Hi all,
I’m considering the full-time MS Mechanical Engineering programs at Stevens Institute of Technology, Penn State University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech.
For anyone who has pursued a grad engineering degree at these schools, how was your life outside of academics (care-free vs. nonexistent)?
Or any MS engineering degree program you’d recommend?
I understand grad school is more taxing than undergrad, but I’m curious what people’s opinions are of their programs and how it felt in terms life-work balance.
How much of a life you have is up to you and your time management skills.
There’s too many variables to say. It depends on how academically prepared you are, whether you RA/TA, how demanding your professor is for your RA/TA duties, any problems in your thesis research, and your own time management skills. Personally, I put in more hours during grad school than I ever did in the work world, and had very little free time.
Your life won’t be care-free, but it doesn’t have to be nonexistent either. You will have a social life if you make time for one.
I also work full-time now (45-55 hours a week) and I have way, way more free time than I had in graduate school.
Grad school doesn’t have to completely take away your life. Yes, there are going to be weeks where literally all you do is wake up, eat, shower, go to class, go to the office/lab, devour a snack bar, switch to the library, READ, go home, eat some ramen, read some more, go to bed, and repeat the next day. However, some weeks/days will be lighter. Maybe you’ll work 9-5 and can watch Netflix for the rest of the night. Maybe you’ll get a lot of work done during the week and can take Friday night and Saturday night off, with working a bit on Saturday morning and for most of Sunday.
I’d say I have a pretty healthy social life. A lot of times you can study with your friends and get work done while not feeling totally alone. Your life is what you make of it, but it doesn’t have to be completely gone in grad school.