BBA to Masters of Engineering.. Is this possible?

I'm in my senior year at a target school and I've landed a job offer. The job won't be too stressful (40 hrs/wk) and I have recently started to think that I don't want to do finance at all.

I don't have the most impressive gpa (3.20) but is there some way I can get into an online masters of engineering program? Maybe ASU online?

I have no idea if this even possible but if any of you have any insight I would love to hear it. If it makes any difference, I think I would aim for mechanical engineering.

 

Yeah, it's possible, but there's a steep learning curve. An MS in any science/engineering field is a lot tougher than its BS/undergrad counterpart. You'd probably have to take a lot of the undergrad mechanical engineering "essentials," take the GRE, and then convince to the admissions office to let you into the school. It's a lot of work, but it's certainly doable...just make sure you're getting a Masters for the right reason. I think Boston University actually has a program that allows non-engineering undergrads to enroll in their engineering grad school (it's called LEAP or something to that nature).

If you don't mind me asking, why engineering? Do you have a passion for it that you just discovered too late?

 

I appreciate your comments. The job offer that I received is corp fin for an engineering company and they already have offered tuition assistance so that's why I have given this some thought. I guess the reason that I want to do an online program is so that I can continue to work as I pursue this. Also, I believe the company I will work for does not care about prestige of the program so if I just get the degree I'd have a shot of changing positions within the company.

Would the best route be to take the core classes through a UCLA online type program?

 

Apologies for the delayed response. I too work (worked) at an engineering company as a finance guy, but when the business guys (meaning finance, accounting, MIS, etc.) go back to school, it's typically for an MBA or an MS in their respective business field. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone receiving tuition assistance to go from a BBA/BS in business to an MS in engineering.

So my main question remains: why engineering? I think your reasoning behind this answer would give us all a better understanding of what you're trying to do.

I hope you realize this will be a 180 turn in your career since there are very few overlaps between a business degree and an engineering degree. I'm not trying to discourage you, but like Kruzon and Neopolitan have stated, this is going to be a harsh, uphill battle. It's doable, but it won't be easy.

 

3.2 GPA in a business major and you're trying to go for a masters in engineering? That seems a little unrealistic to me. Not to be rude but as I'm sure you know the engineering curriculum is rigorous to say the least. Grad level courses will be even crazier and the margin for error is slim. Unless you're a math+science genius then I wouldn't advise taking this route.

You have to put things in perspective. What is your ultimate goal? Would money be an issue? What is the rationale behind doing an online program, as opposed to a FT one? I would imagine the material would be much harder to pick up from behind a computer screen especially for something as hands on as engineering.

To be honest man, I would just take the job offer. Work for a while and get your savings up. Depending on what you want to do, you might be able to enroll in a part time program or just study on the side and go back to school later to pursue your dream.

 

Engineering is a broad field, prbly you could specify this a bit further. If you happened to have taken tech-heavy classes in information management in your business major, or picked up decent programming skills elsewhere, sth along the lines of software engineering would definitely seem doable to me. If you're looking at a more classical engineering discipline like mechanical (which sounds sort of like your company), I'd agree with kruzon that you better bury the idea unless you're prepared to redo most of a bachelor's degree.

 
Most Helpful

I was and am still in this boat. And I know this thread is 5 years old - but I wanted to offer some perspective.

I finished my BBA with a barely 3.0 GPA. Changed my majors a bunch, my program GPA was around like a 3.4 or something. Good -but not astounding. Regardless, I decided to pursue my MBA in Project Management that included Master Level Industrial Engineering courses. (Now I understand that Industrial Engineering is more of the business side of Engineering - however - the prerequisites for all Engineering admittance is the same - I worked for an ABET accredited engineering department that handled just that - so its a fact). Regardless, I murdered the course. As in made it my BxxxH. That’s when I realized I was in the wrong field. One semester after I had just received my BBA - with the “not so astounding GPA”

Hopefully anyone reading this will take the great advice to not measure your ability based on how difficult other people say it is. I’ve found through 10+ years in the field, that if you want to do something because you are passionate about it, then you can. And if you hate literary arts, chances are you won’t do well - even if you can pass chem 1-4 and thermo dynamics. Do what’s in your wheel house, you’ll thank yourself for it when you’re done.

 

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