Chemical Engineering Program, Guidance Requested

[mac627]

Greetings!

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. A little about my background: graduated 2013 from a top 50 college, with an overall GPA of 3.39 in Environmental Science. 6 months of full-time research experience in a neurology lab (I was originally pre-med), as well as 6+ months of experience working as a chemist in industry and one semester as a T.A.

 

Currently, I am interested in applying to masters programs in chemical engineering. I have a short list of schools around Boston, but am willing to relocate almost anywhere for the right program (a West Coast school would be the dream).

 

One major factor for my situation is financing school, so my question is about identifying schools who offer full support to masters students. What is the best way to do this? Is there a trend - for example, do schools without PhD programs offer more support to masters students - and if so, how do you zero in on those schools? I've been researching on my own, and so far haven't had much luck.

 

If this is a priority, would I be successful by applying to less presigious schools? That's not really a problem for me, as I'm applying for a masters (I think it's more of an issue for PhD applicants, who will be doing research/committing more time to a program).

 

I appreciate any and all insight! Even pointing me in the right direction would be great.

 

[mac627]

In case it helps, my short list includes:

Umass Amherst (reach)

Umass Lowell

Northeastern

URI

UMaine

UCDavis (anyone with a recommendation for which UC school you think would be the best fit given my credentials, please chime in!)