<p>if you do a science major (as opposed to an engineering major for undergrad at MIT), will your chances of getting in MIT eng school be lowered?</p>
<p>i am not sure what you are asking, but once you are admitted into MIT you are free to pursue any major you want. there arent seperate schools that you are accepted to, but can choose any major in any department once you are there. you are admitted to the institution as a whole.</p>
<p>No I mean if I do a science major for undergraduate and want to do an enginnering major for grad (both at MIT), would that be a good idea? Do MIT graduate Engineering schools take people who were not engineering majors for undergrad?</p>
<p>oh i got ya. i really have no idea, but if you were going to do grad engineering i would think it would be pretty important to have some background in engineering.</p>
<p>yeah, I'm just not sure what exactly I want to do in for grad school...</p>
<p>Forever21, you asked 2 questions in your second post. The second question is easy to answer. Yes, MIT graduate engineering schools (as well as many other graduate engineering schools) take people who were not engineering majors for undergrad. In one quite extreme case, I know of one guy who majored in Biology at Harvard and is now getting an MS in Civil Engineering at MIT. You're probably wondering how the heck is that possible. Well, to make a long story short, after he graduated from Harvard, he got a job in Information Technology (basically, implementing large-scale computer systems infrastructure), and he got quite good at it, and now he wants to pursue a formal academic degree in IT. All the IT stuff at MIT is, for some reason, housed in Course 1 (CivE) and not course6(EECS). </p>
<p>Now, that was obviously a pretty extreme case. Some more 'normal' cases would be of another guy I know whose undergrad is in Physics and is pursuing graduate-work at MIT in Materials Science Engineering (course3), and a woman who studied Physics (already has her PhD in Physics from Harvard) and is getting her MS in EECS from MIT. And then there are other people who switch from one engineering to another. I know of several people who did their undergrads in chemical engineering who are now doing graduate-work at MIT in EECS. I know a guy who did MatSci as an undergrad and is now getting a graduate-degree in BioE.</p>
<p>Now, as for whether it's a good idea, I would say that if you want to get an engineering graduate-degree, then clearly the most straightforward way for you to do that is to get the corresponding undergraduate engineering degree.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. How many years does it take for one to get a MS in engineering? Are you a MIT student sakky?</p>
<p>Although it depends on the department, In theory, an MS (or, more strictly speaking, an SM, which is MIT's parlance for the MS) can be completed as quickly as 1 year, although many people take significantly more time. Many people who receive the SM do so in the course of receiving the PhD, so to them, there's not exactly a lot of incentive for them to hurry their SM along anyway (after all, what do they care about getting it quickly - after they get their SM, they're still going to be at MIT anyway finishing their doctorate).</p>
<p>What about the "Engineer" degree? I still don't get it..</p>
<p>Apparently, MIT offers 3 or 4 graduate (engineering) degrees?</p>
<p>And one more thing though, what is the rational behind MIT not granting any MEng degrees to students who did their undergrad studies elsewhere?</p>
<p>MEng degrees from MIT course 6 are basically the 5-year combined BS/Master's program. The rationale for offering it only to MIT undergrads is that the MEng degree is the 'plum' for the stronger MIT undergrad engineering students. Basically, MIT is saying that if you come to MIT and major in course 6 and you do decently, then we will offer you basically guaranteed admission into the MEng program, for which you can spend an addition 1/2 to 1 year and be able to say that you have a master's degree from MIT. </p>
<p>While I obviously can't speak to all of the reasons that MIT course 6 restricts the MEng degree to only its undergrads, what I believe is the case is that MIT wants to remain competitive with the other elite engineering schools that offer combined 5-year BS/master's programs. For example, Stanford offers a combined program through its 'coterm' process.</p>
<p><a href="http://ee-admissions.stanford.edu/coterm%5B/url%5D">http://ee-admissions.stanford.edu/coterm</a></p>
<p>So MIT course 6, I'm sure, wants to provide equivalent opportunities to its undergrads. For example, some prospective students might be admitted to both MIT and Stanford and if MIT didn't offer the Meng option, then that student might say "Well, I can go to MIT and pick up a bachelor's or I can go to Stanford and if I prove myself there, I can potentially do coterm and get both a bachelor's and a master's, so maybe I should go to Stanford." Or you can look at it from the eyes of the employer who might be saying "I got one job applicant who has a bachelor's from MIT and another applicant who has both a bachelor's and a master's from Stanford. Maybe I should hire the Stanford guy". So for competitive reasons, MIT feels that it needs to offer the MEng. It should be pointed out that within the MIT course 6 community, the MEng degree is clearly seen as a 'lower' degree than the SM degree, and the reason is that the MEng degree does in fact require less work than the SM degree. And that seems perfectly fair - MIT students (both SB and MEng recipients) are perfectly free to apply to the SM program. </p>
<p>Bottom line - I believe MIT course 6 offers the MEng program only to its undergraduates because MIT wants to give its undergraduates the opportunity to get an 'easier' master's degree for competitive reasons, but still wants to differentiate those undergraduates from its "real" SM students, basically saying that while we're giving those strong undergraduates a master's degree, that master's degree is different from the SM that our 'true' graduate students are getting. </p>
<p>Now to be clear, each department at MIT is a kingdom unto itself. The above discussion only strictly applies to course 6. Other departments have their own rules about whether to offer an MEng program at all, and if they do, whether they offer it only to undergrads or to everybody. For example, I know course 1 (Civil) offers its MEng to everybody. Course BME (biological engineering) offers the MEng to only MIT undergraduates who complete certain requirements and do well in them. Course 13 (Ocean Engineering) offers its MEng to everyone, but most everybody in it are MIT ocean-engineering undergrads (but now that MIT is merging course 13 and course 2 together, I am not sure what is going to happen there). Course 10 (ChemE) as far as I know doesn't offer an MEng at all. Course 2 (MechE) does not offer a bona-fide MEng in Mechanical Engineering, although it offers and MEng in Manufacturing Technology that is open to everybody. Course 22 (nuclearE) does in fact offer a 5-year SB/SM (not an MEng, but an actual SM) program. I'm sure there are others that I have missed. But the point is that the MEng degree is generally seen to be an "SM-lite", signifying that this person did more work and knows more than a regular SB holder, but not as much as an SM-holder. </p>
<p>As you've seen, MIT offers multiple graduate degrees. The PhD and the SM I think you know about. The MEng, I just explained. The ScD is basically equivalent to the PhD and exists only for historical reasons (I have no idea why MIT keeps the ScD designation around). </p>
<p>And then there are the unusual degrees that carry the rubric of 'Engineer'. For example, course 6 has the 'Electrical Engineer' (EE) and the 'Engineer in Computer Science' (ECS) degree. Course 2 has the 'Mechanical Engineer' (ME) degree. Course 22 has the 'Nuclear Engineer' (NE) degree. Course 16 has the Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics (EAA) degree. I'm sure there are others. </p>
<p>So what the heck is that? Basically, these degrees signify advanced work beyond the SM level, but not quite as much as the doctoral level. These programs have been historically targeted to those students who want to go back to the real working world as practicing engineers, and signify that this person has done a lot of coursework and has produced a very strong thesis - much stronger than the typical SM student, but not quite to the level of a doctoral recipient. </p>
<p>I'm not going to tell anybody to do or not do the Engineer's degree. Everybody has to make that determination for himself/herself. What I would say is that those Engineer's degrees are very rarely granted.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great, in-depth info Sakky. :)</p>
<p>Sakky,</p>
<p>Thanks for your time in writing this post. Appreciated. :)</p>