Should I pursue MEng or should I start working?

[geft]

Main Question or Discussion Point

I'm graduating in BEng Electronic Science and Technology next year in University of Liverpool. I can then choose whether to continue doing my postgraduate studies or to just start working. It's either higher starting salary or 2 years of experience. Would a master's degree be worthwhile?

 

[Shaun_W]

Yes, the MEng is practically the standard route into engineering these days. You need it for your chartership and it's overall much more desirable than just a BEng.

However, the MEng is still an undergraduate degree. It's not a postgraduate degree and if you continue you won't graduate with a BEng, you'll just continue all the way through.

 

[geft]

An MEng is an undergraduate degree? Does that mean I need an Msc? Which is better in your opinion?

 

[Shaun_W]

You don't need an MSc - an MEng is already a masters degree, just an undergraduate one.

In my opinion an MSc is a waste of money if you're not trying to switch fields. A lot of MSc degrees aren't accredited either, and function as money spinners for the university as they know that there are a lot of foreign students willing to pay fairly heft amounts to put certain brand names on their CV.

I would just do the MEng and get all of the required academia out of the way.

 

[Angry Citizen]

You don't need an MSc - an MEng is already a masters degree, just an undergraduate one.

Question. What does that even mean? Undergraduate by its very definition means prior to graduation. Is this another instance where Europe does things differently?

A lot of MSc degrees aren't accredited either

And where did you get this?

 

[Shaun_W]

Question. What does that even mean? Undergraduate by its very definition means prior to graduation. Is this another instance where Europe does things differently?

In the UK there now exist "undergraduate masters degrees". These are essentially a full undergraduate degree integrated with a masters degree at the end, so they last a year longer than a standard undergraduate degree and the end award is at masters level, e.g. MEng or MSci, rather than bachelors level.

They were introduced to try and reduce the disparity between a three year English bachelors degree and four year ones elsewhere in Europe. And in Scotland where degrees are a year longer this means that some degrees are five years long!

And where did you get this?

The professional institutes e.g. the IMechE and IET have lists on their websites of all the degrees they accredit and a lot of MSc degrees offered by universities are not on these lists hence they're unaccredited.