DILEMA, HELP! Deciding MS courses

[engineer2015]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am an international student who's graduated with a BEng Materials Science and Engineering from a UK university.

 

I previously applied for 10 masters courses from 9 different schools and have gotten serveral acceptances and rejections (all self-funded):

 

Cambridge: MPhil  Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise - admitted

                  MASt Materials Science and Engineering - rejected

 

University of Pennsylvania: MS Nanotechnology - admitted

 

Stanford University: MS Management Science and Engineering - rejected

 

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC): MS Materials Science and Engineering (non-thesis) - admitted

 

Cornell University: MEng Materials Science and Engineering - admitted

 

UC Berkeley: MEng Materials Science and Engineering - admitted

 

Columbia University: MS Management Science and Engineering - admitted

 

MIT: MEng Civil (High-Performance Structures) - rejected

 

Northwestern University: MS Materials Science and Engineering - pending (decision most likely after April 15 deadline)

 

I am currently deciding between all my admits but I am narrowing down my choices between Berkeley's MEng Materials Science and Columbia's MS Management Science and having a hard time deciding between both of them. I have to make a decision before Columbia's deadline on 7 April.

 

My plans upon graduation would be work in the US, either as an engineer or consultant. Both these courses provide the opportunity for both careers, but I was hoping to get some advice about my future employability in the US (or Europe) if I take either courses.

 

Also, I believe that it is easier for me to continue Materials Science, as Management Science bases its course on statistics and modeling, so I am worried that it will be too big a leap for me to change fields, even though NYC's a really great place and Columbia's a really good school (despite being >$20000 more expensive than Berkeley in terms of tuition fees and living allowances).

 

Any feedback or advice about the other courses will be appreciated as well!

 

 

Thanks!

[grindian]

Hmm you're not considering Cornell? NYC is a very expensive place to stay.

[engineer2015]

Cornell's tuition fees are only slightly cheaper than that of Berkeley's (~$5000), and I was thinking that both Berkeley and Columbia have a better reputation than Cornell, which could be important if I want to work outside the US in the future. 

 

Do you have any opinions about the career prospects of Engineering (specifically Materials Science) compared to that of consultancy/quant or biz analysis in the US? Cause I'm under the impression that entry level engineers aren't as well paid, when compared to consultants or business analysts.

[rising_star]

Cornell actually has a very strong engineering reputation in the US. I would say it's on par with Berkeley as someone that isn't at all an expert in that field. 

 

Also, because engineers have quantitative training, they can get jobs as consultants or business analysts, especially with firms that specialize in technology, science, and engineering work.