ABD2

Hi, I'm currently a senior at UIUC in AE. I'll be starting my thesis MS in Fall 2016. My understanding is that the thesis MS is a small fraction of all MS students here, with research assistantships and teaching assistantships both being relatively challenging to earn. It is certainly possible to switch from non-thesis to thesis. One of my TAs now for senior design is actually joining our lab group in the fall as a new thesis MS student. A good friend of mine entered Fall 2015 as a non-thesis MS and joined a lab group within a few months. It will depend on what your skills/interests are and how you would potentially fit in to the research groups here. We divide into a controls group, aerodynamics, and solid mechanics with each professor pursuing very specific projects. If you do accept, our faculty are generally nice people and approaching. Our staff are incredible people as well so you would have great resources and help for changing your graduate path. I'm not sure how the situation might differ for international students, but from what I can tell, most of our grad students are actually international already. In any case, good luck with your next steps! Perhaps we'll meet if you come to UIUC.