<p>I'm a bit ahead in my bachelor's degree and have a chance to complete a master's degree with having to stay only one extra semester (non-thesis). I can either do a master's of engineering in petroleum (same as undergrad) or branch out and do a master's of engineering and technology management (accounting, statistics, operations research, linear programming etc.).</p>
<p>Both degrees are 30 hours (well, the PetE is 36, but they give me 6 hours credit for undergrad), and I can finish five courses before undergrad graduation and and five more after graduation. I'm funded through the VA, so the first five courses would come at no cost, and I'm currently working on getting some funding for the second five.</p>
<p>Assuming I get this cleared with future employer (I might even look at starting work in the local office and just taking ~2 years to finish up last five classes so I could start work right away), what degree would benefit me more in the long run? I don't really care much about an increase in pay or position, I'm just talking personally. What would make me a better engineer?</p>
<p>For clarification, I'm married with a kid on the way and if I could, I would graduate a semester early but the curriculum doesn't really allow for that. And I don't actually need to decide if I'm going to do this until next year, but I need to decided if I were going to do it, which degree to pursue, by start of spring semester.</p>