Question about master's

[Sephi226]

Hi all, after a talk with my research professors, I am now no longer so certain about doing a PhD and instead going for a master's in ECE. Since I am now looking at simply going for a masters degree, I was wondering if any of you could give me advice in the following:

Why masters over PhD?

I assume a masters is more flexible than PhD and what I want is job flexibility and good enough money. This is the case correct?

How should I pick my master's school?

At the moment, I am working under an embedded systems professor, but what I am doing is making a quadrotor and make a vision tracking / head tracking system. I like these projects, but they are, in their foundation, not embedded systems as he specializes in--it's more like project to use for research. So, I ask, must I be as thorough in picking my graduate school for a masters as with a phd--must I seek a specific area and look at individual professors, or do I go for just prestige and quality of preparation?

Where should I look at applying credentials wise:

ECE Rice University with minor in Applied math

GPA Overall: 3.51/4.00

Major (ECE + minor): 3.6

*Not sure if this matters, but I have a high upward trend with a 3.7 for the past 2 years taking 15 hrs per semester.

GRE: N/A yet

Research/Project work:

Quadrotor, vision / head IR tracking system, Guitar effects processor (senior design, 3rd place at Rice in TI Analog competition), commercial breathalyzer design for a startup

EC's: Held plenty of positions such as IEEE Vice President, did interviewing for Rice, etc. I'm not sure if these are even considered for Masters because they don't matter for PhD.

Funding?

I know PhD can be funded, but what would allow one to get funding for a masters aside from a fellowship like Hertz?

Thanks!

[crimsonengineer87]

Hi all, after a talk with my research professors, I am now no longer so certain about doing a PhD and instead going for a master's in ECE. Since I am now looking at simply going for a masters degree, I was wondering if any of you could give me advice in the following:

Why masters over PhD?

I assume a masters is more flexible than PhD and what I want is job flexibility and good enough money. This is the case correct?

How should I pick my master's school?

At the moment, I am working under an embedded systems professor, but what I am doing is making a quadrotor and make a vision tracking / head tracking system. I like these projects, but they are, in their foundation, not embedded systems as he specializes in--it's more like project to use for research. So, I ask, must I be as thorough in picking my graduate school for a masters as with a phd--must I seek a specific area and look at individual professors, or do I go for just prestige and quality of preparation?

Where should I look at applying credentials wise:

ECE Rice University with minor in Applied math

GPA Overall: 3.51/4.00

Major (ECE + minor): 3.6

*Not sure if this matters, but I have a high upward trend with a 3.7 for the past 2 years taking 15 hrs per semester.

GRE: N/A yet

Research/Project work:

Quadrotor, vision / head IR tracking system, Guitar effects processor (senior design, 3rd place at Rice in TI Analog competition), commercial breathalyzer design for a startup

EC's: Held plenty of positions such as IEEE Vice President, did interviewing for Rice, etc. I'm not sure if these are even considered for Masters because they don't matter for PhD.

Funding?

I know PhD can be funded, but what would allow one to get funding for a masters aside from a fellowship like Hertz?

Thanks!

Hmm, seems like you are in the same predicament I was in a few months ago (October-ish) when I was deciding b/t working or going to graduate school. To be honest, the money (ie who will pay for you to go to graduate school) is in the PhD programs. If you think about it, they'd rather keep someone doing great research for 4-6 years, rather than someone who gets started and leaves in 2 years, right at the pinnacle of their research. I've heard it takes two years to actually figure what the heck you're doing and then after that you start doing your actual thesis/research work.

My credentials are: 3.9/4.0 GPA (overall/CE) from a state institution, Honors College, mediocre GRE scores, EIT, LOTS of extracurriculars, German language, and research internship in Germany. My advisor says the only thing that did me when I applied for master's programs was the lack of a consistent research experience, which you have. However, I was accepted into all my schools (Berkeley, Davis, Illinois, UW), all top notch schools for engineering. BUT I think in order to get funding, which is what really matters, you need a consistent research record, VERY GOOD grades, mediocre-high GRE scores, and some of those extracurriculars. You say they don't matter, but in reality, when a prof writes a letter of rec, those activities demonstrate your ability to not only to keep your grades up, do research, but also be involved - this shows great work ethic, ability to multi-task, and perhaps communications skills. Those things are necessary in a masters/PhD student. You just don't want some 4.0 student who doesn't talk to anyone sitting in a corner.

Remember, it is also all about "fit", which is the term going around now. I would go for the PhD. You can always drop down, and it won't hurt their feelings. It might, but it is important to get funding early. At least when you start in the PhD track, you can see if it is for you, and then drop down, which is being perfectly honest with them. I don't want you to be in my position where you apply for master's programs and realize what could have been if you had applied for a PhD.

I hope that made sense ... lots of rambling in the morning ...

[Sephi226]

Hmm, seems like you are in the same predicament I was in a few months ago (October-ish) when I was deciding b/t working or going to graduate school. To be honest, the money (ie who will pay for you to go to graduate school) is in the PhD programs. If you think about it, they'd rather keep someone doing great research for 4-6 years, rather than someone who gets started and leaves in 2 years, right at the pinnacle of their research. I've heard it takes two years to actually figure what the heck you're doing and then after that you start doing your actual thesis/research work.

My credentials are: 3.9/4.0 GPA (overall/CE) from a state institution, Honors College, mediocre GRE scores, EIT, LOTS of extracurriculars, German language, and research internship in Germany. My advisor says the only thing that did me when I applied for master's programs was the lack of a consistent research experience, which you have. However, I was accepted into all my schools (Berkeley, Davis, Illinois, UW), all top notch schools for engineering. BUT I think in order to get funding, which is what really matters, you need a consistent research record, VERY GOOD grades, mediocre-high GRE scores, and some of those extracurriculars. You say they don't matter, but in reality, when a prof writes a letter of rec, those activities demonstrate your ability to not only to keep your grades up, do research, but also be involved - this shows great work ethic, ability to multi-task, and perhaps communications skills. Those things are necessary in a masters/PhD student. You just don't want some 4.0 student who doesn't talk to anyone sitting in a corner.

Remember, it is also all about "fit", which is the term going around now. I would go for the PhD. You can always drop down, and it won't hurt their feelings. It might, but it is important to get funding early. At least when you start in the PhD track, you can see if it is for you, and then drop down, which is being perfectly honest with them. I don't want you to be in my position where you apply for master's programs and realize what could have been if you had applied for a PhD.

I hope that made sense ... lots of rambling in the morning ...

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to apply to as many fellowships/scholarship as possible so I can avoid needing funding, but if that does not work then I will probably settle with PhD applications and maybe drop down if I hate it. I like working as a researcher at the moment, but it is rather different doing it for a summer than for several years.