Financing a second bachelor's?

[Nano-Passion]

There sure is a different! I'm confused as to why you felt this needed to be said.

To try to make sense of it, I'll say that it seems that the OP assumes that engineering is unrelated to applied mathematics...which I don't believe is necessarily true but to each his own. It's just as well since the career/education path he is claiming to want to take is generally in the same vein so the comparison between the two degrees is not so vast.

IMHO, I think the OP should just do what feels right. If you want to get a second degree, definitely don't let fear [from employers, elitists, etc] stop you from doing it. If you don't want a second degree, don't get it...continue to do whatever it is you were going to do in the first place.

But just to add more personal experience information stuff. No you cannot get governmental financial aid such as Pell grants if you already have 1 bachelors. Although you can get federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans while pursuing a second undergrad degree.
ALSO read university policies before attempting your second undergraduate degree, it might be the case that if a university confers a degree upon you like a bachelor's of science, then you might not be able to get a second one. The loop-hole is to try to obtain a bachelor's of arts.

So as soon as you get 1 bachelors then you won't be supported for a second? Because I was thinking about getting at least a bachelors in Physics and in Mathematics. And I was also thinking about trying out a Mathematical Neuroscience degree.. Man I'm in a mess, too many interests isn't a good thing at times.

 

[cdotter]

I'm currently working on my second bachelor's degree. I got my first one in theoretical math and decided that I didn't want to go into that field. I entered the workforce only to find myself working 60 hours a week in a gun factory and decided that I should probably go back to school. Right now I'm working on a B.S. in chemical physics and am probably going to go to grad school when the time comes.

I've been able to finance this year using scholarships, savings from my old job, and the maximum allowable $12,500 offered in government loans. If you have decent credit you should be able to get loans from a private lender if you are really serious about getting back into school. I would also check into the scholarships that the schools you are looking at offer. I was surprised to find out that I may qualify for a scholarship here that will basically cover all of my school related expenses.

I'm guessing you're about as fed up with math as I was, but depending on your background you might be able to go to grad school in another somewhat related field like computer science, physics, or statistics. That might be your best option if it is available to you.

Yeah, I figured that second bachelors students would be totally ineligible for any scholarships. That's good to hear.

I'm still thinking about going (read: trying to go) directly to grad school. Either way, I have some time to figure it out because I'm going to take time off to work. Thank you for the information.

 

[cdotter]

So as soon as you get 1 bachelors then you won't be supported for a second? Because I was thinking about getting at least a bachelors in Physics and in Mathematics. And I was also thinking about trying out a Mathematical Neuroscience degree.. Man I'm in a mess, too many interests isn't a good thing at times.

You're still eligible for federal loans, like the Stafford loans. The Stafford loans have a hard-cap lifetime limit of ~$60k. From what I've found, if you take out $60k in loans for your first bachelors and completely pay them off, you still can't get another Stafford loan for your second bachelors. Maybe the school's financial aid office can "cook the books," I don't know.

 

[USN2ENG]

Just to tag along onto the this post... I did a Psychology degree the first go around and am now in a second bachelors for Industrial Engineering. I am finishing up my first year and have taken: Phys1/2, Calc2/3, DiffEq, C++, and a couple Intro Engineering courses. The department has offered the possibility of letting me into the masters for the MSIE (Human factors focus), but I don't think that is where I want to take this degree (So far process engineering and optimization, and even supply chain/inventory modeling, really appeal to me). However when I asked what happens if Human factors is not what I want to do, he said that while they discourage against non engineering backgrounds pursuing the other concentrations, once in he couldn't stop me from switching. That seemed kind of strange to me so I decided to continue taking a few more IE courses, and possibly finish the bachelors.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. Does this seem like a sketchy path? What are some good roads from here. Just finish the BSIE, or...?

After this semester I will have 2 years left to finish the BS, and one year is covered under the GI Bill.

Thanks!

 

[cdotter]

The situation in Europe is different to the US.

I could see you doing an MSc in Engineering/Science in the UK and then going on to do a PhD in something "hot" that uses applied maths (i.e., anything - nanotechnology, bioinformatics, you name it...)

The "graduate school" and "no research experience" problems don't occur in the UK because (i) we don't have graduate school (ii) we don't expect research experience of BSc students - a tough "final year" project that *may* include original research is the nearest equivalent...

Isn't graduate education in the UK typically unfunded and therefore expensive?