I graduated from a top tier school with a BS degree in financial mathematics with a strong >3.5 GPA. I’m working in the financial arena as an analyst. I constantly regret not doing engineering as an undergrad and really can’t see myself sitting in a cube for the rest of my life. I’m super interested in the automotive industry and would like to have a more hands on job where I can actually see my work in action.
I’ve been thinking about possibly trying to go back to school for engineering, particularly mechanical. However, with most of my undergrad classes being in stats, finance, econ and applied math, I’m wondering if it is even possible to be admitted to masters programs in mechanical engineering.
Would an undergrad degree in financial mathematics and a masters degree in engineering open up the job opportunities (assuming of course grades are good, etc). Would an undergrad in just math hurt me?
I graduated with a master’s degree in Mathematics (Applied Math/Statistics option) in 2014.
I ended up working as a programmer. I sit in a cube and have coded every single week day for the past year. It has turned into drudgery. I am trying to go back to school and have already been accepted to the local college here for Mechanical Engineering since my background was not sufficient enough to give me entry into the Mechanical Engineering master’s program.
I doubt it would be more hands on after graduation. You’ll need to do some internships to figure that out for yourself. That’s at least what I’ve heard from everyone after graduation from ME - they don’t even do past basic math.
“That’s at least what I’ve heard from everyone after graduation from ME - they don’t even do past basic math.”
True in many cases but not all. Depends on how analytical your job is. Some can be very math intensive.
If you want to go back and get a MS in mechanical engineering figure you will have a ton of prerequisites to have to complete. Engineering is way more than the math but the physical understanding of how things work. Then, how to turn that understanding into a mathematical expression describing it. You then use that mathematical expression to predict the behavior of the design. Look at the school’s BS program and figure that you need all (or at least most) of those classes to get into the masters program.
Yeah, that’s the issue. I’ve taken the most rigorous math classes, including all the calcs, linear algebra, efc. But I haven’t had a physics or real science class since high school, about 5 years ago. I’d really rather not pick up a second bachelors degree, but might be worth looking into if a lot of my classes transfer. It’s walking away from a well above average salary is what is holding me back. But what’s it worth if I don’t like what I do?
Don’t get a second Bachelors. A second Bachelors, in this situation, might be good for someone who originally majored in something wildly unrelated to engineering, like English or History, but it would be a waste of time for someone who already has a degree in math. You want to get a Masters, so take some engineering courses and prerequisites to make up for basic deficiencies. Nearly all engineering graduate programs will accept applications from people with a non-engineering background if it’s in a somewhat related area like math and physics.
I myself got my BS in molecular biology, decided after a couple years I wanted to do mechanical engineering, took a few prerequisite math courses, and am now attending a well-ranked program for a research-based MSME. I’ve met a healthy number of people who majored in something other than engineering and pursued mechanical engineering for their graduate studies.
BS Math–>MS/PhD Engineering and BS Physics–>MS/PhD Engineering are relatively common and relatively smooth transitions.
Thanks for the reply Aura. I might start emailing schools to see what the deal is with masters programs. Did you have to take prereqs specific to mechanical engineering or just your basic math and sciences courses?