Transcript CompE Program

Graduate School:
Why, What, How, When?
Brian Johnson
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Why Graduate School?
 Plenty
of job opportunities for BSEE….
– Good starting salaries
– Good annual advancement
– Moving on to management
– I can’t afford more school
– Besides, I’m sick of school
Why Graduate School?
 Different
types of job opportunities
– Research and development engineer
– Teaching at the college level
– Patent attorney
– Medical school
Why Graduate School?
 Other
Benefits
– More likely to stay in engineering longer
» Often higher pay for engineering projects (Master’s
more than Ph.D.)
– Often have more say in project assignments
– More interesting and varied projects
» More likely to work near the technology cutting edge
» More interesting toys
What graduate school options?
Master’s Degrees in Electrical Engineering
 Doctoral Degrees in Electrical Engineering
 Degrees in Other Engineering Disciplines
 Non-Engineering Degrees

–
–
–
–
 Or
Law Degrees
Master’s in Business Administration (MBA)
Master’s in Engineering Management
Medical School
simply for continuing education
– Marketable job skills
– Continuing education requirement for PE
EE Master’s Degrees
Typically
24-36 credits
–Often focused in one area or two areas
Master
of Science (MSEE)
–Roughly 6 credits of Master’s thesis research
–Written document (~100 pages) and defense
MS
Research:
–Generally slightly extends existing knowledge
–Or applies existing knowledge in different way
–Or uses existing knowledge in a new application
EE Master’s Degrees
Master
of Engineering (MEEE)
–Non-thesis Master’s
–Often additional courses replace thesis
»Often 10 semester length courses
–Often geared toward part-time students
–Many schools require a report/presentation
–At some schools this is almost a thesis
Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.)
 Many
Engineering Programs Require Master’s
 Often 15 -24 course credits beyond Master’s
 Many schools require breadth areas
 Often some form of qualifier exams
 Doctoral Dissertation (or Thesis)
– Key distinguishing factor
– Prove you are capable of performing research at
cutting edge in a field of study, globally, not locally
– Significant new contribution that field
How?  Full Time Option
 Generally
2-3 courses per term
– Usually fewer, longer assignments
– Often more interesting courses
– Usually more relaxed pacing than BS courses
 Time
for working on research
– Full time students more often doing MS or Ph.D.
– Fewer courses during school year
– Full time on research in summer
How?  Full Time Option
 Graduate
students often funded as TA or RA
– Not medical school or law school
– 20 hrs/week during school year, 40 in summer
– Pay rate approximately what get for internship
» $16/hr to $20/hr
– Fees or tuition often paid (health insurance)
 Approx.
2-2.5 years for MS
 Approx. 3-4.5 years for Ph.D.
How?  Part Time Option
 Graduate
school while working full time
 Employer often pays for classes
– If you get good grades
 Often
1 course/semester
– Figure 10-12 hours/week on average per class
– Some students take 2 classes if have time
 Courses
delivered by DVD, Web, etc.
– For example, UI Engineering Outreach
How?  Part Time Option
 Often
works better non-thesis degree
– Classes have fixed milestones and deadlines
 People
do complete MS and even Ph.D.
– Generally very self-motivated people
– In many cases research project has some
relationship to job
 Challenges
with job related research topic
– Managers looking over your shoulder
– Intellectual property issues
When?
 Take
advice you get with a grain of salt
– People with graduate degrees typically suggest
what worked for them
 If
part time option:
– Employer may have a time limit before reimburse
– Degree will take about 5 years
» Does that fit the rest of your life
– We have Engineering Outreach students just out
of BS and others 25 or more years out of BS
When?  Full time option
 Your
circumstances may vary….
– Perhaps you can’t find a job you like, where you
like…
– Or you have a spouse or significant other who
needs one more year of school…
 Some
people recommend going straight to
graduate school
– You are used to student lifestyle (aren’t moving
paying job to a low paying one)
– You have an assistantship of fellowship
When?  Full time option
 Others
recommend working for a few years as
an engineer
– Learn more about real world engineering issues
– Practical knowledge to help theory fit into place
– Less common outside of engineering
– Some employers will provide a paid leave of a
year or so to work on the thesis research
– Work part time for company and full time student
When?  Application process
 Every
school has some sort of application
process
– Web based applications
 Some
schools only admit full time students for
starting in fall semester
– Part time students may also be able to start in
spring
– Application deadlines posted on their web pages
» Often in December January for Funded Fall Admission
» Partly driven by visa requirements
When?  Application requirements
 Minimum
undergraduate GPA
– Ranges from 2.8 to as high as 3.8 depending on
school
– Most will give credit for post-BS level courses if
low undergraduate GPA
– Most will accept at least a few transfer credits
 Many
schools require graduate records exam
– Score may be used for admission or
– Just for determining who gets assistantships
» Especially if degree from accredited undergraduate
program
When?  Application requirements
 Specify
which area of EE for specialization
– Make sure that school offers that area
– Try to contact faculty researchers in that area of
study to see if they have open positions
 They
may require some form of written
statement of personal goals
 Letters of recommendation (possibly a form to
complete)
 Resume of some form
When?  Where to apply?
 Consider
how strong the school is in your
area of specialization
– Will a degree from there help your career goals
– Reputation of a Ph.D. program or of your major
professor impacts job prospects significantly
 Can
you get admitted there
 Can you get funding there
When?  Where to apply?
 Generally
not a good idea to get BS, MS
and Ph.D. from the same school unless the
school unless they have a very strong
Ph.D. program
UI ECE Department
 MSEE,
MEEE, Ph.D. EE
 MSCompE, MECompE
 Undergraduate GPA of 2.8 or higher (3.0
preferred) for MS
 Letter of recommendation waived for recent
BSEE or BSCompE graduates
 GRE not required UI ECE BSEE/BSCompE
graduates
 Keep 1-2 page statement of purpose short
and to the point…
UI ECE Department
 30
credits for Master’s (MS thesis is 6 credits)
 78 credits past BS for Ph.D.
– Master’s counts for 30
– Dissertation is up to another 30
– Two breadth areas
 Areas
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–
–
–
–
–
of department with funded research
Electromagnetics (Young)
Digital systems (Donohoe)
Control Systems (Edwards)
Power/Power Electronics (Hess, Johnson)
Applications of embedded systems (Wall, J. Frenzel)
Electronics (Ay, Barlow, Elshabini)
UI Resources
 ECE
Graduate Guidelines
 UI College of Graduate Studies
– http://www.grad.uidaho.edu/
 2008-09
Graduate Fees:
– Idaho Residents:
» Full time student fees: $5212 (2 semesters)
» Part time student per credit fees: $267/credit

This would apply for taking class for graduate transcript
as a senior as an Idaho resident
– Out of State Students
» Full time student fees: $15,292 (2 semesters)
» Part time student per credit fees: $603/credit