Deciding on a Engineering Grad route

[DollarBill]

I just finished my sophomore year in Aerospace engineering and am weighing my options for grad school. I definitely want to go grad school, but not sure if I want to pursue a MS or PhD. I know when I finish school, I want to work in lab rather than an office building. I do like research (although it's pretty boring right now as I try to learn COMSOL).

I guess my question would be: is it a must to get a PhD if I want to work in a lab and be more than a technician?

It might be somewhat early to be thinking of grad school, but I'm planning to sign-up for a program my school offers that allows undergrads to take graduate level courses. The program would allow the graduate courses to fullfil both undergrad and grad requirements.

 

[fss]

I guess my question would be: is it a must to get a PhD if I want to work in a lab and be more than a technician?

The simple answer is "no"; but in the majority of cases all of the upper-level science positions in "labs" (a nebulous term) will probably be held by PhDs.

 

[Norfonz]

From what I understand, a PhD enables one more freedom to conduct independent research and as a consequence of this is more likely to make breakthroughs and acquire patents and the like.

I personally have been trying to decide whether I should pursue a master's degree or a doctoral degree. I think a master's degree is sufficient if you would like to work in a more industrial setting. I imagine you would have a bit of supervising potential but less freedom than that of PhD.

Hopefully someone with some graduate experience can enlighten us.