sleepybunny

There are some questions I would like to ask...specifically for mech e and aero grad students.. are there any here?

molliebatmit

My husband got into the aero/astro master's program but is deferring for a few years to work. I don't know if that helps.

sleepybunny

my questions are:

1). how was your husband able to get such a long deferral? on the website for mech e, they said students are not allowed to have deferral for more than 1 term only

2). about funding, i know they tell you to look for an assistantship for funding, but what if more people matriculate than expected and there are not enough positions for assistantships?

3). what's the student life like as a masters student at mit in the aero and mech e department? i heard the mech e department tries to cut half of its class on their way to the phd program. is this true?

molliebatmit

The aero/astro department allows longer deferrals than the mech E department. My husband is allowed to defer for up to two years (four terms). This is pretty unusual in graduate school admissions -- most programs won't allow anyone to defer at all.

One option if you don't get a TAship or RAship is to get a fellowship through a participating company. One of my husband's friends got his aero/astro master's funded by my husband's company in exchange for working at the company.

I don't know what the numbers are with regard to continuation from master's to PhD, but certainly a lot of students are only looking to get a master's and get out -- it's not necessarily the department weeding them out. I have a friend in the mech E PhD program -- I'll see what his take is.

sleepybunny

did you get a chance to talk to your mech e friend, mollibatmit? Thanks