Grad school?

lucifer_sam · 02-28-2010, 09:30 PM

Hey everybody,

If you guys could spare me ten seconds or so, there is somewhat of a personal issue I'm facing now. I don't mean to be an attention whore, but I've given this a lot of thought and I figured other people might have experience in the matter.

I'm a junior right now in undergrad (BS in mechanical engineering) and looking to pursue graduate studies later. As an engineer I would be given a research assistanceship to support my living (and not have to pay tuition) and would offer enormous benefits in professional development further down the road. Right now I'm looking at a program in combustion and propulsion engineering (moreso directed towards aerospace applications) and there have been a few schools that reached the top of my list, two of which are in California (where I'd like to live later on): UC Berkeley and Stanford.

There are, of course, a few drawbacks to pursuing graduate studies. One of which, of course, is being prevented from getting into industry until later on when I'm not entirely sure that this is what I want to do for a living. And another, grad school isn't necessary at all for an engineering student and doesn't really accomplish much in the way of financial reimbursement (there's a $10,000 buffer between BS and MS degrees). I am, however, heavily interested in my field of choice and I'm not using this as a cop-out to stay in school (which is why I want to go somewhere west).

This issue presents all sorts of complex consequences from which my life will most certainly be affected. If anyone has any relevant advice for me I'd be really happy to hear it.

Thanks.

02-28-2010, 09:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
lucifer_sam Unrepentant Ass-Mod Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3,921	Grad school? Hey everybody, If you guys could spare me ten seconds or so, there is somewhat of a personal issue I'm facing now. I don't mean to be an attention whore, but I've given this a lot of thought and I figured other people might have experience in the matter. I'm a junior right now in undergrad (BS in mechanical engineering) and looking to pursue graduate studies later. As an engineer I would be given a research assistanceship to support my living (and not have to pay tuition) and would offer enormous benefits in professional development further down the road. Right now I'm looking at a program in combustion and propulsion engineering (moreso directed towards aerospace applications) and there have been a few schools that reached the top of my list, two of which are in California (where I'd like to live later on): UC Berkeley and Stanford. There are, of course, a few drawbacks to pursuing graduate studies. One of which, of course, is being prevented from getting into industry until later on when I'm not entirely sure that this is what I want to do for a living. And another, grad school isn't necessary at all for an engineering student and doesn't really accomplish much in the way of financial reimbursement (there's a $10,000 buffer between BS and MS degrees). I am, however, heavily interested in my field of choice and I'm not using this as a cop-out to stay in school (which is why I want to go somewhere west). This issue presents all sorts of complex consequences from which my life will most certainly be affected. If anyone has any relevant advice for me I'd be really happy to hear it. Thanks. __________________ first.am