Need Advice for Masters Funding

Graduate School
1

I am receiving conflicting advice regarding grad school and would greatly appreciate the advice/input of you fine people. I’m applying to MS programs in Mechanical Engineering, and the main schools I’m looking are: UTC-Berkeley, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, and PSU/Virginia Tech (from top to bottom).

My main concern is finical costs. I have heard from professors and employers that I’m a good candidate to receive funding, but others have told me that funding for a master’s degree is near impossible, regardless of one’s background.

A bit on my status. I’m graduating from Penn State with dual honors degrees in Mech. Eng. and Eng. Sci. and a minor in engineering mechanics. I’m in the honors college and I have a GPA of 4.00 and a GRE score of “Qualitative Reasoning: 664, Verbal Reasoning: 665.” I have 3 years of lab research, but no publications. Also, I have extracurricular leadership experience and I have worked at a major aerospace company as a research and development engineer.

PLEASE RESPOND!I would really appreciate your feedback.

2

If you are interested in PSU, you are already in a position to ask and find out if there is funding for Masters students. As for the others, it is not usual for schools with Ph.D. programs to fund a lot of Masters students unless a particular professor has research funding and is interested in hiring the student. You should expect to self-fund the Masters degree and anything else you might get is a plus. If that is not financially feasible, then work for a year or two and then decide to go back for the Masters. it is possible that your employer will reimburse you for some of the expenses.