We all know that obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in engineering is a tough and long road. There are many hours spent staring at a physics or math problem, where there are more variables then words in the question. This happens until you have erased so many times that holes start to form in your paper. Well we hear you at ChatEngineer and understand your struggle!
The brutal truth is this, a BS degree is crucial for job entry, no doubt. It’s virtually impossible to get hired by a company for any engineering positions without a BS degree of some sort; but where the real money is at is in grad school.
The proper way to go about this is to work 3-5 years in your recommended field (something you actually WANT to do), then you decide where you would like to further your education. Usually it needs to be somewhere close to your work location and easily accessible. For most of the larger companies, they will offer to pay your tuition if it pertains to your specific job field and you have some credibility at work. This decision, returning back to school, could be a difference of $15k-$20k a year difference in salary! That’s insane!
If you’re curious about the top engineering grad schools in the US like we are, then check out these top ten school according to USNews.com:
Cambridge, MA
Stanford, CA
Berkeley, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Pasadena, CA
Four schools tied for #6:
Atlanta, GA
West Lafayette, IN
Urbana, IL
Ann Arbor, MI
Los Angeles, CA
The cost for grad school varies from school to school and shows even in the list of top ten candidates. Average tuition for the above schools vary from $11,000-$50,000 based on how prestigious the school is. Berkeley and Georgia Tech are on the more affordable side, as where MIT and Stanford are on the higher end for tuition. Like we mentioned before, try and see if your company will pay for these fees if you promise to further your education in that specific field. This makes life a lot easier on you and alleviates the stress of taking on students loans (which some people already have from obtaining their undergrad degree).
Another great insider site if you want to ask specific questions about a college or a related topic is Collegeconfidential.com. This forum is full of insightful information posted mainly by students or alumni who have experienced exactly what you are going through.
We hope this was helpful and good luck on applications!
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