Is 110k worth it to go to a top notch engineering school like University of Michigan? I’d be pursuing a graduate degree outside my undergrad specialty and it would open up enormous opportunities outside my undergrad specialty (but also within it as well)
I’ve heard some employers will retroactively pay for graduate school as a sort of “signing bonus” if you agree to work from them. Is this a “reasonable” thing to expect if I graduate from here?
I’ve seen the lists of where students go on to work after attending here and other schools like it and it’s pretty impressive. I have full funding from mid-tier engineering schools, but that doesn’t really accomplish my essential mission in pursuing a graduate degree of adding a certain “brand” to my resume. I will say that I DO expect the graduate degree to pay off, but I was wondering some input? Thank you!!!
Your loan payment will be roughly $1300/month for 10 years. In total the degree will cost you $150,000, without adding in opportunity cost. If you were to invest $1300/month at 5% instead of paying loan payments, you’d have $200,000 in 10 years. That’s the true cost of that degree…a LOT to pay for a MS. That’s why I said they are cash cows for schools in your other thread.
@eyemgh: According to Univ. Michigan, M.S. students in mechanical engineering make around 10-15k more post-graduation salary as well. In the long run, don’t you believe it will pay off though?
The difference in starting salaries between MS graduates from MIT and a middle of the road school wasn’t that much. The subsequent “pay for performance” raised after that quickly could erase that difference. So, the difference for you wouldn’t make it worth it go deep in debt if you could get out cheaper elsewhere.
I’ve read that online U of GA master’s in engineering degrees can be $10,000. Have you considered and researched that as an option? Do you have an employer? Is employer willing to pay for you to get a master’s degree? Even when employers are willing, there are often strings attached, like being obligated to remain with employer for xx years and caps on the amount they will pay and duration and it has to RELATE to your duties.
Yes, it is “pay for performance” after initial stages of your career, but I’ve heard that almost all very high management professionals in engineering have “elite” degrees. I’ve seen that UMich has a great ROI, but 110k just seems like a really, really high amount.
@HImom University of Georgia or Georgia Tech? GT would give me the best of both worlds! But university of georgia would not give me the “prestige” I am seeking when going for a master’s degree.
Are you sure??? Because B.S. students from Virginia Tech in mechanical engineering make a median of 55k post-graduation (they don’t have M.S. data online), and M.I.T. / CM.U B.S. mechanical engineering graduates make 75k !!! That’s a really crazy amount when you think about it. (Even after taking into account fact that many of those students get inflated wages in California)
@eyemgh Well! I cannot find any data on M.S. students comparisons between my funded school and U.Mich, BUT I can tell you that, as I said in previous post:
B.S. students from Virginia Tech (top 20 M.E. program!) in mechanical engineering make a median of 55k post-graduation (they don’t have M.S. data online), and M.I.T. / CM.U B.S. mechanical engineering graduates make 75k !!! That’s a really crazy amount when you think about it (Even after taking into account fact that many of those students get inflated wages in California) and I can imagine the difference between MIT/CMU/U.Mich/GT and my school where I have funding which is much lower in rank than VT
Not sure where you got your data, but VT, on their career and development web site, has the median starting salary for a BSME degree at $65,450 for the 2015-2016 year with 128 reporting of 365 BS grads. That is pretty close to what I see as the average starting salary for a BSME.
I did not find any corresponding data from MIT (I did from non-MIT sources but I am always a little unsure of those numbers). MIT data can be a little skewed though. A lot of the BS grads go on to grad school directly and so there would not be a starting salary to report.
Anyways, when I was hiring engineers out of college for one of the major aerospace companies, a top 5 school would give you something like a 5% boost in starting salary. Certainly nice to have that boost, but not if it is going to cost you a fortune to get.
OP, you certainly have some decisions to make and I hope you make a logical, informed decision.
@eyemgh I think you should also add in list wages and career progression.
We’re talking an opportunity cost of over 300k… if there’s a 20k income difference, that’s 20ish years (minus tax) to break even on your investment.
I’d see if you can defer admission to UM and try to get a full time job with just your bachelors to see the opportunity difference. You can chat with your employer about what they think of experience vs degrees and move from there.
@DecideSomeHow@Jpgranier@HPuck35 Thanks for all the answers, but I found this answer on a forum asking if cmu (comparable to Umich) is worth the money and the response was:
“”"""I can look back on my college mates.
Some are engineers in podunk engineering firms doing routine work that I would describe as boring. They could have gotten those jobs after going to Flagship State University.
Some are not working, but chose to get married and stay home. They didn’t need to go to a university except to find a mate.
Still others are astronauts, CEOs of international corporations, professors in leading universities, entrepreneurs who have made zillions, members of the US cabinet, etc. These folks were always strivers and going for the top. Would they end up at the top if they had gone to Flagship State University? Maybe, but that’s not the point.
Where are YOU headed? What are you going to do with your degree?""""""
That answer just reinforced my belief that in order to be promoted. I need a degree from a T10 school!
I want to work in management eventually. I do not want to be a “routine” engineers you know? perhaps most people are disillusioned of this eventually, but I don’t want to live my life thinking I could have been somewhere higher all the time if I had only gone to a better school.
@DecideSomeHow The school that gave me funding is Clemson. It’s a pretty good school (around 50ish), but certainly not great
I don’t think that’s the point of that quote. I believe the person is saying it does not matter WHERE you get your degree, but instead WHAT you do with it…
I think that is absolutely the point of the quote (“Some are engineers in podunk engineering firms doing routine work that I would describe as boring. They could have gotten those jobs after going to Flagship State University”) but that it’s a stupid and elitist quote.
I was once told online that I “couldn’t comprehend actual intellectual competition” because I attend the honors college of a state university highly regarded for engineering. Don’t be that person.
So you choice is Clemson for “free” or $110K for Michigan? Do you know what they call the person that graduates with the lowest GPA from medical school? Doctor.
I would never suggest giving up free tuition unless it was a truly horrible school. Clemson is far from being a horrible school.