Gripped by panic. Thoughts on getting a second bachelor's.

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi everyone. I'm looking for some advice regarding my options in the future. Here's my story:</p>

<p>I have always been interested in science. I started out as a CS student in 2000, but I had to drop out because of some financial difficulties. I moved around, doing odd jobs, before deciding to go back to school in 2005.</p>

<p>Even though I was always interested in science, my experience with CS was less than enjoyable, and I decided to go in a different direction. I ended up getting a BA in political science.</p>

<p>As it turns out, political science does not give you many career options, and I ended up working with a software company, using my computer skills. I cannot say that I hate my job, but after been doing the same thing for 5 years, it became apparent that it is a dead end job. I started out earning about 36k, and now I'm up to about 39k. I do not see any easy paths for advancement. And even if there was, I am not very happy in my current career.</p>

<p>To make things worse, I fell in love with science all over again after getting my degree. I started dedicating a large chunk of my week for studying math and physics, and it became clear to me that I want to get into a scientific field.</p>

<p>I ended up going back to school in 2010. I chose to pursue a degree in Materials Science. And I am absolutely loving it. It is a wonderful field, and I am convinced it is the right option for me.</p>

<p>But whenever I explore my future options, I cannot help but panic. For one, I am almost 30 years old, and I am not able to go to school full time because of my job. I will be 32 by the time I earn my second bachelor's. And I will have zero experience in the field.</p>

<p>Secondly, and most importantly, I'll be up to my knees in debt. I figure that I'm going to owe $60k in student loans by the time I'm done. And that's if I don't pursue a graduate degree.</p>

<p>If I fail to find a better job soon after graduation, I do not know how I'm going to deal with that kind of debt. I do not know how much of a handicap my age is. Am I too old? Will my lack of experience prove to be too difficult to overcome?</p>

<p>I really need some advice on how to proceed.</p>

2

<p>I think what you are doing now is a solid plan.</p>

<p>Yes, you will owe $60,000, but you must think about the fact that this will probably get you a better job, so you must mentally amortize this $60,000 over the next 30 years of your work life.</p>

<p>32 is not that old.</p>

<p>Assuming that the field you are studying now is indeed a good field, you will do well.</p>

<p>Your computer background to some extent at least will be treated as valuable experience. </p>

<p>As for a graduate degree, I would try and do that part time, and try to have some company pay for it.</p>

3

<p>I’ll second that 32 is not too old. However, for any age, getting a job in engineering is somewhat a challenge right now. See about some school sponsored research to make you more attractive to potential hiring companys. </p>

<p>Don’t get into more debt with grad school. Get a job in your new field and let your new company pay for your grad education. Most will to some extent although you may have to work a while to qualify.</p>

4

<p>Will your employer fund a part time master’s degree? If it’s possible, I would recommend finding any employer that will fund a part time masters. </p>

<p>It seems to me like the masters degree takes half the time, less than half the money, and will give you a bigger salary boost than a 2nd bachelors. If you aren’t strong enough to get accepted to a masters program at the moment, I would recommend finding places where you can take a few part time grad classes, do well, and then use that to make a case for acceptance into the masters programs. </p>

<p>What will the 2nd bachelors give you that your few years of experience in software won’t.</p>

5

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<p>Good point about graduate school as this was the way I did it. You may have to aim at the 10th-20th ranked schools as the Top-10 aren’t that “nice” about doing the back-door path to graduate admissions. There are some schools that are very inexpensive as far graduate courses. Use those schools to transfer into your desired school’s graduate program.</p>

<p>I am Big-10 conference all day, but I WILL ALWAYS be grateful for that little-known Cal State-Dominguez Hills for allowing me to take that inexpensive software quality engineering graduate certificate that allowed me to use that for admission into U-Wisconsin.</p>

6

<p>I don’t think you are too old. I think it’s a decent plan, though I’m having trouble understanding where the 60K in debt comes from. Is that new debt to get your 2nd bachelors or is that in addition to the current debt from your PolySci degree. </p>

<p>Where are you getting your degree part-time?</p>

7

<p>Thank you for the responses. Let me address some of the questions you guys raised.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I do not want to do anything related to programming. I want to work with materials. I would like to get an engineering job in a field related to semiconductors (I enjoy semiconductor physics), but any other field will be fine (ceramics, polymers, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>I can do a BS/MS thing. It would add another year to my plan, and another 20k. I think I’d rather have a company fund my graduate school. My current job would reimburse me for going into CS or EE, but I’m not into those.</p></li>
<li><p>$60k debt is my loans from the political science degree, plus what I’ll owe after getting the materials science BS.</p></li>
<li><p>I go to the University of Utah. Not a great school, but I live in Utah, and it’s a cheaper school.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think I’d have a problem getting into a graduate program. My current GPA is 3.45, and I’m sure I can push it a bit higher. But I have not taken enough classes. I’ve only taken 2 Chem classes, 3 Phys, 4 Maths, and 3 MSE. I just barely started actual engineering classes.</p></li>
</ul>

8

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<p>Um, you can go into semiconductor physics with an EE degree. </p>

<p>Check out the lab
[Scarpulla</a> Research Group - Home](<a href=“http://scarpulla.eng.utah.edu/]Scarpulla”>http://scarpulla.eng.utah.edu/)</p>

<p>Go talk to this guy
<a href=“https://faculty.utah.edu/u0631295-Mike_Scarpulla/biography/index.hml[/url]”>https://faculty.utah.edu/u0631295-Mike_Scarpulla/biography/index.hml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and explain to him that you are interested in materials science but can get reimbursed by your employer for pursuing an EE degree and ask him what you would lose in terms of opportunities by doing so rather than MSE.</p>

9

<p>I’ve taken a class with professor Scarpulla, and we got along real well. I’ll have to look into the reimbursement thing as well. </p>

<p>However, as helpful as everyone has been. I still need to plan for the possibility that I would not be able to get help from my employer. I would still like to have a solid plan on the best way to ensure I land a related job that pays well and helps with graduate school.</p>

<p>I went around to various companies to inquire about internships. They were all interested in principle, and several of them informed me that they take a couple of MSE interns every year. But I need to be further along in the program before I can apply.</p>

10

<p>Do you want to join the workforce or would you like to do research. Have you considered a PhD? </p>

<p>check job boards to get an idea of what companies are hiring in your area. If there isn’t enough demand for what you want to do, consider relocating.
<a href=“http://www.indeed.com%5B/url%5D”>www.indeed.com</a></p>

<p>Definitely do research to make you a stronger candidate after graduating. </p>

<p>Me personally I would go str8 to masters. Your academic skills will be fresher. Sure you can have a company pay for it, but how long will it take to complete part time. Go full time, it takes a year, and then you will have the masters to command a higher salary. This is materials engineering, not civil or computer science where you can get by with just a bachelors. Good employers will be looking for master’s degree holders.</p>

11

<p>I would tend to agree with Lookin4ward. Take enough only basic courses to meet the prerequisites for getting into a Masters program, don’t go all the way to a B.S. in Materials Science. Once you have the Masters, it won’t matter that your Bachelor’s was in Political Science.</p>

12

<p>People are jumping the gun a little. I’ve seen non-engineering students pursue engineering graduate degrees, it but has always been someone with a closely related science degree (a CS major pursuing CompE or a Chem major pursuing ChemE), and even then the school frequently awards an MS not an MS in engineering (so it’s not technically an engineering degree).</p>

<p>Poly Sci to EE would be a big stretch, especially if the OP doesn’t have the full math sequence (all Calcs + Diff Eq + Linear Algebra).</p>

13

<p>I haven’t even considered jumping straight to the MS program. I’m not sure my school would allow it? It states on the website that you need a bachelor’s in a related subject before applying. If I can actually skip getting another BS, I would be ecstatic. But I find that doubtful.</p>

<p>As far as specific classes I’ve taken, in case that helps:</p>

<p>Calc 1,2,3 and diff eq. I’m taking linear algebra next semester. That’s all the math required for my degree. I had no problems with any of them, except for infinite series in calc 2, which still confuses me. </p>

<p>General Chemistry 1 and 2.</p>

<p>Physics 1 (kinematics) and 2 (electromagnetism) and semiconductor physics (3000 level).</p>

<p>I’m going to seriously explore the possibility of getting directly into the Master’s program. The thought didn’t even occur to me. But I have doubts that I’d be accepted. :)</p>

14

<p>My fiancee applied to Cal State Northridge for Fall 2011 for a second bachelors in EE. She got accepted (first BS was in Business). As we were looking at what classes to take, we met with the chair of the department & he asked why she was going for the second bachelors & not just the masters degree. When we told him that the first BS was in a totally unrelated field, he said it didn’t make any difference. He handed us a list of prerequisite courses that would need to be taken (added up to about 45 semester units) & then she would have the background necessary for graduate studies. This made much more sense because otherwise a second bachelors would have been closer to 90-100 units (almost nothing transfers from a business degree).</p>

<p>The point is, you should talk to the department chair of the school(s) you’re interested in so that you can see what your options are. It’s entirely possibly to just start completing foundational coursework & go right into a graduate program. BTW, my fiancee is 36 years old, so it’s not an uncommon thing.</p>

15

<p>oops if those are your classes finished then I would def take back my statement and take the pre reqs for masters program directly. Markladen is right. I just didn’t think you would have most of those done with a poly sci degree. You have all the math. All you need for materials I believe is thermodynamics, maybe physical chemistry, and strength of materials pretty much. </p>

<p>Do you plan on staying in state? I would think you would have better job opportunities elsewhere in the country.</p>

16

<p>Lookin4ward, I took all of those classes recently, not while earning my political science degree. As far as staying in state, I’d really prefer to stay until I get an engineering degree. Afterwards, I am perfectly willing to move. I’m going to talk to the adviser to see about skipping the B.S. and going straight into the Master’s program after the holidays. </p>

<p>This has been a very encouraging thread. It changed my whole outlook. :)</p>