<p>So ok I applied to Cornell PhD in Aerospace and was accepted into the M.Engineering Program. I would like to pursue a PhD or at leas MS there and was wondering if any of you who go to Cornell can tell me if it is easy and likely that I can change my degree goal once I have enrolled or even after a semester? Also they said there is no funding at this time are TA included in that I would assume they mean scholarship or fellowship funding on not RA or TA positions. and If so I assume I can work towards getting something after a semester or two.</p>
<p>I got into Cornell's MS/PhD structural engineering program. They make it clear that MEng students cannot switch but must reapply after finishing their MEng. Might be different for Aero however.</p>
<p>I am Cornell M.Eng student. You will need to reapply, but the good thing is if you got a good relations with the professors in the department and got good recommendation letters that will be very helpful when you apply to the phd program( off course they will believe a recommender from inside and most likely would prefer a student someone who they already dealt with). I know some one who did that even for another totally different department, From M.Eng in CHE to phd in Economics even though he didn't have a good background in the field and his GPA was much lower than the other accepted students.
But at the end there is risk, and the M.Eng program is not cheap (36K for one year), you might want to reapply next year(without the M.Eng) if you think you can improve your application.</p>
<p>Eng_WhyNOt: how do u feel about the M.Eng program compared to typical M.S programs?</p>
<p>stankuo802:
MEng is like MS non thesis option. The good thing about MEng is the length( only 9 months). MEng is a professional degree so if you sure you gonna apply to phd later, you better do MS(because of the research experience, in the MEng you only do a project). Anway, in case of Cornell, in most of its engineering programs you can't apply to the MS degree alone, you apply to MS/PHD together.</p>
<p>Eng_WhyNot </p>
<p>thanks for the info, would it therefore be reasonable to switch from MEng intp the direct PhD or MS/PhD?</p>
<p>Switching to MS/PhD at Cornell is very hard to say the least.</p>
<p>you will apply in the normal deadline (dec-jan). There is nothing like "switch". The MEng program is only one year so you will finish before the MS/PHD program. Also the courses are different so it will not reduce the phd length. I don't know what is ur major, but I asked some friends who study CS and EE and they said there are no specific course requriemnts, it is up to your advisor to suggest some courses</p>