I’m gonna go ahead and assume that this question has been already asked many times before but I kind of want some more answers. I have two teachers at my school who studied engineering in college - one has a BS and says that grad school is not really that necessary, and the other has an MS and says he highly recommends going. What do the people on this site think? Is attending grad school worth the time, money, and effort? Because if it is, then I am definitely willing to do the work. I just want to know if it is needed in the first place to secure jobs in the field of engineering, specifically systems/industrial or aerospace. Thanks!
It is not necessary in order to get a first job. Many engineering work for a while and then decide that their career would benefit from a Masters degree. Others will never need to go to graduate school and will have perfectly satisfactory careers.
It depends.
Engineering is such a wide field that there is no one answer to this question. However, the more analytical your job the more the MS (or even a PhD) is worth.
It is also a toss up as to whether to go for the MS right away or work for a while and then go for it. If you have a real good idea of what you want to do and some research money or a TA position lined up then go for it. Otherwise, work for a while and let your employer at least share some of the cost of the MS.
@xraymancs @HPuck35 Thanks for the responses. For right now, I don’t know exactly what I want to do, so I’m leaning towards getting a bachelor’s first and then potentially getting a masters later. However, my opinion might change over the course of my undergrad years.
Do you know of any schools with good engineering job placement/career services that aren’t big state schools?
You do have some time it sounds like. Keep up a good GPA and do get involved in some research and you’ll be prepared no matter which way you decide to go.
Getting a job after college is a little easier with a good placement office. But most of what they do is guide you in preparing resumes and where to go looking. All stuff that you can, with a little online research, do yourself so having a good placement department is good but not essential.
The now versus later is a bit dependent too on where you go and whether or not they offer a 4+1 co-terminal BS/MS and also your school’s track record of graduating students in 4 years. There is something to be said for entering the workforce with an advanced degree, especially if you obtained it very efficiently.
Food for thought: http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/04/04/in-defense-of-the-masters-degree/#3a9ba2db1d0b
If there happens to be an industry downturn when you graduate (i.e. no jobs offered), and you can get into a funded graduate program, then it is probably a good idea to do funded graduate study for a year or few rather than graduating and being unemployed for that duration.
@ucbalumnus, semi off topic, but how does one find funded masters programs?
One would have to look for departments where the TA/RA needs could exceed those filled by PhD students, so they hire MS students to fill them.
@Ariz0na - You might look at some of the [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools. They specialize in engineering and science and have good reputations with employers. There are a number of similar state schools, too, which are not so large. Colorado School of Mines, Missouri University of Science and Technology and any number of similar public universities.