I understand that it is possible to work on a graduate degree while in the Navy at the NPS or possibly other locations also. I was wondering if you would have time to instead work on completing another bachelor's degree while on shore duty or during some other time during a career. I have my b.s. in economics and am potentially wanting to go back to school to get an engineering degree. Does this happen a lot? Is it possible while in the Navy? If all of the credits transferred from my first degree I think it would only take 3 years max to complete another one. Just wanting some advice or input on if this sounds like a feasible idea or if it's even possible. Thanks
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getting another degree
- Thread starter staff03
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Now if you attempted to get a Masters in Engineering wouldn't you need a background in engineering or mathematics in order to get into a program like that? Correct me if I'm wrong. I've kinda wondered about this.
Good question. I've always thought about this. THere must be some sort of syllabus to prepare a non-background person for a graduate degree: ie: a couple math and engineering courses to give the person enough background to move forward. Something to research I guess.
AJB37
Well-Known Member
I talked to my academic advisor about this because I really regretted dropping my aerospace major for IR. She said I'd have to complete all the calc series and take a year of physics classes. But, my advisor was also a worthless hack so that what she told me with a grain of salt.
Thisguy
Pain-in-the-dick
It's gonna be more than just a "few" classes. It's not like medical school where you can be an art history major but if you took all the necessary biology, chemistry, etc, you're good.
A Master's in engineering builds off of the fundamentals learned at the undergrad level. If you don't have that type of degree, you're going to be seriously lost.
That's why I even considered taking some online classes throughout the years to obtain an BS in Engineering or something like that.
The Navy has this great program which lets you get your MS as a shore tour at any school so long as you can convince it that it's a legitimate gradate school. I'm doing this for my MS in Mechanical Engineering, Granted I have a BSME but I can tell you each school has it's own requirements for prerequisites to get an MS. I would recommend going for your MS and filling the prerequisites because if your goal is MS then you only have to satisfy the 10 or so MS classes plus whatever you are missing as prerequisites where as you might have to fullfill core requirements for a BS degree from certain schools such as humanities or something. Plus a BS + MS is way more valuable than 2 BS. PM me if you want more info on my program.
Most major universities have a program to enable prospective graduate students with non-engineering undergraduate degrees to prepare for an advanced (M.S. and Ph.D.) degree in engineering. At Purdue, it was a combination of auditing and guided independant study of undergraduate 300/400 level classes prior to taking any graduate courses. This was typically a custom designed program that the student established with their thesis advisor based on their intended area of study at the graduate level. (this allows you to limit your undergraduate studies to the pertinant courses only) The last person I knew doing it at Purdue had originally been a management and biology undergrad seeking a Masters in Computer Engineering. She spent a year getting caught up on the undergraduate work while simultaneously logging research time with her advisor's research group. The time in the research group also helped hone her knowledge in the inteded area.
The process can be more painful (read: longer) if you don't have any math and science at the undergraduate level.
Feel free to PM with more pointed questions if you have 'em, and good luck to ya!
The process can be more painful (read: longer) if you don't have any math and science at the undergraduate level.
Feel free to PM with more pointed questions if you have 'em, and good luck to ya!
I guess to answer any questions, I was originally an undergrad aerospace engineering major and decided to get out and switch to economics, regret it and would like to go back and have an engineering degree. I always thought that in order to get a MS in engineering I would need a BS in it so I didn't even consider just going for a masters and doing pre-req work before I start. I have some physics, math, and engineering courses so maybe it sounds like the better way to go would be for a masters.
You'll have the equivalent of a BSE by the time you take all of the classes necessary to qualify for a masters program. There are a LOT of basic concepts taught in a Bachelor's program that set the foundation for a Masters. I can't imagine taking a graduate level class in controls (or any other specialization) without knowing what a Laplace transform is. While I admire your motivation, I think you're in for a lot of ass-pain and I don't envy you for that.
I think that's a question better suited for an admissions counselor. My post was mostly to emphasize that it's not going to be something where you can take a semester worth of classes and be all set to handle graduate level engineering courses. If you're serious, I would suggest you get in touch with a guidance counselor at some fine institution that's willing to take your money and find out what path works best for you. Good luck!