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Session 3655

Getting U.S. Undergraduates into Graduate School: Providing Information and Opportunities

Noel N. Schulz, Kirk H. Schulz Michigan Tech

Abstract

The current booming economy is great for engineering graduates as they see rising starting salaries and lucrative signing bonuses. Unfortunately it is a problem for engineering faculty and graduate programs. The strong job market is making it even more difficult to convince U.S. undergraduate students to continue on for a graduate degree. In several areas of the country including the Midwest, large percentages of the undergraduate population are first generation college students. Their personal and family aspirations are to get a baccalaureate degree and find a good job. Many of these students know very little about graduate school as a career option. In fact, often they have many misperceptions and incorrect information about attending graduate school.

In an effort to determine why students choose to go graduate school, a survey was developed and circulated to graduate students in engineering at Michigan Tech. This paper summarizes these results, and gives some of the initiatives that the authors have used in an effort to recruit additional students in the graduate program at Michigan Tech.

I. Introduction

As universities make more and more partnerships with industry, colleges of engineering are striving to be "one-stop-shops". As part of these partnerships, the role of research and graduate education is often a central focus. Indeed, in addition to tangible research results, companies are often very interested in hiring advanced degree candidates as well as traditional undergraduate engineering students. One of the key ingredients in working out such partnerships is finding ways to entice outstanding students into completion of an advanced degree.

Despite the increasing prevalence of such opportunities, graduate school is not often thought of by students as a career path, especially early in their undergraduate curriculum. Most universities and colleges do discuss graduate school as an opportunity, but at Michigan Tech, these discussions had usually occurred during the senior year in selected classes or as part of an undergraduate engineering society meeting. Indeed, there is little if any direction given to freshman and sophomore engineering students that graduate school can be an integral part of a clearly defined career path with an emphasis on careers in research and development.

One of the primary challenges in having students consider graduate school as part of their career path is to dispel many of the myths about graduate school that exist in many students’ minds.

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Schulz, K. H., & Schulz, N. (2000, June), Getting U.S. Undergraduates Into Graduate School Providing Information And Opportunities Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8408