<p>Ill have graduated in December with a BA degree in Physics. My GPA will be lucky to be a 3.0 because I suffered from Depression for the latter half of my college career.</p>
<p>I'm looking into civil/environmental engineering and I'm wondering what's the appropriate path?</p>
<p>Do I just go for a Masters or do I double back and get another Bachelors? Will the Masters have accreditation that's appropriate?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help</p>
<p>Do the masters. It is almost never a good idea for a second bachelors and physics and engineering overlap enough that there is usually not too much difficulty switching. It’s very common.</p>
<p>Relatively few master’s degree programs have ABET accreditation. For civil engineering, there is just University of Louisville. For environmental engineering, there are Air Force Institute of Technology, Manhattan College, Texas Tech, and University of Arkansas.</p>
<p>^ This is, of course, because the idea of standardizing a graduate degree is just silly since the idea is to specialize. Until recently, I didn’t even know that ABET had any kind of standards for graduate degrees. I still don’t know WHY they have them.</p>
<p>The standards for accreditation of graduate programs is pretty flexible compared to the standards for undergrad programs, but that is not the issue that I think ucbalumnus is really trying touch on - in civil, certification and licensure are a big issue, and (to the best of my knowledge) many states they expect or require an ABET-accredited engineering degree to get a license. For most people this is not an issue, as they get a civil undergrad at an ABET school, but for the OP it might be a problem. ABET does not accredit grad and undergrad programs in the same departments, so to be safe the OP should probably attend one of the few ABET-accredited MS programs listed above. Otherwise, they might not be employable where they want to work!</p>
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<p>With all due respect cosmicfish, that is poor advice. Accreditation for graduate school is simply not necessary. This isn’t undergrad, where you’re trying to build a knowledge foundation, which SHOULD be standardized between schools as a means of certifying graduates. The entire purpose of grad school is to enhance a specific area of your undergraduate education. In most cases, the level of specialization varies between schools. This is something that can’t be standardized very easily, as many times, the specialization offered by a particular school is offered because that particular school has strengths which are beneficial in those particular areas of specialization. In other words, the specialization options for an MS Aero Engineer at University of Arizona are going to be different than the specialization options at say, USC. And the reason behind this is that the each faculty member carries different qualifications, including different research backgrounds. The faculty members are only going to teach topics that they feel comfortable with.</p>
<p>As far most people are concerned, including the vast majority of employers, grad school is simply an educational bonus. It means you know a little bit more about a specific area of your undergrad degree. More importantly though, it signifies that you’re capable of researching and solving full-up problems independently.</p>
<p>So can I become an engineer by just getting my Masters in Civil and not worry about ABET accreditation?</p>
<p>If you want a Professional Engineer (PE) license, check the licensing requirements to see whether ABET (or mutually recognized foreign) accreditation is required, or if there is an alternative method if you have a master’s degree.</p>
<p>Civil engineering is the area of engineering where PE licensing is most common and most important.</p>
<p>(Yes, I agree that accreditation does not make as much sense for graduate degrees, but if the OP wants to work in civil engineering, the PE licensing issue needs to be investigated before deciding whether to go down that path.)</p>
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In most cases, I agree - but this is not one of those situations. The OP is trying to change into a field in which licensure is a requirement, and said licensure is often written to require ABET-certification. This may be something that can be addressed on appeal, but I am not certain, and the best way to avoid the issue and assure hirability is to have the accredited degree. If the OP was looking into EE, or ME, or Aero, this would not be an issue.</p>
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Accreditation is not synonymous with standardization, and accreditation of graduate programs accounts for the differences in the way they are administered. If you check, most engineering programs that are accredited at the undergrad level are also accredited at the graduate level - just not by the same organizations.</p>
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Some yes, some no. In my case, specific jobs were denied to me because I lacked a masters. In the OP’s case, it is not an “educational bonus”, it is a career-change. This post is not about generalities, it is about the specifics of the OP’s situation.</p>
<p>It sounds like I need to double back and get a Bachelors in CE, doing just a Masters would be worthless.</p>
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Not sure where you are getting that, I don’t see that conclusion played out anywhere in this thread. I am 99% sure you can get professionally licensed, I am just think you need an ABET-accredited masters to be certain of doing it anywhere. I think you need to check with one or more state licensure boards, a bit inconvenient but far less so than spending the extra couple of years and probably tens of thousands of dollars that getting a BS instead of an MS would take!</p>
<p>What state do you plan on getting licensed in?</p>
<p>Most likely California or Utah. There are no masters programs that are ABET accredited though. So I feel like unless I double back and just do a Bachelors I won’t be getting that accreditation thats needed.</p>
<p>Before jumping to conclusion, maybe you should look up the licensure requirements in those two states and whether or not they have provisions for people who have a Masters degree. I’d say even money that they have some kind of provision that makes it possible, after all, they definitely are aware that there aren’t many ABET Masters programs.</p>
<p>Don’t just jump to conclusions. Do some research.</p>
<p>California: [Application</a> Information - Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists](<a href=“http://www.bpelsg.ca.gov/applicants/apps.shtml]Application”>http://www.bpelsg.ca.gov/applicants/apps.shtml)
Utah: [Utah</a> Division of Occupational & Professional Licensing](<a href=“http://www.dopl.utah.gov/licensing/engineer_land_surveying.html]Utah”>http://www.dopl.utah.gov/licensing/engineer_land_surveying.html)</p>
<p>Both states have some provision for holders of non-ABET-accredited graduate degrees from schools where the same major bachelor’s degree program is ABET-accredited. However, you should read all of the information very carefully to determine what qualifies for the purpose of substituting for an ABET-accredited bachelor’s degree in various licensing contexts in these states.</p>
<p>You may also want to check other possible states you may want to seek licensing in, just in case, as the licensing requirements may differ in this area.</p>
<p>You are nicer than me, ucbalumnus. I wasn’t about to go look all that up for him/her. haha</p>
<p>I was going to, that’s why I asked about the states, but then I went to bed. Lol.</p>
<p>Haha thanks guys, I appreciate the help :)</p>