Is it worth getting a Master's in Chemical Engineering?

Question

I've heard it really doesn't do anything for you, unless you want to do R&D for a company.

Answer 1

A master's will get you paid more (in my company, you start as a grade higher than someone with a B.S.) - but then again, someone witha BS should have gotten their promotion within the first 1-3 years, therefore, you are not ahead.

Also in my company, they NEVER ask for people with master's degrees. They want the BS people to do line work, process engineers, interaction with the Asian sites, and the PhD's do the R&D work (come up with the ideas that we in operations implement).

So in a nutshell, I think you'd be stuck between BS and PhD. Some positives and some negatives depending on the situation.

Answer 2

Yeah, a bachelors is all you need for any Engineering degree. You can get a job quickly and work your way up the salary brackets. The only big salary difference would be between a BS and a PhD. A masters in ChemE is basically the equivalent to a BS. UNLESS, as you said you want to do R&D and even then, you're better off with a PhD. if you want to have a better superior position on a company's researhing process.

Answer 3

Do you want to get into teaching someday? Maybe when you retire and only want to work 10-20 hour week? If so it would be a good idea to take a masters program.