Beyond the BS Degree:
Options for NCSU Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering Students
Education beyond a BS degree is critically important
Need to stay abreast of your profession
OPTIONS:
• Graduate or professional school
• Continuing education (e.g., AIChE)
• Internal/external company training courses
• Professional Engineering licensing process
Should I be thinking about going to graduate school?
• What do I enjoy most about school? summer jobs? co-op
experience(s)? work experience in research laboratories?
• What are my career plans?
• Is graduate school the path of least resistance?
• What is my personal situation?
• MS or Ph.D.?
• What about other areas besides chemical engineering?
• Can I work first and go later?
• Can I work and go to graduate school at the same time?
Will I qualify for graduate school admission?
Admission is done by a committee of faculty and varies from school to
school and year to year. Below are some approximate guidelines
GPA
Test Scores
Acceptance
≥ 3.75
Q ≥ 750, V ≥ 600, AW ≥ 5.5
Nearly all (if not all) schools
≥ 3.5
Q ≥ 700, V ≥ 550, AW ≥ 5.0
Many schools
≥ 3.25
Q ≥ 650, V ≥ 500, AW ≥ 4.5
Some schools
≥ 3.00
Q ≥ 650, V ≥ 450, AW ≥ 4.0
Some schools possible
Consider coursework M.S.
(typically no financial support)
< 3.00
Will depend on test scores, recommendations and overall national
interest in graduate school, professional experience, mitigating
circumstances
Financial Aid for Attending Graduate School
- Not need-based in most instances
- Package includes tuition, fees, stipend (~$22-25K/year in
2007) and may get supplementary funds in certain cases
- Comes in several basic forms:
Research assistantship - Research grant/Contract
Teaching assistantship - Department/College
Research fellowship - External (e.g., NSF,
companies) or Internal (endowment) resources
- Differences in financial aid offers from school to school
may not reflect cost-of-living variations
Recruiting process
Recruiting weekends
• What happens?
• Impressions gathered from undergraduates about the
graduate program at their institution may not be helpful
• What should be my objectives during visit?
• Deportment - be a class act?
Where should I go to graduate school?
• Decisions, Decisions, Decisions - April 15
• Make sure choice is a good fit - emphasize career issues
• Amount of offer should be secondary to quality of program
• Are there at least 3 groups you would want to join?
• If more than one, be sure to decline other offers graciously
Going back to graduate school after working
Should I return to school?
• Career objectives - do you like what you are doing?
• What kinds of things do people do with > 5-10 years of experience?
• Can you pull this off financially and personally?
How do you start the process?
• May need to keep intentions quiet until decision is made
• Use vacation time for campus visits
• Work experience strengthens application - can offset lower GPA/test
scores to some extent
• Make sure your personal life is in order - grad school can put pressure
on relationships
• Once you know you are returning to school, leave place of employment
on good term - ChE profession is a small world
How is the typical M.S. program organized?
Year 1
Arrive and get acquainted with location, department
Research advisors usually assigned in Fall
Typically take 6-8 graduate courses (mostly ChE)
May serve as teaching assistant for 1-2 semesters
Begin research in spring semester/summer
Must make significant headway during first summer
Year 2
Research project progresses
May need to take a few more courses
Finish project/thesis/manuscripts from thesis
Interview for positions and accept job
How is the typical PhD program organized?
Year 1
Arrive and get acquainted with location, department
Research advisors usually assigned in Fall
Typically take 4-6 graduate courses (mostly ChE)
May serve as teaching assistant for 1-2 semesters
Qualifying exams/project taken by end of year
Begin research in spring semester/summer
Year 2
Learn about fundamentals related to project
Experimental/computational/theoretical concepts
Take additional courses (1 or 2 per semester)
How is the typical PhD program organized?
Year 3
Prepare and defend research proposal
Coursework usually completed
Start to make significant headway on project
May begin preparing research papers
Begin to take leadership position in lab
Begin to take “ownership” of project
Year 4
Often most productive year of program
Need to see project results (publishable)
May orient newer student to project
May supervise undergraduate student
Begin considering career plans
Year 5+
Finish project/thesis/manuscripts from thesis
Interview for positions and accept job/postdoc
Advice to NCSU undergraduate students
considering and attending graduate school
• Think long-term and not short-term
• Do not expect instant gratification in graduate research
• Being “over-qualified” with a graduate degree need not be a
concern
• Don’t go because you don’t feel ready for a “real job”
• Academic “burn-out” may be only a temporary problem
• Be prepared to work hard and have a good attitude