Applying to MS Engineering with Finance Background

[bchemeng]

Hello All,

I am planning to apply for a MS in Chemical Engineering and I just came back from yet another disappointing GRE test. In my first attempt I scored a 157Q/161V/4.5W. During my second attempt, I scored even worse.  I do not plan to retake the GRE yet again.

 

A little about myself:
I am a Hispanic-American female with a B.A. in business administration from a top 100 university. I have a 3.3 GPA (a little higher for my major, maybe a 3.5) and I worked full-time while attending college full-time. I currently work in finance for a company in the engineering industry. I received As in calculus, statistics, chemistry, and astrophysics during college, and have worked with statistical software, so I know that I am not completely stupid when it comes to math. However, I feel that because my prior degree is not in STEM and my Q GRE score is not that great, that I will not be admitted to any chemical engineering programs.

Will any programs even consider me with these scores and my background? At this point, I am wondering if I should even apply at all.  Or if I should just apply for a second Bachelors.  I was hoping that if I am admitted that I will be given the opportunity to take leap courses for a year before starting grad classes.

Please let me know what your thoughts and suggestions are on how I should proceed.

[Plissken]

Without any background in chemistry, engineering, physics, or higher level math (aside from the handful of courses you mentioned), I highly doubt any chemical engineering program would even consider your application. Yes, engineering programs will often admit students from other disciplines if they've taken the requisite coursework, and it's not unusual for such students to take a few remedial courses after being admitted to make up any deficiencies, but we're not talking about a couple deficiencies here. We're talking about an entire 4-year degree's worth of courses that you're missing.

 

I think it's a complete waste of time and money to apply in your current situation. You need to take a whole lot of science, math (through differential equations and probably linear algebra), and engineering courses/prerequisites as a non-degree student at a university of your choice before you even think about applying to graduate programs in engineering. You could also do a second bachelor's, but that's usually not advisable.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Plissken