Hello,
I never really thought I would want to go to grad school after getting my B.S. in Civil Engineering, but recently I have been looking into it more closely. I honestly do not have much knowledge at all about graduate school admissions so I just wanted to see if anyone that knows more about it, could let me know my chances?
Profile:
-3 years completed at University of Alabama, December 2021 graduation (co-op next fall)
-3.4 Total GPA, 3.1 Civil Engineering GP, Honors College
-1 Summer Internship at respected construction company in St. Louis, 1 Part-time internship while taking courses last fall in Tuscaloosa, 1 co-op at a top nationally ranked design-build firm this upcoming summer + fall
-Decent extra-curriculars
-Will be able to get great recommendation letters from past employees, unsure about professors’
Why do you want to go to graduate school? What made you change your mind?
We can’t really answer this question without knowing what kind of program you want to go to, in what field, and whether you want a master’s or PhD. It also depends very much on the programs themselves - getting into a top-ranked program is harder than getting into a mid-ranked one, for example.
Generally speaking, “extracurriculars” don’t matter for graduate admissions unless they’re directly related to the program and the kind of work you’ll do there. The internships are good, especially for professional programs.
You’ll need at least one (preferably two, out of three) recommendations from professors. For a professional master’s program, the third one could theoretically be from a prior supervisor (not an employee of yours).
I would add that if you are interested in a professional MS or even a Ph.D., you might want to work for a couple of years. This is not a negative for graduate programs in engineering and gives you experience in industry.
I think it really depends on the school and program you are trying to get into. If the school you are currently at has a graduate program you want to attend it should be easier for you to get into. At Santa Clara where I go we have a 4+1 program allowing us to get a M.S. and B.S. in civil engineering in a total of 5 years and with my program we are basically guaranteed admission to graduate school if our GPA is above a 3.0. That said if you are looking for a small graduate program to be a part of consider SCU and you have a high chance of getting in.
It does sound like you want to go into construction/project management based on your past experience and I think you should really think about why you want to get a Master’s in project management if that is the case. I have worked for 2 large west coast general contractors and they both tried to hire me full time with one wanting me to drop out of school and not earn my bachelor’s before starting with them, but I want to do structural engineering as my profession which almost requires a Master’s just to get a full time job. grad school also will help me earn my P.E. license. The decision is yours if you want to continue on but think about what you want to be doing in 10 years and if a graduate degree will actually help you achieve that goal.
Yes I would say an MS is important if you want to be a structural engineer but not if you want to go into construction management. I don’t think you would get into a top program like UT or Illinois, but you would definitely be admitted to some good schools.
I’m a structural engineer by the way.