<p>I just graduated, bachelors in M.E. and I currently have a summer engineering internship with an automotive manufacturer. I feel like I have a good chance at landing a full time job after my internship is up if I do a good job and prove myself. I also have been offered a fully paid research assistantship at another school for my master's degree. I would take the research offer, but it leans heavily on a lot of thermo and controls, two areas that weren't my favorites in undergrad.</p>
<p>My question is, should I take the research assistantship working in a research area that I'm not sure I'm totally committed to and not sure if I would really enjoy, or hedge my bets and try my best to get a full time job from my internship employer? The company is pretty much my ideal company to work for, so I would completely commit to them if they wanted to keep me on full time.</p>
<p>You say the company you’re with now is an ideal choice for you so it sounds like you prefer to stay with them.</p>
<p>Liking what you’re studying is a MUST for grad school (especially if you’re doing research). Unless you want to work in thermo & control, I don’t see a reason for you to specialize in it.</p>
<p>Email the company and see how interested they are in you. Might not lead to anything, but you might get a hint on whether they will offer you or not. But I would go to industry rather than grad school. School only goes so far…</p>
<p>@boneh3ad: not at all… I mean, yes, I am a high school student who hopes to go to a wonderful college, but if I can escape the debt pitfall than I would do it any day. I recently read a story about a rich man who is giving 100k to a dozen high schoolers not to go to college and start companies and products. If I were given this opportunity it would be much better than going to college, but seeing as I won’t, I will have to go. Now in his situation, he has the opportunity to either go to work and get payed nearly as much as going to grad school, without spending those few years not working as much and wasting your time (hate to use the word wasting but you know what I mean). </p>
<p>Education is important but there comes a point in your life where you need to start applying what you have learned and make a difference in the world rather than continuing to learn.</p>
<p>That I only valid if your goal is to go to school simply as job training or if your goals is a BS-level engineering job. What if you hope for a career doing research or that utilizes skills that you can only get in graduate school? The simple fact is that the world is not black and white as you seem to paint it. There are so many factors.</p>
<p>In the case of the OP, industry is the correct choice. His/her graduate offer is uninteresting to him/her and the industry job is a dream job, case closed.</p>
<p>School may only go so far, but few people have the ability to go so far on their own or even on the job (which generally takes you in a different or at least more narrow direction). That is why you go to school - to develop skills and knowledge that you cannot obtain on your own. The fact that a few people do not need said schooling doesn’t change the fact that most will. This is why my company jumps through hoops and spends a ton of money to get people with advanced degrees or to pay current employees to get them.</p>
<p>Still, for the OP it does seem like an easy decision - a masters degree is very specialized, and will generally focus your career as long as you are in the profession. Take this masters degree and you will find that the only employers interested in you will want you for “thermo and controls.”</p>