Go for a Masters? Considerations for a Career Change

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SUMMARY

A 28-year-old mechanical engineer with 7 years of experience in the packaging industry is considering a career change and pursuing a master's degree in fields such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Aerospace, or Controls. Despite a cumulative GPA of 2.9, the individual has notable experience, including a year-long senior design project that won an international airplane competition, and has been actively programming in Python to enhance skills. The discussion emphasizes that a master's degree can significantly ease the transition to a new field and that work experience may positively influence graduate school admissions, even with a lower GPA.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Familiarity with Aerospace engineering principles
  • Knowledge of Controls systems
  • Proficiency in Python programming
NEXT STEPS
  • Research graduate programs in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Explore admissions criteria for aerospace engineering master's programs
  • Investigate the impact of work experience on graduate school applications
  • Learn advanced Python techniques relevant to engineering applications
USEFUL FOR

Individuals considering a career change, mechanical engineers seeking to transition into aerospace or advanced engineering fields, and those interested in pursuing a master's degree to enhance their career prospects.

scipy
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Hi,

I'm 28 coming on 29 and I work in the packaging industry Mechanical Engineer. I've been in this industry for about 7 years, and I am bored of it. I am currently looking for changing industries...what i really wish i would have done was gotten a masters degree in something I THINK IS COOL like CFD, Aerospace, Controls, computational methods. Is there any hope for someone like my going back to school and changing industries??

My experience involves some FEA, design validation, but it's mostly custom capital equipment for packaging...not rocket science to say the least.

I know this isn't a "good" physics forum post...u guys are probably not used to dealing with "unrealized potential" complaints...sorry...

basically, i really miss modeling systems and the theory side of things. Lately I've been writing programs in Python on the side just to keep my job interesting and get back in the game.
 
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A masters degree is almost always a good choice from a financial standpoint. Also since you're wanting to switch fields it wil be a million times easier coming out of school. Your experience will be a plus.
 
carlgrace said:
A masters degree is almost always a good choice from a financial standpoint. Also since you're wanting to switch fields it wil be a million times easier coming out of school. Your experience will be a plus.

Well, i have a lot of research to do on this. My GPA is not good...2.9 Cumulative and 3.0 Major studies (mechanical engineering). I did go to a rigorous, well respected undergrad engineering school though. Do you know if Grad school admissions would cut me slack on my GPA because of my work experience?

I also did a year long Sr. Design project in my school. It was an international Airplane competition. My team won best design (14 of us), i was in charge of the aerodynamics division (propulsion and structure was the other two), did wind tunnel testing and wrote computer models (non linear DFs, Fourier series, nothing too fancy i guess, although the GUI i made was cool :))...

also ended up taking over structures as well...

that was the most exciting thing i ever worked on. very motivating. u might say I was late on picking up on the beauty of math and modeling.

Ive made some major improvement to the product line at my company as well, and am a well respected mechanical engineer there.

I could probably snag a few good letters of recommendation too.
 

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