I know the usual advice here is that if you as re career-oriented and not really into the research side of things (PhD), then a master's isn't really worth it.
However, I have the opportunity to my bachelor's and master's from UMich's College of Engineering in just barely over three years from start to finish.
For a situation like that, would it be worth taking the master's?
Posted Dec 20, 2019, 3:56 PM UTC
For context, I have a master's in CS.
What are you sacrificing? You mentioned being career-oriented, so my assumption is that your goal is to get into the industry with a good job as quickly and effectively as possible. Could you do your BS in two years, and start your career early? Could you spend three years getting your BS, but have two internships under your belt when you graduate? Could you spend 2.5-3 years getting your BS but have a lot more free time to study LC and do side projects? I think any of these options are better for a career-minded individual than getting a master's, although it's not worth nothing. You'll be placed ahead of other people in resume piles just because you have an MS, and that can certainly help. But unless you're specializing in a field where postgrads dominate like quant or DS, you're basically spending an extra year and putting yourself through more stress for very little gain.
So I want to get in the industry as quickly as possible, but not at the cost of cheapening my value as a prospect in the workforce ya know? So I don't know if the time trade off is worth it. I could complete the bachelor's in a little over two years if I wanted. I could also, like you mentioned, take a little longer but afford myself extra free time throughout college. What exactly works the best? Are internships more valuable than a master's?
Are internships more valuable than a master's?
If your goal is just "a good job in the industry" and not a specific field? Yes, very much so. Like... more than 2x as effective, in my opinion.
Well I'm not sure of a field yet :| I mean I was hoping I'd narrow that down in Uni.
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Maybe for shitty jobs
God damn that's a nice name to have snagged on Reddit. Nice.
The question of whether a master's is worth it depends on your goals and is different from person to person, since everybody's situation is different. So what's your ultimate goal? What do you want to get out of a master's?