<p>So I'm about to start as a freshman, probably majoring in MechE. I know nothing about the coursework, let alone the real world as an engineer, but when I look at dream jobs, most of them seem to be research & development-related, and require a masters and experience, or a PhD.</p>
<p>The idea of getting a PhD has always appealed me, albeit in my still-intact ignorance of what is really involved in this, and while I don't even know I have what it takes to graduate with a BS in MechE (I am a nontraditional student, with a lot of unknowns here), I really want to keep this door open for myself i.e. putting myself in a position where I can get as much aid as possible, to a great program).</p>
<p>So what is your advice for doing so? I imagine high GPA, high GRE and a good relationship with professors would be at the top of the list, but what about "research"? I admit to not entirely understanding how this works at an undergrad level, but is it important for such ambitions? </p>
<p>Is is more important than internships, like most people looking to join the workforce after their BS would be doing? </p>
<p>Would these sorts of internships be helpful for my post-grad ambitions, or just for getting a job right away?</p>
<p>Is it unrealistic to think I could do both, and maintain the necessary grades? </p>
<p>Thanks for any insight you can provide. I know it's probably something I should talk to an adviser about, but it's nice to get an early opinion, and see how stupid my goals are before I vocalize them publicly.</p>
<p>To get into an MS program, you need a high GPA, high GRE, and maybe some research/internship experience. I would say to get into a PhD program, research experience of some sort would be very important. </p>
<p>You just need to email some professors, explain your background/skills and ask if you can do research in their lab. Just spend some time there and you can develop some skills and get the letter of recommendation for grad school. Who knows, maybe you can even stay in their lab for grad school. </p>
<p>You can certainly do research during the year and internships in the summer, no problem doing both. I think for PhD admissions they care more about research experience ,but an internship is a boost that sets you apart from other candidates nonetheless.</p>
<p>Internships really don’t factor into the admissions process, and everyone with a GPA high enough for PhD programs will have internships and/or research experience (usually both). </p>
<p>Undergraduate research, LORs (which come from research), a strong statement (which is developed via research), and a strong interview (usually about research) get you into research graduate programs. The other factors (GPA and GRE) are only qualifying factors. A low GPA or a low GRE will get you cut in the admissions process, but a high GPA and a high GRE won’t necessarily get you in. For a non-research degree (MBA, MD, JD, M.Eng, etc.) it’s all about GPA and test scores (and experience for MBA).</p>
<p>Lucky for you, many thesis-based M.S. degrees in engineering are paid and basically all Ph.D.s in engineering are paid. You just have to get in; no need to worry about aid for the most part.</p>
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<p>GPA is paramount. GRE is important but won’t get you in anywhere; it can just keep you out. Professor recommendations are very important and so is research. The good news is, the best way to get a professor recommendation is through research, so you can kill two birds with one stone.</p>
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<p>Yes and no. Graduate programs are going to be far more interested in research, particularly Ph.D. programs. If you do a terminal M.S., you have to make sure you still have internships under your belt, however. Not so with a Ph.D. That said, I would still suggest doing at least one internship even if your goal is to get a Ph.D. The importance of testing the industry water and making sure you want a Ph.D. seems too great to me to pass it up. In fact, it was internships that convinced me that a Ph.D. was the way to go. Still, make sure you have some research experience. It is an absolute must.</p>
<p>Boneh3ad, thanks for your detailed response. Can I impose another ignorant question? What exactly does undergrad research involve? I’m sure there are all different things, but my idea of “research” involves standing around in a generic lab, swirling beakers of brightly colored chemicals, with beep-boop noises coming from random computers and such. Is there a way for you to describe the gist of what an undergrad engineering researcher would do on a weekly basis?</p>
<p>I suggest you pick a college you like and look at their undergraduate research heading. Some schools even have a facebook undergradatue site. Where my son might go, UMBC, they have a facebook site UMBC Undergraduate Research you can look at. It will give you some ideas of what kids are doing. Undergraduate research is becoming more and more important – some colleges even make it a graduation requirement. Because of the importance of research – make sure when picking out a college their are plenty of opportunities for you.</p>
<p>Actually, this brings up another interesting question. I have to do my freshmen and sophomore years at a community college, as I am a GED student. Am I missing much those first two years?</p>
<p>As an undergrad (or beginning grad student) one usually starts out doing the work the senior grad students don’t want to do. That can mean swirling beakers or making infrastructure improvements or other assorted non-glorious work. As you get familiar with the lab and the program, eventually you start to be involved more on the scientific side of things, particularly planning the experiments and analyzing results.</p>
<p>Another piece of advice I have for someone consider graduate school in engineering is to take some graduate level classes as an undergrad, and do well in them. That is the best way to demonstrate that you can handle graduate level engineering work.</p>