Hey! I am wondering if there are advantages of going to graduate school for Chemical Engineering opposed to taking a job after undergrad Chemical Engineering. Are the job opportunities significantly higher paying if I get a MS, or not?
Also, another concern of mine is about applying to prestigious schools. If I choose to not go to graduate school, would it be advantageous to attend a prestigious institution over a public one for undergraduate? If I choose to go to graduate school, would it be better to go to a public school for my undergraduate years, and save the money for a prestigious graduate school, or do it the other way around? Also my EFC is extremely low.
One of the main concerns I have is that at a prestigious university it will be much more difficult to maintain a high GPA in conjunction with gaining practical experience (through research, co-ops, internships), while at a state university it will be more manageable to do both. Also, since employers pay attention to GPA and practical experience, it seems like a better option to go to a state school where I can more easily have both.
I am applying to Vanderbilt and Wash U because the applications require no effort. Honestly, I do feel pretty burnt out after applying to a lot of colleges and I really just want to get this whole application stuff over with. I am a good writer though, so I will push through and apply to the following prestigious schools if I am convinced that there are clear advantages over the schools I have already applied to: Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Cornell.
Schools I’ve applied to:
Accepted: U Wisconsin - Madison, U Minnesota - Twin Cities, The Ohio State U, U Alabama Tuscaloosa ($25K merit), U Alabama Huntsville (full ride merit), Florida Institute of Technology
Deferred: U Michigan - Ann Arbor
No decision yet: Purdue, Georgia Tech, Florida State, U Florida
Academic stats:
I am a senior at a private school in FL. 34 ACT (33 ENGL, 34 MATH, 33 READ, 35 SCI); on 4.0 scale I have a 4.62 WGPA & 3.84 UGPA; 5 on AP Chemistry; 4 on AP Calc AB & AP Macroeconomics; 3 on AP Biology, AP Physics 1, and AP US History; I am currently taking 5 AP’s: Calculus BC, Physics 2, Statistics, Computer Science A, Psychology; my one leadership position is the Engineering Activities Coordinator of my school’s Science Olympiad Club; have competed in the national level Chemistry Olympiad competition (I scored high in state level), I do a good number of extracurriculars that are mostly STEM.
go to UA Huntville , take advantage of ALL the opportunities there, and thank your lucky starts that your UG education will be FREE.
Graduate school costs lots of money these days, and 4 years from now, will probably cost even more.
You will have PLENTY of time to get great advise from your Profs as to what should be your next “move” academically- grad school or not.
Those type of decisions can wait another 3 years.
For now, relax, breathe a Huge sigh of relieve and enjoy your last semester of HS.
There is absolutely NO advantage for someone wanting to study Engineering to go to an expensive private college over any college that has a well regarded Engineering program AND offers you a free ride.
NONE.
ESPECIALLY if you cant afford to pay for the supposed "Privilege " of going to a private college.
Congratulations!!
I speak as a parent whose son chose a full merit scholarship for his UG years ver a bunch of Private colleges that would have ended up costing us a lot of $.
And he did end up going to one of the most prestigious graduate schools in the country .
I’m in a very similar situation as you. 34 ACT, high GPA, tons of APs. Got the same deal from UA. Also accepted into Wisconsin and Penn State (applying for the Scheyer Honors College at Penn State).
To be honest, unlike the comment above me, I think that it is important for which school you get your undergrad engineering degree (especially if in the future if you choose not go to grad school). Wisconsin is ranked #5 for ChemE overall this year. If you get a degree there and decide to go straight into the workforce, every employer will be familiar with that school and how prestigious its ChemE program is. On the other hand, UA is ranked much lower for ChemE. If you want to get a job in the Alabama area, then you are fine because those employers are familiar with the program and the type of students that come out of it. However, I think that in most other parts of the country, an employer would choose the UW student over UA.
The issue is that UW does not give much money at all so you have to weigh how much you think that this will actually affect your future job.
This is just my opinion, hope it could help a little. Good luck!
The schools you listed are all great. I don’t think in the engineering world anyone will look more favorably on a degree from Northwester than from Georgia Tech.
I say follow the money. I don’t agree with your statement that it is easier to get a higher gpa at a public school. Ask the Georgia Tech students how they feel about that! A classmate of my daughter’s was offered 4 full tuition scholarship for grad school out of Florida Tech, and she chose Columbia over Georgia Tech. You can make the decision for grad school or work after finishing undergrad when you have your offers.
For now, take the money. Also, another student poster just got $44k from Wisconsin so OOS grants/scholarships aren’t out of the question. See where your offers come from.
Why do you think a state school is going to be so much easier? Half of the top ten are state schools. If you have a very low EFC, some of the privates may be cheap. However, they will not be easier.
If you couldn’t get a decent job with your undergraduate degree, you were accepted by a significantly more prestigious and/or employer favored grad school, and you can afford it, then take the MS degree.
Employers that cares college names won’t see nameless BS to Ivy MS as good as just Ivy BS. It might give you some interviews that your nameless BS couldn’t. But it won’t give you the job that you don’t qualify. Also for engineering, you will get plenty of good employment chance with the schools you are accepted, if you perform well during the undergraduate study.
Once you get hired though, there won’t be any significant difference for the MS degree. Employers will only care your job performance then.
@menloparkmom Thanks for your help! I do agree that it is better to pay nothing than to “pay the price” for prestige. The thing is though that for someone like me with a low EFC, if I got into a prestigious school I would be barely paying anything because the schools meet full financial need. The only reason I am considering applying to the prestigious schools is because of potential money I can get, seeing as most out of state schools don’t offer great aid
@Bengals44 I have heard similar things about how your undergrad school matters for grad school, hoping to hear some other opinions. But as for employment right after undergrad, I feel like since the ABET holds all its accredited schools to very high standards, it won’t make that much of a difference where I go as long as I have a degree. I could be wrong though.
On another note, have you gotten any money from Wisconsin yet? I still need to apply for the scholarships and I really hope I get some cash because it’s a great school. Minnesota is a good school too.
@twoinanddone yes, that’s what I was thinking; since the ABET holds all its accredited programs to such high standards I don’t think it will matter that much where I get a degree from…
I think it does make a difference where you go to school, even if they are all ABET, because different recruiters focus on different schools or areas. YOU can apply anywhere, YOU can do all the footwork to get a job in Alaska or dubai or Boston, but it may be easier to get some of those jobs is the employer is looking for employees at your school.
That said, my daughter and her friends have had no problem finding jobs because they are open to the employers looking at their job fairs, they are willing to take internships in Alaska and did co-ops at some of the big aerospace employers (which are all around their school).
The Ivy names still carry weight. You are right, some of those schools might give you a lot of aid if you have a EFC of $0. But that’s what I said, follow the money. If the money comes from an Ivy or Northwestern, great, but you already know that you have some good offers so get them all before making a decision.
@Eeyore123 I don’t think the material will be easier, I think the competition will be easier. Prestigious private schools with small acceptance rates like Ivies, choose the brightest students, and that correlates to more difficult competition and being hard to stand out as a good student. A large public school like the ones I mentioned does not have the brightest students and so it will be easier to stand out. I do know that those large public schools “weed” people out the first year, but still I just have a gut feeling that it will be easier to stand out among my peers at a state school than a prestigious private school. And being at the top of your class is very important for grad school and job interviews.
@ucbalumnus yeah, I’ve heard a lot of top-ranking programs do that how exactly do they weed students out? making students take classes that are extremely difficult? making students do a bunch of homework?
No, why would she choose a major that the school is known for and has a great record for placing students? She’s a civil eng, because she likes to be a PITA and do things the hard way (she was never interested in aero, but just liked the school). Even being in the smallest department, there is a lot of support and job placement,she just doesn’t get to have Buzz Aldrin as a prof. Her friend who went to Columbia for grad school was mechE and was more into the jet car racing team.
There’s a great expression: “Where do you think top kids go, when they don’t get into a tippy top college?” Think about it. It means all sorts of other great colleges.
Their future opportunities aren’t limited when they do well where they land.
If I’m reading it right, the 3’s in AP physics and bio will be a challenge at a super reach. Decide when all your results are in. You’ve got a great opp at UAH.
@lookingforward AP scores don’t matter for getting accepted into college. It matters for skipping easier classing placing into advanced classes. One of my largest regrets about high school though is not studying at all for my AP exams (except chemistry because I really liked the class). If I could do high school again I would study alotttt for the tests UAH is a great opportunity it seems, I just don’t know much about the school and I can’t find much info anywhere.
how exactly do they weed students out? making students take classes that are extremely difficult? making students do a bunch of homework?