Graduate Degree Title, Does it matter? 2

[PineappleTree]

My employer will fully sponsor a degree from UofM and I only have to purchase books. However, the degree is focused toward a career in the Automotive industry and I am not 100% confident I want to remain in the Auto industry forever. The degree would take approximately 4 years to complete.

My employer also provides tuition reimbursement up to dollar limit per year which would allow me to attend Purdue for an Interdisciplinary engineering degree in the same time frame at a cost to me of approximately $6000. However, I have to pay the tuition cost up front and pass the class with a certain grade before reimbursement. I can transfer credits from Purdue into the UofM degree at anytime should I decide to take the employer sponsored degree route.

So the UofM degree is nice because it is completely hands off with regard to money but suffers from being narrowly focused in an area I am unsure I want to pursue for my career.

The Purdue degree is nice because I can take courses I am interested in but suffers from requiring tuition cost up front and the added headache.

My question: Do you feel that the focus/content of the degree is more important? Or that you check the box for having an advanced degree. If the latter is the case, I would just transfer my current credit from Purdue into UofM and use my money for other things.

Thoughts?

 

[IRstuff]

Seems to me that you are suggesting going through a bunch of rigmarole to "just" get a degree? That's just plain silly, isn't it? At the end of all of that will you have retained anything useful in a discipline that you don't think you're going to interested in? Seems to me that you need to do something that you are personally interested in and are passionate about in order to excel, and in order to be able to back up your bonafides later on when someone pokes at your degree.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

 

[zdas04]

I did the "pay after the fact" thing for my masters. I had to come up with the first semester's tuition and books, but then the company reimbursement for the first semester paid for the second semester (I used a credit card so that I had enough float to carry me through the delay between submitting my grades and getting paid) and so on until I put the last semester's tuition back into savings. It really turned out to be a non issue, and it makes a lot of sense for a company to insure that you are serious and have some skin in the game.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[jpankask]

My MS was paid for in the same manner, as zdas said, it's ends up not being a big issue if you can front the first semester's tuition. Don't get a degree just to get a degree, though, that is a waste of time. You need to get the degree you want and gain some new knowledge and skills out of it. When I started my MS, I didn't have any kids, when I finished, baby number 4 was on the way. If you're not pursuing a program that you want to be involved with and learn from, it will quickly become a burden to your "real life" and you will get out of it exactly what you put into it. The value in a master's degree is not the paper you hang on your wall, or the line in your resume, it's the knowledge and understanding you acquire that makes you a better engineer and gives you skills to make you more marketable.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I simply can't see spending 4 years of my life busting my hump for a degree in an area that doesn't interest me. Not to mention I may be tied to a company for another 'X' number of years to ensure they get their money's worth (or I have to cough up the degree cash anyway).

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[PineappleTree]

My main motivation for the degree is to learn more about composites design and characterization and also optimization methods and applications. Another driver is that the majority of advanced positions in industry require a MS degree. I am not married and am still fresh from undergrad so I think this is the best time to do the degree. I do appreciate the comments as they are making me wonder what my true motivation is and whether or not it would be worth it.

Do you feel future job security would be better with a MS over a BS?

Cheers

 

[Lomarandil]

In large companies with formulaic HR departments, maybe. Or maybe not, if that MS means they feel you require a higher cost than an equally effective BS graduate (for the task at hand).

In the idealized sense, job security is a function of the value you provide. An MS may offer credential value to your company, or may allow you to learn a skill that translates to production value.

But truthfully, your value as an employee is affected more heavily by communication, involvement and attitude than any degree or certification.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Do you feel future job security would be better with a MS over a BS?

Job security is in no (reasonable) way tied to your level of degree... if a company wants to improve their bottom line, they look for who is costing them the most (and if you're lucky, who is also providing the least benefit).

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[zdas04]

There are exceptions to Dan's generally-correct assertion. If you have an MS and are working as a University lecturer then you are the next to go after all the BS's have been let go in hard times. In a corporate research facility, a BS sweeps the floors and an MS washes the test tubes. When I got my MSME I found that I won more arguments and my opinions seemed to carry extra weight in design decisions than before, but I didn't make any more money and certainly didn't have any additional job security.

Since I went out on my own, I think I get preferential selection over BS in expert witness work, but that is the only place I've ever seen an MS make a material difference. Judges and Lawyers seem to like the graduate credential (and the P.E.), but companies don't seem to care.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[KENAT]

Dan & Zdas - I'm not entirely sure I agree with you hear. I work in a fairly high tech field where we have a lot of Phd's around let alone Masters. I was told on at least one round of lay-offs that one of the crude cuts was based on academic qualifications.

Another time they did try and compile all our qualifications and experience and skills etc. into a spreadsheet or something they claimed it was nothing to do with 'ranking & yanking', but a few weeks later there was a round of layoffs.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[IRstuff]

Academic qualifications not withstanding, if the PhD in question just isn't contributing as much as a BS, the PhD gets booted. We've done that. But, most managers that are in that sort of situation has a "totem pole" where people are racked and stacked by net benefit to the organization; no one wants to lay people off and then get sued, and such a ranking is a form of cover for that.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx

 

[PineappleTree]

Thank you everyone for your comments. This discussion definitely makes me re-think my decision. Although the responses seem to be split, it appears that getting a degree for future job security or more money are potentially weak reasons. I was afraid this discussion would turn into another MS vs BS debate. What then do you feel are reasons to pursue higher education beyond gaining knowledge in a specific area?

 

[zdas04]

None. If you don't love what you are learning, then you are wasting your time getting prepared for a job you don't want. Everyone that finishes graduate school has their own reasons for starting and their own reasons for sticking with it. For me I was fascinated by the material (fluid mechanics and thermodynamics focus) and kept wanting to know more. For the next guy it was something totally different, but he was passionate about it. Without the passion graduate school is way too much of a chore to be believed.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[IRstuff]

Graduate degrees are about drilling down into the esoterica and nitty-gritties of a single subject. Fundamentally, it's not that different than someone who can recite the Yankees lineup from their last 5 World Series games; you have to really passionate and interested in the material to drill that far down.

This is also fundamentally why most K-12 students suck at STEM; they really don't have any interest or passion in it, because the push from the academic side is completely swamped up by the parents or peers thinking they'll succeed at baseball, or soccer, or ANYTHING else, besides STEM. My neighbor pushed his son into Little League, etc., while I pushed my older son into STEM, made easier by the fact that I'm an enginerd. So, he's graduated from college and working at a very well-known .COM and making the big bucks. Lost track of my neighbor's son, but I doubt that he's a baseball draft choice and I doubt that he's doing STEM. Oddly, his father does gifted program testing and his mother is a teacher, but they didn't really push him in that direction.

So, you need to examine your interests, and identify subjects that will get you out of bed to solve problems. THAT's what you should study, if you want to go that route. I didn't because I'm either ADD or just interested in too many different things. Nevertheless, I'm passionate about learning in general, and my workplace position reflects that.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529


Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

http://www.engineering.com/AskForum/aff/32.aspx