Texan_Air

Some background, is that I finished my aerospace masters this fall and I have a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering. So I am going to be starting a government job as a aerospace engineer and be placed in a 1.5 yr rotation program with different engineering groups on aircrafts. My gf is going to be going to University of Maryland at College Park, and I want to start taking classes there as well next fall semester (loving the idea of graduate CFD classes and rotorcraft aerodynamic classes). In the future I would love to do a PhD, but I want to wait till I finish my rotation program. After that I would want to use a complicated project from my work to put as a PhD project. However, I get confused on how to convey that I want to do graduate classes in the fall to UMD with the hope of pursuing a distant PhD in the future on the application process. The advice I get from my masters advisor is to apply as a PhD and not a masters student, and that I have a great shot of being selected because my job is one that pays for PhD education while working (so no funding needed as much). I'm thinking of conveying this in the SOP, but I get also confused on how to contact a PhD advisor for a research area that I am not sure about (because that can change slightly depending on where I end up in work).

I'm surprised they accepted him in the aerospace Phd program and not put him in the masters to start if not chosen for funding. For my university in aerospace engineering, they would enroll you only in a masters program if an advisor didn't select you. If you had high grades and got an advisor to fund you (and give you a project), then they would move you into the Phd direct program. Honestly, even in aerospace engineering it is a competition to get funding (TAs or RAs are a competition to get). In addition, a lot of aerospace PhD projects require validation, meaning you need an experiment with equipment and guidance from an advisor (so it's not likely to do this unfunded). Like others I wouldn't take a PhD chance without funding, but I can see why some choose to do a masters unfunded. Do a masters unfunded (and fight the competition to get a RA or TA), or get more experience in a industry job and apply again, or find a job that will fund your MS/PhD education (not many do for aerospace PhD but mine does).

I learned more that these engineering grad school admissions committees are made up of professor's in the department, so some (most in my opinion) will look at where your high grades are in and will want to see a upward trend (more so with Phd applicants than masters). I know this only because the aerospace professors in my school tell me (they are also very picky it seems as well on finding the right fit of a student). I got a full scholarship with a ~3.3 GPA (less rigorous school). If you have 2 years of research then you will be competitive with that GPA. My advice is to try to narrow down to your research interests and find school that do research in what your looking at doing. I think you have to balance the weight of the whole competition of getting funded in an advisor's research group with doing research in something that you would be interested in doing for how many years you would be in grad school.

I'm only a masters student currently so I can't answer your initial question (mainly depends on the total application), but I currently go to North Carolina State and my undergrad was at University of Texas at San Antonio. I think you will get into both of those schools pretty easily (they both accept a lot of fall students), but funding will depend on what professor you reach out too. What research are you interested in? Private message me if you want to know more about those schools. NCSU is far much better than UT-San Antonio in my opinion for Mechanical Engineering.

I think your application is very competitive with the top 15 aerospace schools for MS easily, but a Phd application acceptance will depend more on your research that you done and fit with the schools. As for the schools, I would recommend you pick the ones with research areas that interest you most and choose after you receive funding offers.

Here is A&M's question phrase " Are you currently on academic suspension from a college or university? " and here is Iowa State's question phrase "Have you ever been charged with or subject to disciplinary action for scholastic or other type of misconduct at any school?". I applied to 11 schools last fall and I would say the majority don't ask the 2nd type of application, but some did. Now for the FERPA, I meant to say that graduate schools are exempt to this when your doing a application for admission with them. FERPA does contain some exceptions to the written consent rule with them being 1. To University officials (including third parties under contract) with legitimate educational interests and 2.To the provider or creator of a record to verify the validity of that record (e.g. in cases of suspected fraud). I remember one of the last things when filling out applications being a statement about this and sometimes you have to check it to say all information provided in this application is correct.

Looking at your location of Austin, I don't believe UT-Austin or A&M asks a question specifically on if you received a academic misconduct in their applications. They ask if you have ever been suspended, so you wouldn't have to worry there to answer no. Now some university applications do ask a different worded question regarding academic misconduct I believe. Every university typically should have access to review your disciplinary records (normal people and jobs don't have this right) to see it without your consent. Now in my opinion, I don't believe any engineering grad programs actually reaches out to your undergrad to verify to see these records (you could ask your records department). If it's not on your transcript it is a lot harder to find out, but it's up to you on if you want to take a risk like that. The risk you take answering falsely can reach a penalty of expulsion from graduate school. The severity of a academic dishonesty hurting your chances depends really on what it can be, but this application question is up to you to answer.

I'm assuming your an international applicant, but it is still difficult for any masters applicant to get funding from the mechanical engineering department...unless your one of their top applicants. Masters students receive their funding offers after Phd candidates, and in my opinion they make all their decisions before June. Honestly your best options would be to talk to your university's department professors directly and ask if they have any funding opportunities in the future. For the ones that really interest you (and have possible future funds to fund someone), then take the graduate classes that they teach and do well to show them that you are serious. You might get chances for funding in your 2nd year. If you receive high grades and do some good research, then you have the possibility of being accepted for a funded Phd at ULL or somewhere else.

It seems to me that some schools just differ on what they accept master students into. To me it seems like you are accepted as a non-thesis because you haven't been selected by a faculty member to do research for your thesis in. At my university it was almost like a race for masters students to knock on every professor's door to ask for a chance at research. At my university some international students even did unfunded research in their masters for a opportunity at funding for their Phd.

If your asking what major has more job openings, then mechanical engineering because it is very broad. If you want to work as biomedical engineer than a masters in biomedical or at least a mechanical engineering masters with a thesis in biomedical research is preferred. In my opinion, biomedical engineering is a still growing field where there seems to be not a lot of biomedical engineer majors, so good mechanical engineers are still desired to fill those positions. Are your potential masters programs showing you that you need to take background courses in engineering courses (I feel like they would, and they would already be mechanical undergrad courses)? Also if your schools don't have a large biomedical program than you could probably take graduate classes as a mechanical engineer without needing extra pre-requistes. I'm also starting to see that graduate students that are diverse in different fields are more valuable in my opinion. I had to make a similar hard decision when I switched from a mechanical undergrad to aerospace masters (decision being: would it be better getting a mechanical masters), but I wanted to learn something different in graduate school and I think it makes me a more diverse engineer. I still have a year left before I find out what the research/aerospace job market likes better though

All campus usually have offered free campus tours during the 1-2 weekdays during the school semesters (summer too for most universities). But honestly you should also try searching for campus virtual tours of your interested university, where it is like walking in a google map around campus with a guide talking to you along the way. I had to use virtual tours for my out-of-state schools I applied too...and ended up loving the one I am at now from it.

I don't know anything about your application stats (GPA, GRE, research, or etc), but transferring from another science field is common and easy since you have all the physics and math classes taken (you basically have the first 2 years of a bachelor in engineering). I do think you should decide between a biomedical engineering and a mechanical engineering program (or at least pick a school with strengths in both so you can take electives from both). Not sure on biomedical engineering acceptance chances but mechanical engineering does take in lots of students. Take a look at the potential schools you like graduate catalog to make sure they meet your interests for your graduate classes.

Have you looked into going into biomedical engineering (half biology half engineering)? There are good masters programs in mechanical engineering that will accept you right into their program, and others that will accept you on the condition that you take some background courses (maybe 3-7 extra classes in your case). It just depends on the school in my experience from switching undergrad in mechanical to a masters in aerospace engineering. Just keep in mind that you are going to have to work hard to catch up on material in your graduate classes that your peers already know. Not sure what concentration your interested in, but they might require background courses in Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Materials, Heat Transfer, and Dynamic Systems & Controls for example.

My undergrad was diffidently a 3rd teir school. Is 1st tier just top 1-15? Anyways, the answer is yes that you will feel like you have to step it up. I decided to go to graduate school to push myself and to turn me into something I wasn't previous, so I expected Graduate school to kick my butt and break me down. I'm friends with a lot of international students, and some of these students are at a much higher advanced level than me (heck a lot of them already have masters already). Plus my undergrad is in a slightly different major from my masters (Mechanical to Aerospace) and I worked for a few years after undergrad so it seems like a disadvantage at times Honestly just take your first semester easy...like take 2 course + thesis research credits if you feel like you need some time to adjust. Also in my transition experience, graduate classes aren't graded as harshly because everyone actually tries in graduate school compared to undergrad. So some classes will have high majority of As (70-80%) in their grade distributions. Graduate school isn't about weeding you out, but more like building you up into the great graduate student you didn't think you could be. Hope that helps...

I had about almost 3.5 years of work experience in the oil and gas industry and (1.5 years) unrelated other engineering research semesters. Honestly from my aerospace applications it seemed like some professors liked the work experience and some people didn't like that I was out of school long (4years) in combination with my other stats (probably low GPA). I'm in my second semester of my masters, but I know now that my adviser choose me because of my resume and my project management experience. Currently building a difficult large experiment for him. During my last year fall applications I got a funding offer in Feb and my current funding offer in June along with multiple little scholarships here and there. To me there is a big factor of luck of the right professor looking hard at your application for the funding offers, but there is always a good chance to get funded later on during your masters as well (if you don't get the initial offers). Goodluck on your applications.