Electrical Engineering - how did you decide what to study in grad school?

Author

how did you decide what to study in grad school?

bres6486@gmail.com

2007-06-25, 3:25 am

Hey, my name is mike, and i am inclined to go to graduate school to
learn more about electrical engineering. However i am not sure what
area of ee i want to go into yet. When did you figure out what
specialty you wanted to pursue. I am going to be a senior in the fall,
at penn state (majoring in electrical engineering).

Next semester i plan on taking intro to dsp, analog control systems,
and a communications class.

I am hoping these will also guide me, or possibly spark a significant
interest.

So far i am steering away from device physics, electromagnetism,
optics, and power.

I see myself headed more toward analog, maybe dsp, controls,
communications...

I just dont really know what to do... aside from wait and hope i find
something i really like... which will give me a focus of where i want
to go to graduate school...

i know working after i graduate is also a possibility, but i feel like
going right after school, will save a lot of trouble...

thanks, in advance.

Benj

2007-06-25, 9:25 am

bres6...@gmail.com wrote:
> I just dont really know what to do... aside from wait and hope i find
> something i really like... which will give me a focus of where i want
> to go to graduate school...
>
> i know working after i graduate is also a possibility, but i feel like
> going right after school, will save a lot of trouble...

My advice is that you are making this a bigger problem than it is. As
I recall, I had no particular specialty in mind when I applied to
graduate school other than a vague general sense not being
particularly interested in motors and power. Eventually a specialty
found me as a job working as a research assistant to help pay my way
for the Master's degree. The offer came from the university
electromagnetics laboratory. At the time, I wasn't real hot on EM, but
a lab full of lasers? Are you kidding? I'd have paid THEM to work
there! And that's about all there was to any "choice".

The bottom line with a master's is that mostly it's just another year
or so of course requirements which are not all that specialized given
that many are required for graduation. And there is the thesis. The
secret there is to simply ask around among faculty who are doing
things in areas you are "more" interested in rather than "less" and
pretty soon one of them will start to sound interesting as well as
straight-forward and doable. Then if you and the professor seem on the
same wavelength, go for it! Master's work is usually interesting but
not earth-shaking. If you are good at class work, but not so hot in
the lab, then look into the non-thesis path many schools offer. The
MSEE is WELL worth the added time and effort in added earning power
and your credibility in the job market. The smart money would have
signed up for one of those combined BSEE/MSEE programs long before
now!

And I STRONGLY urge you to do it now. If you think you'll go in the
job market and then come back and do it later, you'll find that later
it will be MUCH more difficult to do. First off your job will keep you
so busy that finding time for class will be a major hassle [bosses
always demand about 6 times more work than a person can actually do]
Second, time will fly faster than you imagine. You'll be away from
class work for so long that your classroom skills will be so rusty
that it will take a big effort to hone them back up again. And
thirdly, being in school right now, you have your academic political
connections honed to a fine degree and probably NOTHING is more
important in academic success than politics....ESPECIALLY at the
graduate level!

A somewhat bigger choice is whether to get the MS at your present
school or switch to another one. In my case, my undergrad school did
not usually allow graduates to apply to graduate school because they
felt it was much better to get a more diverse education. I sort of
agree with that in an ideal sense, but the value of political
connections at your present school for creating success in a master's
program should not be underestimated either!

GO FOR IT!

bres6486@gmail.com

2007-06-26, 3:25 am

On Jun 25, 7:00 am, Benj <bjac...@iwaynet.net> wrote:
> bres6...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
> My advice is that you are making this a bigger problem than it is. As
> I recall, I had no particular specialty in mind when I applied to
> graduate school other than a vague general sense not being
> particularly interested in motors and power. Eventually a specialty
> found me as a job working as a research assistant to help pay my way
> for the Master's degree. The offer came from the university
> electromagnetics laboratory. At the time, I wasn't real hot on EM, but
> a lab full of lasers? Are you kidding? I'd have paid THEM to work
> there! And that's about all there was to any "choice".
>
> The bottom line with a master's is that mostly it's just another year
> or so of course requirements which are not all that specialized given
> that many are required for graduation. And there is the thesis. The
> secret there is to simply ask around among faculty who are doing
> things in areas you are "more" interested in rather than "less" and
> pretty soon one of them will start to sound interesting as well as
> straight-forward and doable. Then if you and the professor seem on the
> same wavelength, go for it! Master's work is usually interesting but
> not earth-shaking. If you are good at class work, but not so hot in
> the lab, then look into the non-thesis path many schools offer. The
> MSEE is WELL worth the added time and effort in added earning power
> and your credibility in the job market. The smart money would have
> signed up for one of those combined BSEE/MSEE programs long before
> now!
>
> And I STRONGLY urge you to do it now. If you think you'll go in the
> job market and then come back and do it later, you'll find that later
> it will be MUCH more difficult to do. First off your job will keep you
> so busy that finding time for class will be a major hassle [bosses
> always demand about 6 times more work than a person can actually do]
> Second, time will fly faster than you imagine. You'll be away from
> class work for so long that your classroom skills will be so rusty
> that it will take a big effort to hone them back up again. And
> thirdly, being in school right now, you have your academic political
> connections honed to a fine degree and probably NOTHING is more
> important in academic success than politics....ESPECIALLY at the
> graduate level!
>
> A somewhat bigger choice is whether to get the MS at your present
> school or switch to another one. In my case, my undergrad school did
> not usually allow graduates to apply to graduate school because they
> felt it was much better to get a more diverse education. I sort of
> agree with that in an ideal sense, but the value of political
> connections at your present school for creating success in a master's
> program should not be underestimated either!
>
> GO FOR IT!

i was under the impression, that you need to know what area you want
to specialize in before applying to grad school. Since in order to
know where to apply, you need to know what area, so you can pick the
best schools in that area. Also, there is a statement of purpose, and
from what i understand masters programs want people who really want to
do research, meaning in a specific area. I dont fit any of that ,
yet... so thats why im hesitant.. It doesn't seem like a graduate
school will accept you, if you don't know what specific area you want
to go into..

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