<p>My grandparents and relative advise me to pursue master right after B.S. since it will be hard to go back to school once you start earning money. House payment, car payment, and if he’s married, it will be harder for him to go back for grad school. Everyone have B.S. now adays and to have competetive edge in current society, students should try and pursue higher degree at all possible mean. There are position that one cannot achieve with just B.S. degree. </p>
<p>My relative worked for Ford after he graduated from Georgia tech with mechanical engineer and his co worker got tuition reimbursement to go attend master at MIT. If you work hard in the company and others recognize the employee to be brilliant, company will pay for tuition but that chance is very slim.</p>
<p>I suggest he study and take GRE, and apply to graduate school if he plan on getting his master degree at some point in his life. For top engineer school, the 700 quantitative and 500 verbal is minimum requirement but most just look at your quantitative score unless you are international student.</p>
<p>I’m applying to grad school right now and also in grad school right now.</p>
<p>Couple points:</p>
<p>1) A professional masters program is usually a part time program done either on campus (evenings) or via distance learning. While schools don’t admit it, I strongly suspect their admission criteria is easier than full time on campus students.</p>
<p>2) The critical thing for schools is to evaluate whether the student has a reasonable chance of success. The best way to prove this is to take several (between 2 and 6, depending on the university) courses prior to being admitted to the program. If the student does exceptionally well (better than a B), their chance of being admitted goes up strongly.</p>
<p>3) Forget about the GREs in general. Masters programs don’t put a lot of stock into them. For example, the average GRE scores of REJECTED applications to University of Washington Mechanical Engineering was significantly higher than the average GRE scores of ACCEPTED students. Backwards, isn’t it?</p>
<p>4) Your son needs to work at a company that will fund graduate education. He must make that a priority in deciding where to work if he wants a professional masters program.</p>
<p>" If the student does exceptionally well (better than a B), their chance of being admitted goes up strongly."</p>
<p>That’s exceptionally well? Aren’t graduate courses curved to like a B+/A-? Or is that just a Michigan type of thing?</p>
<p>"That’s exceptionally well? Aren’t graduate courses curved to like a B+/A-? Or is that just a Michigan type of thing? "</p>
<p>I didn’t see this when I was in grad school. Grades basically given on how many points you obtained through exams, homework, quizzes and individual/team projects. I will say that a ‘B’ in grad school is like a ‘C’ in undergrad. If you pretty much do the work, you can get a ‘B’. It’s getting the A+/A that is the challenge.</p>
<p>Check out this link for the U-Maryland Professional MEng degree.</p>
<p>[Graduate</a> Admissions, OAEE, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.oaee.umd.edu/grad/admissions.html]Graduate”>Academics & Students | A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland)</p>
<p>Maryland is #17 overall in Engineering but #9 (tied with Princeton) for Aerospace Engineering.</p>
<p>I will share this information with my son. This is very encouraging. All, thank you for taking the time to respond.</p>