lucifer_sam

Haha, funny you said something about that. I actually looked at University of Auckland's program, it just isn't the same caliber as American schools. Or maybe they don't have the major industries that attract those jobs. Even so, engineers get compensated EXTREMELY well in New Zealand, presumably because they suffer from such a shortage of engineering programs -- a lot are Australian ex-pats. The jobs I saw were commanding salaries of about $120,000 NZD, pretty ample for even a mid-career professional.

Actually, I think Seltzer should know way more than I do about it.

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pourmeanother

Go with San Diego, you won't regret that. Lots of tools- bleach blond bimbos and ed hardy guys with tribal tat's and gelled spikes- but it's just such a nice place. If you're looking to get away from harsh winters, you will love it there.

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You hope for blah
And sometimes you find it, but mostly it's blah
And waiting for blah
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And then, just when you think you've got the whole blah'd damn thing figured out
And you're surrounded by the ones you blah
Death shows up... anddd blah, blah, blah.

VEGANGELICA

Janszoon makes good points about how in the field of engineering, industry work before graduate school may be the norm and not having an M.S. may prevent you from being considered "overqualified," but after reading everything you wrote I would, if I were in your situation, go to grad school now while you can. Reasons:

(1) You are heavily interested in your field, so you would probably love graduate school.

(2) It sounds like your graduate programs of choice would actually pay you. Since I've seen the volatile funding climate first hand, when I see money available for a student, I say go for it while it is there. You could see if the program allows you to apply, get accepted, and defer for one year to do an internship in industry before beginning grad school.

(3) Like you say, you are in a life position right now to handle the time commitment of graduate school (contrasted with your dad's situation). If engineering is anything like molecular biology, while I was getting my masters the work ruled my life: experiments sometimes get done at odd hours, for example. I have many memories of 3 a.m. experiments because there was no way to time them into daylight hours. As I get older, staying up later and sacrificing my life and time for something that is uncomfortable for me to do becomes much harder.

Plus, if you get married and have a child, going back to school becomes *very* difficult.

(4) Are industry jobs that would consider someone who has an M.S. overqualified actually jobs you'd want to do for your career, anyway? (I know when it comes to getting a job, getting *any* job can be the main priority, but still, it is nice to find work you actually like.)

A good Masters program should give you hands-on experience as well as theoretical knowledge, so hopefully industry appreciates people with an M.S...though industry probably just tries to get workers for as little of money as possible, and plans to teach them what they need to know on the job.

(5) Even if you do your M.S. and find you don't want to do engineering for a living, at least you'll have the M.S. and will have enjoyed yourself getting it. If you work for 3 years instead, and find out you don't like engineering as a career, then you'll be back to square one, facing grad school decisions...or perhaps being in a situation where going back to grad school would be difficult.

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noise

i went straight from BA to MA to PhD. but i did anthropology which was quite easy. now i'm $45,000 in debt and have nothing to show for it but a Dr. in front of my name. ugh.

science/engineering is the way to go though. they pay you to go to school instead of the other way around. my brother is doing PhD in biochem at Yale right now, and his monthly stipend is more than my monthly salary. ugh.

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Engine

If you can get into the program you want in either of these schools then do it. I can't imagine the drawbacks outweighing the rewards.

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dac

I'm a civil, and all of the engineers that I worked with on my two internships say that getting work experience is way more important than grad school. They all told me to get right to work at the company (they offered me a job) once I'm done (Junior right now as well, btw) and take night classes when I want to start pursuing grad school.

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lucifer_sam

Oh I'm not that smart. Just really hopeful.

Actually I have a fairly decent chance to get into Georgia Tech's program which is just about as prestigious as the others I mentioned. My dad's a legacy and they have a working relationship with graduates from my university.

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Seltzer

Sorry about the late reply - I temporarily went AWOL.

Personally, I'm dissuaded from doing postgrad for a few reasons, one of them being that it can actually be detrimental and count against you in the eyes of employers (in computer science / software engineering) as PhD students entrenched in academia tend to be smart (but not always based on my experiences) and good in their areas but often devoid of practicality. So unless an ardent passion to work in a particular field is ignited within me, I probably won't do postgrad (still have this year to decide).

I think you have a good case for doing postgrad given your specialised interests. In which case, I'd advise that you don't start work with the intention of later returning to uni.


Judging from this, it seems that UoA ranks around the #50 mark for engineering which isn't bad but they simply don't have the resources to compete with the top tier British/American universities. Besides, I don't think the mech eng dept offers much in the way of aerospace engineering.

As far as I know, the average engineering salary here is lower than that of Australia/UK/USA despite the massive demand for engineers which results from brain drain. I haven't checked any figures in a while though.

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TheBig3

in my experience, experience is better than going for the grad degree out of the gate. I work with so many people at my job who can't make decent hires, that can't delegate correctly, have any useful skills, and put too much effort into minor details and not any long-term goals.

I'm a big proponent of education, but its almost impossible to have something better than experience. I'd suggest getting into the worforce (which may give you money for the degree) get some years under your belt, at least 2, and then make your move.

I was thinking of going to grad school but I've changed by career path three times since I left college.

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gogojessicat

Hi, I don't know you at all, but I thought I'd toss my two cents in.
I'm a junior as well and I've had similar debates. You really have a tough decisions ahead of you -- but you know that.
Well, my brother studied engineering. He was at WPI. He got some great fellowship and started this year as a TA but ended up dropping out. Now he's working as an engineer for some company. Everyone I know thinks he is crazy for quitting school.
Personally, I think of all the things you could go on to graduate school for, engineering is probably the most logical just because you'll make the money back quickly.
So, if I were you, I'd just do it. Waiting out the recession in grad school is the thing to do right now it seems.
Hope something I said was helpful. Good luck with your decision!

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