I’m having a tough time deciding between going straight into industry or pursuing graduate school. Briefly, i’m a sophomore mechanical engineer with a huge interest in the field of aerospace and flow mechanics. My GPA is average, at a 3.5 of 4. Currently I have 2 internships and have done small amounts of research with professors in my department, I might commit to more if i commit to GS.
With how I’m doing now would it be worthwhile to commit to GS? What bothers me is the competition to get into programs and the possible financial burden of not being in industry for another 1 or 2 years. Could anyone offer some insight or advice to situation?
Also the reason I ask early on into my college career is because of the importance of dedicating myself to internships or research. Could anyone offer some advice for the problem of deciding how to allocate your time, to research or internships, if you’re borderline graduate school?
Well, graduate school is a means to an end. You decide to attend graduate school because you need a graduate degree to enter some specific career field that requires one. For example, if you wanted to be a social worker, you’d need an MSW, so you go get one.
If you’re on the fence, IMO that’s a sign that you should go industry rather than going to graduate school. That’s especially true if you are concerned about financial impact. Particularly in engineering, it’s quite possible for students to get well-paying jobs straight from college and return to graduate school later.
Also, I don’t think there has to be an either/or thing - you should do both, and it is possible to do both. As a sophomore, you’ve got two summers left - you can spend one summer interning somewhere and one summer at an REU, for example. During the school year you could spend 10 hours a week doing research and 10 hours a week doing an internship. So on and so forth.
But it also depends on the kind of graduate school you think you might want. If you are interested in a professional master’s degree in engineering, then internship work actually is valuable for admissions in that area and research is a nice-to-have but not required. So in that case, focusing on work experience would be good for both endeavors - grad school and employment. It’s only if you want a PhD (or an academic master’s degree) when research experience really comes into play.
I also think you should let your interests guide you. Do you WANT to do research? Does the idea of doing research with professors appeal to you? Because if it does, you should do it; research can be appealing to employers, too. But if it doesn’t, then I think that’s telling you both what you should do now and whether you should pursue research in grad school.