Why get a Masters Degree in Engineering?
I have talked with a lot of undergraduate students
about career ideas and decisions, and the topic of graduate school and
MS degrees often comes up. Depending upon your expectations and
experience as an undergrad, it may sound like something to consider, or
on the other hand it might sound like more years of horror. After all,
as an engineering student, you may be just finishing up an
undergraduate degree in one of the hardest majors anyone could have
chosen, and a lot of it was probably advanced math and theory that you
are wondering if you will ever find a use for. On top of that,
maybe jobs are going begging this year, the pay looks good, and all
your friends are heading for the ranks of the gainfully employed and getting on with their lives.
Given all that, why go to grad school?
There are a lot of ways to answer this because it
depends on what you are looking for in your career. So, here are
my top 10 reasons itemized below. These are all directed towards going
the extra two years, depending on the program, and getting a MS degree.
If you want to go for a Ph.D. degree, I'll cover that in
another list. But this one is about getting a Masters.
1. Breadth and broad application of skills is becoming more and more important in engineering.
What are the hottest engineering companies you can
name? You are probably thinking of the same names I am.
Now, think about the kinds of products they produce. If you
are thinking about many leading technology companies, or consulting
companies, one thing you have probably noticed is that
the products they produce are best described as being relatively
complex systems. They use devices, communication, and services to
produce very complex applications where customers use a variety of
different devices to interact with data, media, and each other.
What this means is that more and more advanced engineering
requires a much broader command of skills than it did before. Don't
forget about global competition either. Engineering skills should be
mobile enough to be applicable anywhere. Getting a
MS degree means that you can add to what you already know and get more
breadth into the skills you have. This can include
communications, Systems-on-Chip, advanced software techniques and
business skills. All of these are going to be necessary to some
degree in most engineering positions in the future, especially if that
engineering position is in your own company.
2. You can acquire applied skills in areas you already are familiar with.
You took all the theory, but now what? One
nice thing about going on for a MS degree is that you can have the
opportunity to apply a lot of the theory and science you learned in
your undergraduate classes. At the master's level, it is common
to find courses where you can really build stuff. Students
routinely do this in my courses, and it gives a whole new view into
engineering skills. One counter to this is that if you took a
real job, you would probably be building stuff. True, but by
going for a MS degree, you get to choose a lot of the courses you take,
and you can focus on the skills you want.
3. You can go into a lot more depth in the areas you really like.
In addition to getting more breadth, you also can
go for more depth in areas you want more skills in. If you
really like an area, now is your chance to get more into it. In
some cases, advanced classes in a particular area are often only
available at the graduate level. Cutting edge stuff that is
coming right out of the research labs and into the class room is often
only available to graduate students. When you do your MS thesis
work, you will definitely go into depth in one more more areas.
4. Compared to an undergraduate degree, you can get an instant advantage when you do go to look for a job.
Depending upon the job, employers may favor
applicants with MS degrees over ones with only an undergraduate degree.
Based on US government survey data, the ratio of Bachelor's
degrees to MS degrees awarded in 2004 is almost 4 to 1. That suggests if an employer
is preferentially looking for MS degrees, you may have almost a 4 to 1 advantage
right there.
5. Starting salaries are often higher for people with MS degrees.
Assuming the average MS degree takes 2 years to
complete, one argument I've heard for not going on to get a MS degree
is that you lose the equivalent of two years of pay, while you are
racking up two more years of school and paying tuition. That's certainly true, but
what might also be true is that you may end up earning it back over time.
One way that you can earn some of it back right away is that many
employers consider graduate school not only as a place that produces more highly
educated employees, but also as a form of employment experience. The result
is that starting salaries for people with MS degrees are often
higher than starting salaries for Bachelor's degrees.
6. It could help you get promoted, especially early on.
Another way you can earn back some of the money
spent to get the MS degree is if it results in your being promoted
faster. In fact, with a MS degree you might get hired into a more
advanced or interesting position right from the start. If one has a
broader background, then one can have more choices. When considering
promotion, employers take into account everything concerning an
employees performance and background. Having the higher degree
can be an advantage in situations where several individuals are being
considered for a limited number of higher level positions. A MS
degree is more education, and it counts. Also, it doesn't lose its
value over time.
7. You get to interact with very interesting people who know a lot.
People going to graduate school are often very
smart, interesting individuals, and you can learn a lot from them.
Also, depending on the school you go to, in graduate school you
interact more with a broader range of professors, and they can be great
sources of ideas, technologies and techniques. It can be a very
rich, diverse environment that is hard to find anywhere else.
8. It doesn't take all that long.
Two years can seem like a lot of time, but I have
rarely talked to anyone who has gone to a good MS program and regretted
it. Remember that 4 to 1 advantage over people with Bachelor's
degrees I mentioned earlier? Two years seems like a really good
bargain to get that!
9. You are never too old.
I've never heard of a graduate school with an age
limit. If you have gone on to get a job after finishing your
undergraduate degree, but now you are thinking of going back for a MS
degree, then do it! It's harder, and it takes moxie and planning
to go back to school after one has been away for a while, but sometimes
it is easier than one thinks. For example, sometimes an employer will
allow you to keep working while you get your MS degree. Makes
good sense, as such an employer knows that you will be worth more.
Another
way of looking at it is, in engineering if you don't develop some way
to continually update your skills, then you are doomed to career
obsolescence. Technology has a way of progressing even if people
and companies often don't like to think so. At the end of the
day you are responsible for your own career, and age has nothing
to do with it.
10. It can be a lot of fun.
Depends on where you go to school, and everyone's
experience is different. But, it can be a lot of fun. I remember
my own experience as an undergrad. A professor in biology who I
was working for suggested that I look at bioengineering graduate
programs. Up to that point, I don't think the idea of graduate
school had ever crossed my mind. Not surprising, as I think I was
still trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. As
it was, graduate school allowed me to study areas that I couldn't as an
undergrad, and I had a blast. I was surrounded by people who knew
enormous amounts, and every day was spent discovering something.
It still seems amazing that I should have had so much fun, and
get a degree for it as well. But, I've talked to others who had
similar experiences, so I know it can be good.
So, those are some of the reasons why you should
consider applying to a Masters Degree program. For breadth and
depth of skills, technical ability, career opportunity, the experience
and diversity of it, and fun.