@chemusic that is so so helpful! I have been considering grad school for engineering (possible doing my undergrad in physics) because I don’t want to commit to a tech school when I might decide to major in, say, anthropology. If you don’t mind my asking, what did your son major in? Did he take any engineering courses while he was doing his undergrad? Did he find any problems in his engineering courses in grad school, having not completed a bachelor’s in engineering? My father told me that he truly could not comprehend how anyone could do well/even get accepted to a master’s engineering program if you don’t have the foundations of engineering from a bachelor’s degree…obviously that’s not true for your sons’s case though!
However, remember that master’s degree programs are not necessarily funded, unlike PhD programs. So be sure to consider the extra cost of such. Sometimes, an employer will fund master’s degree study, but that means getting a job at such an employer in the first place.
Non-engineering bachelor’s to engineering master’s (or PhD) is possible, but it depends on the specific fields of study involved, as not all combinations are equally doable.
Sorry I am late to respond. He majored in physics, minored in astronomy and declared a second major in the arts. The grad school told him ‘we were waiting for someone like you!’ (yes were all were surprised). You guessed it, he took an junior level engineering class one summer at a local university. He also worked in engineering internships for four summers at a large aerospace company so he was exposed to lots of engineering on the job. He prepared himself in engineering in every way possible while he was an undergrad. At grad school, he had to take one undergrad class in an area of engineering that he had not been exposed to. He commented often in grad school that he ‘had to learn’ some of the background material and he used all the resources available to him to master it. So I may have made it sound simple, of course it wasn’t, but it is certainly is attainable if you plan to use your summers to get engineering experience and have the drive and initiative to learn the stuff on your own that you do not know.
@chemusic thank you! I was expecting you to say that he majored in physics and math, so physics and arts is surprising (in a good way). Thanks for your help!