Joined
·
10,035 Posts
For starters and for those who don't know, I graduated a little over 4 years ago with my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I was pretty burned out and I wanted nothing to do with graduate-level education at the time. A full ride was even offered to me when I entered the USAF but I felt that it wouldn't do any good since I didn't want any of it and I politely declined. I still feel that I made the right choice for the time.
Now, I'm feeling somewhat disappointed at where my career has headed. With my BS, it seems that my options are limited to government work if I want to continue imcreasing my salary potential. I could get back into technical work but I imagine that most places won't want to hire someone at my salary requirements and too much removed from the knowledge I gained in undergrad. I'm beginning to feel that an MS with my work experience could and should put me in the position I want to be; more technical.
I've been looking at programs at NCSU and it seems like a good school. I'm not sure of the tuition costs but I earn about $6-7K doing my reserve duty every year which is money I don't really depend on. I was planning on working toward a pilot license with this year's pay but going toward a higher education might be more promising. Also, the (thesis) program is 24 semester hours plus 6 semester hours of thesis research. There is also a non-thesis program that the school says can be done in 1 year. I'm skeptical of me being able to do that.
So anyway, has anyone else worked full time and gone back to get their master's? How long did it take? Anything that I should expect?
These are just thought right now and I would still need to take the GRE. I'm also looking for jobs in CO so I can't commit to anything just yet.
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any comments.
Now, I'm feeling somewhat disappointed at where my career has headed. With my BS, it seems that my options are limited to government work if I want to continue imcreasing my salary potential. I could get back into technical work but I imagine that most places won't want to hire someone at my salary requirements and too much removed from the knowledge I gained in undergrad. I'm beginning to feel that an MS with my work experience could and should put me in the position I want to be; more technical.
I've been looking at programs at NCSU and it seems like a good school. I'm not sure of the tuition costs but I earn about $6-7K doing my reserve duty every year which is money I don't really depend on. I was planning on working toward a pilot license with this year's pay but going toward a higher education might be more promising. Also, the (thesis) program is 24 semester hours plus 6 semester hours of thesis research. There is also a non-thesis program that the school says can be done in 1 year. I'm skeptical of me being able to do that.
So anyway, has anyone else worked full time and gone back to get their master's? How long did it take? Anything that I should expect?
These are just thought right now and I would still need to take the GRE. I'm also looking for jobs in CO so I can't commit to anything just yet.
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any comments.