Masters, what is it good for?

aibarr
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:51:55 +0000

Kind of depends upon the field.

Some of the higher-up places bank on your having a certain degree in structural engineering. It’s kind of a “you must be this tall to ride” thing. If you have a bachelors degree, certain places will hire you. If you have a masters degree, you’re qualified for a lot of the companies that get more complex work, and the places that hire people with bachelors degrees would love to snag you. If you have a PhD, you’re more qualified to do research with universities or government research facilities, many of the places that hire masters-and-above candidates will recruit you heavily, but you’d probably be overqualified to work at the places that hire people with bachelors degrees.

It takes one to two years to get a masters degree, so with the number of opportunities it opens up in my field, it’s generally considered to be really worth it. PhDs take upwards of 5 years, so you typically only really go for it if you want one of the research gigs.