How large a factor is a five years bachelors and masters degree for engineering?

College Search & Selection
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Hello all,

I’m trying to make a final decision for where to attend college, and am hoping some people here could give me some advice. I’m considering the following:

  • []Worcester Polytechnic University (WPI)
    [    ]UMass Amherst
    []Clarkson University
    [    ]Temple University

WPI and UMass Amherst have five year combined bachelors and masters programs wherein I can get a bachelors in computer engineering and masters in electrical and computer engineering. Should this make me consider these schools more? Is this important enough to stop considering Clarkson and Temple? Specific to computer engineering, will the benefits of a masters degree outweigh costs of an additional year? [url=<a href=“https://www.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/CDC/post-grad-report-2015.pdf#page=21%5DHere%5B/url”>https://www.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/CDC/post-grad-report-2015.pdf#page=21]Here[/url] WPI states that for Computer and Electrical Engineering I could be making approximately $7,000 more with a masters than a bachelors. Does this, along with considerations of job security and ease of finding a job, make the extra year worthwhile?

Does anyone have any general input or advice to help me choose which of these four schools I should go to, ignoring financial considerations (which I’ve already made)?

Thanks for any help!

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You have no idea how many of those Master’s students have experience beyond their degree. Unless that data is ONLY based on 5 year program students it doesn’t mean anything for you. Most posts I’ve seen on CC recommend going for a Master’s in engineering only if paid for or if you want to go into teaching.

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  • I'd go to WPI, that way you have the co-term option if you want it (you don't need to make that decision for a few years) and because it's arguably better for engineering than the others.
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@“Erin’s Dad” Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn’t considered experience, but it is indeed likely that those getting a masters could have more experience than those getting a bachelors. In that case, it seems that going for the masters isn’t overly worthwhile.

@insanedreamer Thanks for the suggestion! I’m not sure what the co-term option is. Are you speaking about their co-operative education? If so, do you know how that measures up against, say, Clarkson? Clarkson’s acceptance package included a small bit about U.S.News & World Report naming them #1 in the nation for internships, but there wasn’t too much context for that, so I’m not sure how to actually consider that. As far as I know, internships are very important for engineering, so that’s definitely something I’m trying to consider in this decision.

Out of these four schools, which one would you guys say has the best internship/co-op prospects?

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the co-term (co-terminal) is the term used for a 5-year bachelors+masters program such as you mentioned in your original post

One way to look at co-op prospects is to see the list of companies hiring for co-ops (usually available on the university’s website somewhere). I don’t know enough about Clarkson to compare it with WPI internship/co-ops, but being near Boston gives you good opportunities from WPI.

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@insanedreamer Thanks for your input! I’ll have to look around to see what kinds of companies people intern at.