engineering MS: best of both worlds

CFB53B
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:57:49 +0000

I hear that PhDs can be overqualified for certain positions in industry because they are expected to find these positions boring, and view them as steppingstones onto other positions.



That’s not exactly correct.

BS - general knowledge of a broad field of engineering (such as chemical engineering)
MS - specialized knowledge of a subfield of engineering (such as reactor design)
PhD - incredibly specialized knowledge of a specific phenomenon (such as oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane over reduced heteropolyanion catalysts)

If an employer wants someone with general chemical engineering knowledge, they hire a BS. If they want someone with specialized knowledge in reactor design, they hire the MS. If they’re researching catalysts with applications similar to those used for oxidative dehydration of ethane, they hire the PhD.

Hiring an MS to fill an entry level (BS) position is usually ok because BS and MS graduates usually make about the same amount of money and in most cases “general chemical engineering” involves some reactor design, so the specialization is useful. If you have a specialization with limited applicability (such as bio reactor design), that could limit you.

Hiring a PhD to fill an entry level (BS) position very rarely happens. The PhD will want significantly more money than a BS and the PhD will be 5 to 7 years removed from the study of general engineering. So the company is better off simply hiring a BS. As a result, virtually all PhD graduates go on to academia or research and design.