<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!</p>
<p>I graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering last year. After I graduated, I felt I hadn’t learned enough and needed more technical knowledge before knowing which jobs I wanted to apply for. So, I took the GRE’s and applied for various Masters programs. I didn’t apply for a PhD, because I wasn’t sure how many years I wanted to stay in school and whether I truly liked Chemical Engineering enough. I am regretting that choice a little bit, because I will be paying for everything out of pocket.</p>
<p>Now I have reached the time where I need to decide on a Masters program. The choices are University of Southern California for a MS in Chemical Engineering or Carnegie Mellon for a Masters in Chemical Engineering. The difference is that the latter one is a non-thesis and only one year long. </p>
<p>I was hoping for advice on how substantial a MS in ChE is compared to a MChE. Eventually, I want to get a job that mixes the technical field with something else, like business. I was told not to get an MBA until I have some job experience. I know, looking back, I should have directly started applying for jobs right after I finished my bachelors. But I was a little scared of the whole process of applying for jobs and wasn’t too confident of my knowledge in Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Also, I am mainly trying to decide between Carnegie Mellon and USC. Carnegie Mellon is more prestigious, but I have no guarantee that I will get into their MS program in the future. With USC, I would have the choice between a thesis option or not.</p>
<p>Probably should’ve posted this on the Graduate School forum; you’d get more knowledgeable folk there. Engineering is not my field, btw.</p>
<p>First of all, it’s not too late to apply straight for jobs if that’s what you want. You could say no to both programs and then start looking for work. Then you could get more work experience and decide whether you actually want or need a master’s degree. There’s definitely an option.</p>
<p>The actual letters of the degree don’t matter much; what matters is what you do for the degree and how that pairs up with what you want to do. I don’t know much about the differences between the reputations of these two universities in chemical engineering specifically, but it appears that you want to go into the profession and do technical and corporate work, so the one-year master’s may suit you better for that. Also, the one-year master’s is way cheaper if you are coming out of pocket for this degree.</p>
<p>If you think you might want to get a PhD, doing a two-year master’s with a thesis is the better bet.</p>
<p>thank you for the response! i’ll look into that</p>
<p>If really unsure, why not look for a job at this point instead of doing a masters degree? Your degree is in high demand. It will allow you some time to figure out career paths and get work experience… And earn money while you’re young. </p>
<p>After working a few years you can always go for a masters or MBA. Your employer may subsidize the degree. Another reason to look for a career employer instead. </p>