Best way to go back to school in an unrelated field?

June 7, 2009 12:39 PM

Possibly going back to school in an unrelated field (engineering); what's the best way to approach this?

note: (anonymous due to my boss being a regular reading of metafilter and knows my screen name).

My eventual goal would be a dual masters degree in engineering (civil / environmental) and international affairs (IA/IR). I know this is relatively uncommon and as a result I've had a hard time getting advice (even from professors). I'm hoping someone out there will give me some insight. Although they sound like an unusual combination to almost everyone, it would seem like expertise in something like water resource engineering and policy planning/analysis would be quite useful (in fact I did find that Tufts has a dual degree for that very combination).

Background Information: I'm 23 and graduated last year with a degree in economics and am currently working in banking. With my economics background (with a decent amount of political science and language) I think I have an okay chance of getting into an MA program for IA; the problem is engineering. I have no engineering background and in college took relatively few math and science classes. I know as it is right now my chances of getting into any MS engineering program is nearly impossible.

I was reading a similar thread on metafilter (http://ask.metafilter.com/69429/Should-I-go-back-to-school-for-a-second-degree) and I guess my main question would be the differences between getting a second bachelor's degree (in engineering) or rather taking the required background classes and applying directly to a M.Engineering program? I've read in multiple places that a second bachelor's might just end up being a waste of time, but I'm unsure as to which one would give me a better chance of getting into an engineering program.

posted by anonymous to education (7 comments total)

Oh man... all of my friends who did engineering took a fuckton of math and physics. Way more math than I took as a compsci major. At the very least, you have at least two full-time semesters of math alone to catch up with the folks graduating with bachelors.

Personally, I think engineering is one of those fields where you really do need to go and get all the foundations. You may find a masters program that specifically caters to people who lack all the previous training... but, it'd probably be easier to just get the BS.
posted by Netzapper at 1:56 PM on June 7

If the goal is a second Master's, you might as just apply directly and let them tell you which courses you need as direct deficiencies. If they reject you, then you can work on a bachelor's first and gain entrance the hard way.

Honestly, a decent economics program should expose you to the important mathematical background. Calculus and statistics are main two math angles for engineers (after that it's all physics); a similar background seems worthwhile for economics students. Hell, Black-Scholes was based on rockets!

But a Dual Master's feels like insanity. I don't know what you think grad school is like, but just an engineering Master's alone can be a challenge.
posted by pwnguin at 3:35 PM on June 7

Personally, I think engineering is one of those fields where you really do need to go and get all the foundations.

Agreed. The amount of overlap between an economics degree and a Civ E degree is minimal. I just checked and my school required economics majors to have only one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. Everything else was in the economics department. OTOH, the engineering has at least four courses in math (starting with calculus), and all courses after the sophomore year are in the civil engineering department.
posted by smackfu at 4:13 PM on June 7

Oh wow. I just reviewed my alma mater's requirements for econ majors. Talk about woefully unprepared. One semester of calculus won't help much when calculating something like water table flows, or even just flow through a pipe.

I guess this is why hedge funds famously hire outside of Business and Economics majors.
posted by pwnguin at 6:13 PM on June 7

My eventual goal would be a dual masters degree in engineering (civil / environmental) and international affairs (IA/IR).

Grad school is hard work and will dominate your life at times. It gets hard enough to focus on one discipline, unless your department(s) don't have any deadlines and you have tons of funding.

I think I have an okay chance of getting into an MA program for IA; the problem is engineering. I have no engineering background and in college took relatively few math and science classes. I know as it is right now my chances of getting into any MS engineering program is nearly impossible.

Not nearly impossible. Impossible. Maybe if you had a solid background in Physics or something, but you do not. Engineering programs are very rigorous. BEng programs are hard enough to get in to.

Here's what my school has to say:

To be considered for admission, an applicant shall meet the requirements set out in General Regulation, Qualification for Admission, or shall have qualifications and/or engineering experience that is acceptable to the Dean of Graduate Studies and to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.

Admission to the M.Eng. program is limited and competitive. All applicants must meet the minimum qualifications set out in the above paragraph. Decisions on admission, however, will also take into account such things as the applicant's rank in class, referees' assessments, general performance throughout the applicant's undergraduate academic program and the availability of supervisors in the area of the applicant's interest.

You need to start at the beginning. You can do everything you have set out above, but you need to focus on one thing at a time. You're right, you can probably get into an IA MA program, but getting a Bachelor's and Master's in engineering at my university takes about eight years.

Good luck.
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:31 PM on June 7

I'm in a very similar situation. Am planning on getting an MS almost 15 years after getting a BA. The -A didn't do a damn thing to prepare me for the -S. I figured I'd just start with a clean slate and get the BS before going on to the MS. And then I talked to an advisor in the department. Turns out that a lot of programs won't even accept second baccalaureate students. [I don't get it. If you want a degree and are willing to work for it -- and pay for it -- why won't they let you pursue it? It's a mystery.]

The advisor told me to find grad programs that interested me, note their prereqs and preferred experience, and start taking those classes. For the foundational basics, she suggested taking them at a community college. For upper division prereqs, she suggested enrolling at the university through the open campus program.

So:

1. Find out if you even can get a second Bachelor's. That might answer your question right there.
2. Talk to an advisor. This is the easiest solution. Just look up the phone number for the engineering advisor and explain your situation to him/her. That's what they get paid for. You don't have to be a current student to get their advice.
3. Take math and science at a local community college, partly for the knowledge, and partly to be able to say you've taken them.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:39 AM on June 8

3. Take math and science at a local community college, partly for the knowledge, and partly to be able to say you've taken them.

That's a very good point. Our community college math program is pretty strong in; there's a math resource center with free tutors and lots of courses in various areas. Because math literacy is so important to many programs, there's lots of funding for instructional aids like that. Math is probably the number one area where transfer students fail out at, and these sorts of numbers are monitored as a condition of funding.

If you're scared of failing math, it's a cheap and easy way to practice. The grading curves are normally much gentler, and if you still don't do well it's not like you have to tell anyone.
posted by pwnguin at 12:32 PM on June 8