INDECISION

[EESHA BHATTACHARJEE]

I am currently in my final year of B.Tech, Chemical Engineering in India.I need answers to a few questions that have been bothering me due to which I am not able to take a firm decision:

1)  My current CGPA is 8.1/10. Which decreases my chances to get into a very good university. Moreover I do not have very high marks in my 12th Board examinations. Considering these facts, I might not be eligible for any scholarship in my Masters. I therefore have to take student loan which involves a huge risk factor.
2)I have talked to a family friend. She is currently doing her PhD in Pittsburgh and she suggested that students who do their MS from a moderately good college in USA have higher chances to get an opportunity to do their PhD in a very good university there, than ones doing their masters from IIT/NIT(India). Is it true?
3) Lastly, after working on my current UG thesis, I have become very interested in oceanographic studies. Should I pursue my Masters in Ocean Technology or in Chemical engineering itself?Specialization at such an early stage would reduce my chances to explore other research areas. Is it too early to decide?
 

[fuzzylogician]

1. (There was no question here. I'd argue against taking on a lot of debt, if asked.)

2. Seems plausible, but it's hard to know for sure for every school. As a general rule, one has better chances coming from a better known school, having references that are known to the adcom members, and having grades that are easier to interpret. That said, if students from your department routinely go on to good PhD programs in the US, that would suggest that profs in the US know how to interpret their applications.. 

3. That's a question only you can answer. The considerations are as you put them. If you specialize more earlier, you'd be a better candidate for jobs of type X, but you'd have a harder time moving laterally to other topics and other jobs later on. But if that's what you want to do, then maybe that's the right move. Otherwise, my opinion is that keeping more options open makes more sense at early stages. 

[EESHA BHATTACHARJEE]

Students from our department regularly apply for masters in USA. A handful of them are also in Australia and Europe. The number of students pursuing their PhD is quite less though. Do you have any knowledge regarding the employment for a chemical engineer with MS?