<p>I'm not quite sure how someone with a graduate degree in eng after a liberal arts degree in physical sciences would stand against someone who took on engineering since undergrad.</p>
<p>Thoughts??</p>
<p>Are you talking about a Ph.D. or a Masters in Engineering? If the Ph.D., it doesn’t matter at all since research is research. If it is a professional Masters, then you would have had to take the appropriate prerequisite courses to get the Engineering degree and so it is likely not to make too much of a difference.</p>
<p>@xraymancs I am talking about a masters. But how likely is it that I may receive a scholarship? Also, will the opportunities be the same?</p>
<p>Masters degrees are often self-funded, particularly the professional kind.</p>
<p>You have to pay for that post grad degree. You will have a number of prerequisite courses in engineering that you will have to take to get into the graduate level courses. Your familiarity with engineering will depend on your program’s theoretical framework. </p>
<p>There are no absolutes, but there are trends. Professional, coursework-only masters are almost always self-funded (or, more often, paid for by your employer). Research masters are usually funded, PhD’s almost always are. Better candidates are more likely to be funded, and all else being equal an engineering undergrad makes a better candidate for an engineering masters.</p>
<p>So.</p>
<p>If you want an engineering masters, you should probably consider programs and research groups where your GPA, GRE, and recommendations are high enough above the norm to make up for any shortfalls in your preparation - depending on the coursework you completed, this may be a little or it may be a lot. If it IS a lot, then you may want to consider taking some courses as a non-degree student before applying or starting the degree, as any given program is going to have a schedule and will be reluctant to admit someone who may not be able to keep up. If funding is important, then you should either consider getting an employer to pay, or getting a research-based degree.</p>
<p>My question now is also what is better anyway?</p>
<p>For future employees to see that I took this course in the graduate degree only or ever since undergrad?
Will I be at a disadvantage? </p>
<p>In most areas, it is better to be in the same field from start to finish. I am assuming you already have (or are getting) the BA, so it is not really relevant. You are where you are.</p>
<p>As to employers, it depends on the specific research area and the relevance of the BA. If (for example) you went from a physics BA to an EE MS focused on computational E&M or antenna design, they wouldn’t care one way or the other. If you went from a chem BA to an ME MS focused on mechanical systems, then it would likely be a bigger issue. But still only “bigger” and not actually “big” - If you have an MS, they are usually hiring you for your MS focus area, and the fact that you do or do not have engineering education beyond that is generally a small issue. </p>