BA Accounting and Finance to MEng Mechanical Engineering?

Graduate School
1

Hello,

I have acquired a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in England.

For me being ill and whatnot, I have failed almost half of final year but was allowed to graduate as the committee decided to award me the degree based on past academic performance. Though, my GPA would be around 2.0 or something.

I have recently moved back to the US and will be going to a state school in Oregon. I am doing postbac and my intention is not to get a second bachelor’s degree (honestly taking too much time, I am almost in my mid 20s), but taking prerequisites to apply for MEng. I will be working in the engineering field and at least for now, not interested in doing PhD. Rather having a bachelor’s, I though holding a professional master’s in engineering will help me in the future.

I am not sure if it’s possible. I was thinking of some schools with big names like UW-Seattle, Brown, CalTech, Rice, UVA, Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins. I confirmed that most of them have a MEng option in mechanical engineering. Just in case you are confused, MEng is a master’s of engineering that does not require the thesis and finishes in one year in most cases.

I am not sure if it’s possible. Some schools say you don’t have to have an engineering bachelor’s to apply but I guess that is said to people who have at least bachelor’s in physics, chemistry and NOT ACCOUNTING…

Also, does anyone know how I can find like a universal list of classes I need to take to be able to apply for MEng in most schools? I am not sure cause some schools will say you need these classes from undergrad to apply and some do not even say what you need. Also, some require GRE and some don’t so I will probably take one.

I am trying to finish the postbac in 1 year, taking 18 credits a term and the summer, to be able to join the MEng programme around this time of 2016.

Any advises will be greatly appreciated

Cheers!

2

Well, anything is possible, but this sure as heck won’t be easy or quick!

That’s a tough list for someone in your position. I understand that this is what you want, but you have to remember that these schools turn away more well-qualified applicants than they accept, and you will need to give them a pretty good reason to accept a 2.0 GPA accountant over a 3.5 GPA engineer. That is going to take a lot of work.

More or less, you are correct. If you are applying in field Q, then the closer you are to Q the better. P and R are fine, O and S are getting tough, N and T are a real stretch. You are currently somewhere around G. Just be glad you aren’t an English major.

No such list exists. Remember that you would be specializing in one area of ME in grad school. Look at the grad-level courses in that area, and look at their prerequisites, start at the bottom and see how far you get. Grad schools will accept a small deficit in preparation, but not a large deficit.

Take those classes, focusing on what material you need. Go to the best school you can to take these courses. Get an A in every one. When you are through some of the courses, start talking to professors about getting some research experience - even for an MEng and industry, it is a good idea. Do really well on the GRE, but not at the expense of grades. Cultivate some relationships that can lead to letters of recommendation (see my research comment!).

There is no magic bullet - this is just a really hard path that is going to be difficult to complete. Good luck!