Looking for a engineering masters, with a business degree

Thanks for clarifying. I hadn't looked and was mainly responding to the idea that it would take 04 years for a second bachelors.

 

I am not sure that this would necessarily be the better choice, in this case.

If you get a bachelor's in engineering from UND, it would be a fully ABET-accredited BS degree in a specific field of engineering: i.e. BSME, BSEE, BSChE. This is the most common, industry-standard engineering degree.

If you just take some prerequisities at UND, then go to TTU for their online Master of Engineering, you won't have an engineering bachelor's, and your ME degree will be "interdisciplinary". It won't be a degree in a specific field of engineering, like mechanical or electrical or chemical. Instead, it will be a "General Engineering" degree. In fact, TTU won't let you take more than 15 credits (of 36) in any one engineering field.

So you may not end up with a well-defined engineering specialty by this route. You would have about half the credits towards a BS degree from UND, plus some more credits, in multiple engineering fields, from TTU.

The problem is that engineering employers typically look for engineers with a well-defined specialty -- they want a mechanical engineer, or an electrical engineer, or a civil engineer, etc. The TTU degree is legit, but job postings don't usually specify "general engineers".

That may be why TTU says that the degree is "designed for practicing engineers". In other words, it may be a better degree for someone who already has an engineering job, and wants to get broader knowledge and capabilities, rather than for someone who is trying to break into the field.

Ask them what they think about an Master's degree in General Engineering, as opposed to a traditional Bachelor's degree in a specific field like Mechanical or Chemical Engineering.

 

This is why I recommended an undergrad degree in engineering to begin with. More specifically, it is the standard for those in the field and I don't think the degree inflation has bothered the field at all. I am all about graduate school but an engineering degree would be about the only undergrad I would be willing to go back for.

 

To add to my post one can become a Certified Quality Engineer without a ABET engineering degree. Details here
Quality Engineer Certification - Is it right for you?

QE job opportunities occur in just about every industry.

 

Wow thanks so much for the responses.

So what i'm hearing is that I should be going for the full bachelors despite the extra time, that seems to make a lot of sense.


I have found a local community college that offer the science classes I would need with labs, physics, chemistry etc, but they are only 'sacs' accreditted, is that worth my time? or should I just wait to start UND in the spring? I have sent this question to UND so hopefully I should have an answer fairly soon.

Thanks so much for the help

 

SACS is one of the six regional accreditation agencies, covering the southeastern US. UND is in a different part of the country, and is therefore accredited by a different regional accreditation agency, but they are all equivalent.

Regional accreditation is a form of "institutional" accreditation. It means that the school as a whole is fine, but it doesn't address engineering specifically. Professional programs commonly have supplemental "professional" accreditation (in addition to institutional accreditation). In the case of engineering and related fields (technology, computer science, surveying, etc), the professional accreditor is ABET.

Regional accreditation by itself is fine for a community college. For a 4-year engineering BS program, you also want supplemental professional accreditation by ABET, but community colleges are not eligible for such accreditation, because they do not offer 4-year degrees. (Some community colleges do have ABET accreditation for 2-year engineering technology AS degrees, but "technology" programs are different from "engineering" programs).

Ideally, the community college should have a defined "pre-engineering" track, like this one, which is "designed to provide students with the basic competencies, knowledge, and skills requisite to transfer to a baccalaureate degree program in Engineering." The courses that you take at the community college should be courses that are on that pre-engineering track. In this case, UND should be OK with them.

If the community college courses aren't designed for transfer into 4-year engineering programs, then UND may be less accepting.

Good move. Don't rely on anonymous comments on internet forums.

 

SACS is one of the six regional accreditation agencies, covering the southeastern US. UND is in a different part of the country, and is therefore accredited by a different regional accreditation agency, but they are all equivalent.

SACS is "institutional" accreditation. It means that the school as a whole is fine, but it doesn't address engineering specifically. Professional programs commonly have supplemental "professional" accreditation (in addition to institutional accreditation). In the case of engineering and related fields (technology, computer science, surveying, etc), the professional accreditor is ABET.

Regional accreditation is fine for a community college. For a 4-year engineering BS program, you want supplemental accreditation by ABET, but community colleges are not eligible for such accreditation, because they do not offer 4-year degrees. (Some community colleges do have ABET accreditation for 2-year engineering technology AS degrees, but "technology" programs are different from "engineering" prggrams).

Ideally, the community college should have a defined "pre-engineering" track, like this one, which is "designed to provide students with the basic competencies, knowledge, and skills requisite to transfer to a baccalaureate degree program in Engineering." The courses that you take at the community college should be courses that are on that pre-engineering track. In this case, UND should be OK with them.

If the community college courses aren't designed for transfer into 4-year engineering programs, then UND may be less accepting.

 

Don't get crazy on us.

I have some regrets about not having chosen engineering for my undergrad. I was fortunate to land a job with a competitive salary with it. I looked into the possibility of getting into an MBA/MIE (or MSE) program but without that engineering B.S., it proved to be an impossibility. Don't do anything crazy. Get your MBA or an MS in Finance or something and you'll start making the money you're after. Good luck.