graduate engineering after undergraduate physics

akhbhaat
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:37:05 +0000

Because graduate programs (even in engineering) tend to be much more focused upon academic research than practical application, a pure STEM background isn’t going to be a huge a liability to you. It may even help you, if you’re applying to departments that favor academic/intellectual diversity. Everything is considered to some extent, and it really depends upon the program. Some will see it as a disadvantage, some will be largely indifferent, and others (as mentioned) will actually favor it. There’s always chance you’ll have to take some undergraduate-level prerequisite engineering courses as a conditional admit.

I considered this path myself, because I was at one point interested in working on alternative energy technologies, and was at an undergraduate university with a very reputable physics program but a pretty bad engineering school. The biggest issue that I discovered was the apparent fact that many states will not grant you a license if you do not hold an undergraduate degree from an ABET accredited engineering program, regardless of advanced degrees (probably due to the discrepancies between practical application and theory from the undergraduate to graduate levels). Without the opportunity to complete the FE/PE sequence, your career advancement within an engineering discipline can be severely constrained. This was enough to steer me away from the whole idea.