- #1
Ben Zina
- 19
- 0
Hello all,
I'm currently a semester away from wrapping up an undergraduate degree and am in the process of applying to a few graduate schools mostly with the intention of obtaining a master's degree in Electrical Engineering (though I have applied to a graduate program in systems engineering just for the hell of it). However, there is one caveat...my bachelor's degree will not be in Electrical Engineering...it will be in Computer Engineering Technology.
I've lurked here before and it seems that many here are aware of the distinction between the two, the *Technology degree isn't a real engineering degree but is more of a hands on vocational kind of thing. I'm fortunate enough to live in state where I can still eventually take the FE right out of school and become a PE as well, I just need six years of industry experience as opposed to four for traditional engineering degrees. However, after casually looking for entry level jobs it seems that my prospects for obtaining a job with this degree are slim. All relevant listings in the engineering fields never include the *Technology degree and seem to be pretty strict about only hiring entry level workers with engineering degrees.
As a result, I'd really like to get into a graduate program as soon as I finish this one up so I have a better chance of actually starting a career. But I'm kind of having some doubts as to whether it's even worth it. I get the feeling that I won't really be able to keep up in graduate level engineering courses given how watered down the classes I was took were. Additionally, there seems to be a large specialization component to graduate degrees, and I'm worried about picking a specialization that's not in demand in my area and ending up even less marketable. That and it's very expensive over all.
There is at least one adjunct professor that teaches within my program who actually graduated from my school and managed to do pretty well in grad school and completed a master's degree, but mentioned that initially it was not a cakewalk at all.
An alternative I'm considering is to enroll in a second degree program at another university once I wrap this one up, this time enrolling in a program for EE proper. I've taken the same amount of math, programming and general credits most engineering students take, so this shouldn't be too much trouble. I'll have an engineering degree once I finish this and will be more marketable all around and will be able to do far better in graduate school should I choose to enroll down the line. However, this may end up consuming far too much time should the university I attend for a second degree ask that I complete an additional 60 credits...time that I could have spent completing a master's degree.
What's the better path in this case?
I'm currently a semester away from wrapping up an undergraduate degree and am in the process of applying to a few graduate schools mostly with the intention of obtaining a master's degree in Electrical Engineering (though I have applied to a graduate program in systems engineering just for the hell of it). However, there is one caveat...my bachelor's degree will not be in Electrical Engineering...it will be in Computer Engineering Technology.
I've lurked here before and it seems that many here are aware of the distinction between the two, the *Technology degree isn't a real engineering degree but is more of a hands on vocational kind of thing. I'm fortunate enough to live in state where I can still eventually take the FE right out of school and become a PE as well, I just need six years of industry experience as opposed to four for traditional engineering degrees. However, after casually looking for entry level jobs it seems that my prospects for obtaining a job with this degree are slim. All relevant listings in the engineering fields never include the *Technology degree and seem to be pretty strict about only hiring entry level workers with engineering degrees.
As a result, I'd really like to get into a graduate program as soon as I finish this one up so I have a better chance of actually starting a career. But I'm kind of having some doubts as to whether it's even worth it. I get the feeling that I won't really be able to keep up in graduate level engineering courses given how watered down the classes I was took were. Additionally, there seems to be a large specialization component to graduate degrees, and I'm worried about picking a specialization that's not in demand in my area and ending up even less marketable. That and it's very expensive over all.
There is at least one adjunct professor that teaches within my program who actually graduated from my school and managed to do pretty well in grad school and completed a master's degree, but mentioned that initially it was not a cakewalk at all.
An alternative I'm considering is to enroll in a second degree program at another university once I wrap this one up, this time enrolling in a program for EE proper. I've taken the same amount of math, programming and general credits most engineering students take, so this shouldn't be too much trouble. I'll have an engineering degree once I finish this and will be more marketable all around and will be able to do far better in graduate school should I choose to enroll down the line. However, this may end up consuming far too much time should the university I attend for a second degree ask that I complete an additional 60 credits...time that I could have spent completing a master's degree.
What's the better path in this case?