Will research help for a non-thesis Master's?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I will be applying to graduate programs next academic year and have been trying to get an idea of where I might want to apply. I had originally wanted to apply to more research centered Master's programs and have been working hard during my college career to gain research experience. I have worked almost three years as an undergraduate research assistant in a lab at my school, and I am second or third author on three different publications. I figured this would be a plus for research based Master's programs, but I am wondering if it would help for non-thesis programs if I decided to go that route. What kind of differences between the two types of programs should I expect in terms of what they look for in students and applications? </p>

<p>Thank you for your responses.</p>

2

<p>It won’t hurt but it is not necessarily something that will increase your chances of admission. For a non-thesis, more professionally oriented Masters, schools are looking for good grades and motivation. Having work experience also may help, particularly for engineering programs.</p>