Hi, I graduated from undergrad with a degree in secondary education and physics a year ago. I spent the last year teaching and inspring my own students to go into fields like engineering, but now I think that I should have gone into engineering. It’s something that I have always considered doing but thought teaching really was my calling. Anyway, I majored in physics while in undergrad, and I was wondering if that would be enough for me to meet the requirements for an engineering masters program. I want to do either mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. Does anyone have any advice on what I can or should be doing?
With a physics degree it will be a bit easier to get into engineering but you will still have to take some remedial engineering courses in the field that you wish to pursue. My suggestion is to look for engineering programs which will take a physics degree and see what courses they will require that you have before getting into the graduate engineering courses. Have you tried looking for an entry level engineering position? It is possible that a company would hire you and you could get engineering experience that would prepare you for a Masters program as well.
An alternative would be to take some engineering courses at a local university as a non-degree student. These should get you up to speed and ready for a Masters degree. I would not pursue a second BS degree though.
The final possibility I can suggest is to look for a Masters in Applied Physics or Engineering Physics (better). You should be able to go right into these programs with a BS in Physics. If you find a program which has a good placement rate, you will be able to find an engineering job after graduation.
You might look into systems or industrial engineering.
A coworker has a bs + ms in physics and works as an engineer. It hasn’t been easy for him, although he is doing well.
If you’re interested in control systems, there are a lot of offortunities, I think.
It will be pretty difficult to get into an engineering masters because there is a whole degree you’re behind in. Engineers typically take the usual lower div math and physics but that’s it. After that physics and engineering diverges. I would shoot for a masters in physics and find engineering jobs that way.
Physics BS --> engineering MS is not an uncommon route.
@xraymancs offered excellent advice. I would echo taking engineering prerequisites as a non-degree student before applying to graduate programs in engineering. There were a number of individuals with physics or math backgrounds in my mechanical engineering MS program, and the transition from physics/math to engineering is relatively easy (though not seamless).
@Squishypenguin - Here’s a link to what Texas A&M requires as “leveling courses” for admission into a masters ME program by a non ME BS. https://engineering.tamu.edu/mechanical/academics/degrees/graduate/graduate-admissions/leveling-courses Like many colleges, TAMU is offering a lot of distance learning classes for their Masters of Engineering (non-thesis) degree.
If your undergrad GPA was at least 3.3, you could do this…
https://ep.jhu.edu/programs-and-courses/programs/mechanical-engineering
You could pursue this will continuing your teaching.