<p>My S is in his senior year majoring in EECS at MIT. He is trying to weight out options of accepting a job offer upon graduation or continue to 5th year master program. Neither my wife or myself feel we have the background to provide any advice or guidance..... we are looking for wisdom out there. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Apply to both. Once your son has job offers and an acceptance to the 5th-year program in hand, then he can decide.</p>
<p>My daughter is a recent MIT grad, now in graduate school at Harvard. Last year she shared an apartment with two good friends, both MIT grads who went on to complete the 5-year program. They both had multiple job offers at the conclusion of the program. </p>
<p>In the meantime, your son can start talking with his EECS advisors at MIT to see what they say about the difference in potential salary he could earn with or without the MA degree. It might be enough to make it very worth while. The EECS Department tracks statistical data about the percentage of graduates that get jobs and their average salaries and salary ranges, so there is hard data available at MIT to help with this decision.</p>
<p>I suggest you ask this question on the MIT discussion board, because quite a few alumni read and respond to posts there.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice.</p>