Grad School Funding and Placement

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm a computer engineering student at Purdue, going in to my junior year. I have a five term coop with NASA at Johnson Space Center.</p>

<p>The structure of the coop program at JSC is that after your coops, you would get hired. If you wanted to get a masters, you can coop as a grad student (during the summer) but they won't fund your degree. Then you would theoretically get hired.</p>

<p>My GPA is around a 3.4</p>

<p>I'm still confused about how I could gain funding for graduate studies. Here are the questions that I am finding very difficult to answer:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>If I can keep my gpa at around the current level and get my BS in CmpE from Purdue, with my five coops tours (working in Mission Control Center, Programing for future robotics projects) would I have a good shot at getting in to Purdue's Masters program? What about UCLA, Berkeley, Rice, Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame, Maryland etc.?</p></li>
<li><p>For the schools listed above (and others in the top 30 or so) would I have any chance at having part of my masters education funded? (RA or TA)</p></li>
<li><p>Now referring back to schools mentioned in #1, what sort of shot do you think I would have at direct PhD programs? Would my lack of research experience be an issue? (5 coop tours takes a lot of time)</p></li>
<li><p>If I was admitted in to one of these direct PhD programs, would I most likely be able to get funding from the get -go? It is my understanding that most doctorate programs are funded. It also seems possible that I would have to pay my way for the first couple years.</p></li>
<li><p>I do not think I want to work in academia, but I do have an interest in R&D. After completing my PhD studies (if I was directly admitted to the phd program) would it be very difficult for me to move in to the corporate world and make a good salary?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>thank you for taking the time to look at my thread. The schools I am most interested in are Purdue and UCLA if it's worth anything.</p>

2

<p>After you graduate (well a semester before that), test the waters to see if you can get admitted to a funded research M.S. program at any school…if you want to go that route.</p>

<p>If you want to work right after undergrad, see if that employer has tuition reimbursement that will help with the costs of a non-funded research M.S. program.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the reply</p>

<p>I would be most interested in working for NASA, but they do not offer tuition reimbursement. What schools should I be looking at that fund Masters degrees? I was under the impression that only occurs if you have fabulous stats.</p>

<p>Also if someone could get to the other questions I would greatly appreciate it</p>

<p>thanks</p>

4

<p>I am also curious to know how I would fair as far as admissions to slightly lower ranked schools such as Vanderbilt, Colorado, Florida etc. for direct phd programs and whether you believe funding would be available.</p>