<p>I have aspirations to get my Master's, but I'm a non traditional student at 23. By the time I finish undergrad, I will be 26 or 27. The problem is that I want to work after I obtain my Bachelor's.</p>
<p>Is it possible to work and go to grad school at the same time?</p>
<p>Is there a downside to it?</p>
<p>Many employers will pay for you to take night classes to get your MS. Sometimes there will be a catch (if you get less than a B you have to pay, for every year you take classes you can’t leave the company for X many years after you finish your degree, etc), but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort it can be worth it. Right now my girlfriend’s doing night classes for her MS and it’s pretty tough. Wake up at 5:15 AM, get to work by 7, get out of work at 5 and then class from 6:30-9:30 two nights a week. Plus homeworks. =/</p>
<p>I did my Masters while working and I was about age 30 when I started. Of course, I did my grad program via distance learning. At the time, the program was about 80-85% online (I think it is now 100% online now).</p>
<p>You just have to manage your time differently.</p>
<p>I earned one of my master’s degrees that way. The company paid for everything including books, parking, and the gas/mileage to get there. They also didn’t require me to stay after the degree. I quit 6 months after earning it.</p>
<p>If you work on a professional MS and not a research MS (i.e. if you pursue a non-thesis degree instead of a thesis-based degree), then it’s not bad. 2 classes/semester, 3 semesters per year, and you graduate in 2 years.</p>
<p>To maximize your potential for success you either want 1) an online degree (and many top engineering programs offer online MS degrees in engineering, like Georgia Tech and Stanford) or 2) a college that has programs specifically designed for night students. Otherwise, you could run into a situation (like I did) where you need a specific class to graduate and that class is only offered at 2 pm.</p>
<p>One more thing…</p>
<p>Most MS Engineering programs allow you to transfer 2 courses (6 credits) from other schools, so if you find another online course from another school, you can get approval to transfer in a course. I transferred in 2 Statistics courses from another school for my degree program.</p>
<p>Yeah, in engineering this is not uncommon for coursework-only masters degrees - the company picks up some or all of the costs, and may allow you some flexibility to attend classes if needed. The only real problems are that (1) you are using up your precious free time, (2) it can take 3-4 years compared to the typical 2 for a full-time student, and (3) this doesn’t usually fly for research degrees if that is what you want.</p>
<p>I don’t think that being a non-traditional student will be on any consequence. Many students in my son’s grad program are “older” and continue working a full-time job while taking one or two classes at night. My son actually did that last summer - worked FT while taking a night class. His friend took two night classes. It was very tiring but completely possible.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s doable. I’m in the Navy full time and did a Masters via distance learning every night for a year and a half through duty days and underways.</p>