<p>Hello, I was just wondering if anyone could provide some insight regarding going into a different field for your MS than what you got your BS in. I am looking into Civil/Environmental Engineering for my MS... my BS was in Industrial and Systems Engineering. </p>
<p>I was just wondering if the 30 or 36 credit hours to complete a Master's degree can actually adequately prepare you to work in the Civil/Environmental (or any other Engineering field coming from an Industrial Engineering BS background) field after school if you've only taken a few intro courses during you're UG career?</p>
<p>I took 140 credits to complete my BS in ISE and feel like I could work in the field with some training, but how can someone who switches majors between BS and MS be prepared to work after only 30 or so credits it takes to complete an MS? Should some more (maybe 12-15 credits instead of 6) UG courses in the major that you go for an MS in be taken?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>This should not be a problem. </p>
<p>Credits</p>
<p>Let’s assume that a Civil/Environmental Engineering BS also takes 140 credits. Probably only 40-60 of those were specific to the major, with the rest certainly being university or department requirements wholly or mostly applicable across disciplines. Of those 40-60 credits, probably only 10-20 directly applied to any particular specialty, and since grad school is increasingly specialized, only those 10-20 credits are really important to someone coming into that specialty from another engineering discipline. So you are not that much in the hole.</p>
<p>Also, depending on where you go, they may ask you to retake some of those courses anyway to ensure that you have all the material and that it is current. Likewise, depending on your specialty there may be some overlap between your prior studies and your new research focus. So even if you start off in the hole, it will not be as deep as you expect.</p>
<p>Grad vs Undergrad</p>
<p>Even though they appear the same on a transcript, grad credits are not the same as undergrad credits. The level of the material is higher, the pace is faster, and they are much more focused. A grad student learns much much more about their specialty in 30 credits than an undergrad does in their last two years. As such, and given the narrowing of the knowledge, replacing 10-20 credits may only require 2-3 classes which might be required even for those who started in the field.</p>
<p>App vs Study</p>
<p>The preparation you have is probably fine for graduate study in the indicated field. But you may be short in the application. Switching majors does put you at a disadvantage, and depending on the relative strength of the rest of your app it may be enough to sink you. If you feel this is the case, THEN you have a solid reason for taking a few grad classes before applying.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, very helpful.</p>
<p>what if you do a more radical change, such as Math to computer science. </p>
<p>Most math programs just require 1 programing class, is it still possible to switch?</p>