I have a degree in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois at Carbondale.

Should I go for another undergrad degree? The one I am looking at is a Mechanical Engineering degree from Washington State University.

or

Should I go for a MBA?


I have no set career path as of yet. I have been active duty navy in the nuclear field for the past 8 years. So I am looking for options as I start the transition back to real life.

7/28/2012 5:03:44 PM

You should definitely definitely do the Engineering. You will be far more employable and valuable to society. just make sure their program is fully accredited and check to see what sorts of jobs/grad schools their graduates go to.

Many academic programs are complete garbage designed for the university's profit. University is a business after all. They especially prey on moneyed 18yr olds and veterans.

Some even good reputable schools have these sort of fake Engineering programs that have names like "Engineering Technology" or "Applied Electrical Engineering" You learn stuff that prepares you to work in a boiler room of a hospital.

All you really need to do to be an engineer is take the EIT then the PE.

Another recommendation I have for you is to start talking to the HR at places you want to work. find out what credentials they look for.

7/28/2012 5:18:04 PM

Undergrad degrees are the new high school diplomas. I vote MBA.

7/28/2012 5:33:48 PM

^ Don't listen to her. Get the engineering degree.

7/28/2012 7:19:08 PM

^ Don't listen to him. Let's get more information.

Is time a concern? Consider how many of your credits will transfer and get put towards the new undergrad degree. Depending on what prerequisites you need for the MBA, one option many save you a significant amount of time. And I think some schools have restrictions on 2nd undergrad degrees.

Is cost a concern? If so, there's a limit on how much financial aid based on how many undergrad credits you already have. There could be a tuition surcharge after you go over so many undergrad hours, and for some schools the grad credits are cheaper. But if cost isn't an issue, get as many undergrad degrees that you want.

You said you have no set career path, so why are you considering engineering vs MBA? What about nuclear engineering (due to your background) or a masters in something more related to your undergrad degree (i.e. MEd)? You can also try getting a job first and seeing if they'll help fund a masters.

Generally speaking, I would go for a masters - not necessarily an MBA - before a second bachelors.

7/28/2012 8:42:05 PM

Get the engineering degree from WSU. It's a good school.

Getting an MBA when you have no career aspirations yet is going to be a waste of time and money for you. An MBA is an additive post-graduate degree. Once you have a career job, many companies will PAY for you to get your MBA down the road, when it will actually be an asset to you in your job.

You can get an MBA while working, there are tons of night/weekend programs even at respected universities. You cannot easily get an engineering degree, especially ME while working a full time career job.

Plus, regardless of your career direction, a BS in ME from a well regarded school carries MUCH more weight than an MBA from all but the most prestigious institutions. A ME will provide you with a whole lot of life-skills that an MBA won't as well.

7/28/2012 10:01:58 PM

i'm not in business, but i think i'm correct in my notion that the days of getting an mba and immediately finding a $120k job in middle management are over.

in the future, you're going to have to know how to do stuff. engineering all the way. especially the finances are right.

also mechanical engineering is a great degree.

7/28/2012 11:13:31 PM

As has been said a MBA for the sake of having a MBA is pretty worhtless

7/29/2012 12:38:23 AM

Even though I don't have much experience with an engineering degree; I'd say that would be a better bet between the two. I kick myself almost daily for not studying something more technical (I majored in business management).

If you want to go the business school route and have the money to throw at an MBA... perhaps taking the tuition you would pay over the 2years and invest it in to a handful of start up companies. With a stipulation that you have an advisory/participatory role in the company.

This will give you all the experience/networking opportunities you'd get with an MBA program, and the opportunity to actually turn a profit on the tuition you would have spent.

7/29/2012 9:14:52 AM

If you can't get in a top tier MBA program don't waste your time/money. An MBA from middle of the road university is really only valuable if your employer wants you to have an MBA but doesn't care where from (and they would probably pay for it then)

7/29/2012 10:37:18 AM

This one time I was riding my bike (road racing bicycle) up on the blue ridge parkway and I fell in with this bunch of titanium riding rich types. During a heart to heart with this one guy, he told me he was in Hydrology. He recommended it as a career path for me.

Also, I used to ride with a guy that was a nuclearfag in the navy like you. He ended up doing puter science. I think it made him feel at home after spending 90% of his work time sitting in front of a screen being useless.

7/29/2012 5:24:21 PM

Quote :

"All you really need to do to be an engineer is take the EIT then the PE."

you forgot to mention the 4 year degree and the work experience and the studying

but yeah, that's really all you need ಠ_ಠ

7/30/2012 7:25:44 PM

MBAs are worthless. Read a Drucker book if you want business insight--then do engineering. It will be hard, but doing real work is always hard.

Or you can get the MBA and spend a few years waiting tables and wondering why no-one hired you. Does not apply for Ivy league MBAs with work experience and daddy's connections.

7/31/2012 12:05:22 AM

Quote :

"Undergrad degrees are the new high school diplomas."

while there are exceptions, this is, for the most part, the truth

and those exceptions are almost always associated with the ability to obtain an industry-recognized certification afterward (ie. it's not the degree that's worth anything, it's the prep for the cert)

7/31/2012 8:23:57 AM

lol at an mba being worthless. From a top tier school it's certainly not worthless. How else are you supposed to even land a rotation let alone an interview?

Anyway, why even get the engineering degree? You could just go work for Duke or someone making ~$100k without it with your experience, right?

7/31/2012 8:30:19 AM

^ Seconded. Can't most of the Navy nuclear guys come out and find jobs at the power plant and train to be a reactor operator and make $$$. Guy I knew down in SC was not ex-military, but got on at the plant and was training to be an RO and lived like he was loaded (huge house, nice cars, vacations, etc). I guess the shift work and holiday work would suck, but the benefits and job security seem to be excellent.

Why waste $100,000 going to WSU or $60,000 trying to get an MBA if you can already make six figures? Maybe money is not your goal?

7/31/2012 10:51:02 AM

^^ reread the last part of my post. Duke is the Ivy League of the south.

7/31/2012 11:03:23 AM

he's talking about going to work for duke energy.

7/31/2012 12:09:19 PM

Save your money. 99% of degrees are only with the ink to print it on your resume.

Apprentice somewhere are get some real world on-the-job training. You'll learn more in a few months than you would in 4 years at school.

But if you HAVE to choose, I'd go with the mech eng undergrad. Unless you get an MBA from Wharton, Harvard, or Chicago (or some other highly prestigious business school), you'd make more money in the long run if you took your tuition money and put it in a savings account earning 1.5% over the course of your career. At least with a mech eng degree you'd have a discernible skill to show for it.

7/31/2012 1:39:24 PM

Quote :

"Can't most of the Navy nuclear guys come out and find jobs at the power plant and train to be a reactor operator and make $$$."

yes. Most of the guys that went into the nuclear power to be ROs are making around 80k starting off then around 130-150k upon qualifying. I am trying to see if I can avoid going into the civilian nuclear power world.

7/31/2012 5:07:02 PM

^ should have added that in the OP. In that case, you should definitely pursue the ME as an MBA does you no good at this point in your career unless you truly believe you'll land a management spot after getting your MBA.

Get the ME degree, get a job, and if/when you become a manager, then reconsider the MBA.

7/31/2012 5:20:38 PM

the hours are terrible at the reactor but ~100k is a 100k.

I wouldnt waste a bunch of time and effort on a degree when you don't even need one... but you gotta figure out what you want i guess.

7/31/2012 9:05:08 PM

Quote :

"Can't most of the Navy nuclear guys come out and find jobs at the power plant and train to be a reactor operator"

Look at the NRC rules and your intended employer before going down this path without a degree. A few years ago the NRC was contemplating requiring licensed operators to have an engineering/science degree, and utilities are free to make this a requirement regardless of the NRC's position.

In my couple-of-year-career in civilian nuclear power, one plant did not give me credit for nuclear navy experience, though others in the same company did. This was in engineering and not operations.

At any rate, my recommendation would be to use your GI Bill. You earned it--use it to get an engineering degree from a quality school.

7/31/2012 11:10:07 PM

You don't need a Bachelors degree to take the EIT or the PE. Kinda like you don't need a Bachelors degree to get any non-garbage Graduate degree. You just better have something pretty bad-ass in lieu of it.

8/1/2012 1:30:57 AM

Quote :

"you don't need a Bachelors degree to get any non-garbage Graduate degree."

are there really any grad programs that will let you in without an undergrad degree? i have never heard that before.

8/1/2012 1:38:43 AM

just like you never heard how much more efficient it is to count change with a weight-scale.

8/1/2012 1:45:41 AM

there is no point in being cryptic. either give an example, or retract your assertion. this is the lounge.

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 2:12 AM. Reason : ^ i can see how that is true. but why are you comparing math with man made rules?]

8/1/2012 2:10:35 AM

A few MBA programs I spoke too wanted me to apply before my undergrad was done. UNC-CH being one of those.

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 2:28 AM. Reason : as for starting before, I have no idea.]

8/1/2012 2:28:24 AM

read jcgolden's wording. that's not what he said.

8/1/2012 3:02:32 AM

Quote :

"are there really any grad programs that will let you in without an undergrad degree? i have never heard that before. "

It happens but it's either a sketch "college" or you have some sort of amazing real world experience that can be used in lieu of an undergrad degree. Also universities in other countries are more likely to let you skip up to a Master's than universities in the US and Canada.

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 9:20 AM. Reason : a]

8/1/2012 9:19:16 AM

Quote :

"are there really any grad programs that will let you in without an undergrad degree? i have never heard that before."

you don't NEED a BS/BA to get into NCSU's vet school (or most vet schools, for that matter)...true story

will you get in without one? of course not

8/1/2012 9:27:35 AM

Just curious...what are your thoughts on a nuclear engineering technology degree that is ABET accredited?

8/28/2012 1:58:43 AM

Technology degrees are shit.

8/28/2012 2:06:09 AM

^agreed.

Also, I have to disagree about all undergrad degrees being the new high school diplomas and echo what other people have said about MBAs.

There are a lot of undergrad degrees that aren't worth the money spent on them and that is where the whole "undergrad degrees are the new HS diplomas" idea has come from. However, there are still plenty of solid undergrad degrees from good schools that are still a good investment right now. An engineering degree (especially mechanical or chemical) from a good school is definitely one of them. MBAs can be good but they are oversold and over-focused on, especially when lots of people end up going to crappy schools just to put that on their resume.

The value of an MBA depends on a lot of things. For starters, I would almost never pay for one on your own as I don't view it as a good personal investment. If an MBA is valuable to a company you work for they will pay you to get the degree while you work a skilled job for them. Don't spend your own money on it.

Second, an MBA without experience falls into the same complaint people have about undergrad degrees not being worth as much. If you have no experience in an industry but you have an MBA it isn't really worth that much in that industry. We don't even give consideration to people who apply for management positions at our company who have MBA degrees or "engineering management" degrees but don't have real engineering experience. Even people that get engineering degrees + MBAs come in to the company in the same types of positions that someone with an engineering degree does. They might make a few thousand more, but they won't get thrown into management anytime soon regardless. I really only think that MBAs are worth it if you get a degree, get some real work experience, and then tack an MBA on.

Plus, I think you want some real background skill and experience in something outside of the finance / management side of things to fall back on if you need to.

TLDR: MBAs are great to tack-on to something like an engineering degree but I wouldn't make one my main focus.

8/28/2012 8:33:07 AM

Quote :

"are there really any grad programs that will let you in without an undergrad degree? i have never heard that before."

My cousin 'dropped out' of undergrad to start med school early. He already hit all the undergrad course requirements required by med schools and knocked out the MCAT. I had not heard of that either, and I wouldn't be surprised if other grad programs have similar loopholes.

8/28/2012 9:43:03 AM

I made an MBA get me coffee once. They did a good job on Starbucks runs.

8/28/2012 10:36:54 AM

Quote :

"Undergrad degrees are the new high school diplomas."

Hahaha people will say anything when they can't find a good job with their shitty degree!

^^ Graduate programs mostly certainly WILL NOT let you in without a degree, however professional school will if you are exceptional.

[Edited on August 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM. Reason : /]

8/28/2012 11:00:53 AM

An engineering degree is just certified proof that you can learn technical material. But you already have proof of that because you are in the nuke program. I think you have a great chance of finding a good job without an ME degree. Eight years of technical experience makes for a really strong resume, especially for DOD civilian contractors. You could look into Northrop Grumman, Electric Boat, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, etc. Contractors almost always give preference for veterans. I did a co-op at NG in Newport News and there were a lot of former enlisted nukes. Obviously the Norfolk area isn't great but Portsmouth is really nice.

And from talking to some of the enlisted guys here (at power school) who are getting out of the Navy, there are a lot of good jobs for nukes out there. Unfortunately a lot of them are of the "pay well but suck" variety (like going on an oil rig)

8/28/2012 11:08:16 AM

Quote :

"MBAs are worthless. Read a Drucker book if you want business insight--then do engineering. It will be hard, but doing real work is always hard."

hahaha. I have a Mechanical Engineering degree but am now in business and consulting.

There's 2 types of people I see our clients hiring.

1. People with some degree (business/econ/etc) and an MBA.

2. People with an engineering degree and an MBA. (All the high up executives all seem to have engineering degrees)

I am AMAZED at how many people I see in business with engineering degrees. They like engineers because they know they can think. The engineers like moving to business because they make a lot more money.

In terms of an MBA. Yes if you want to make more money get one. The rotational consulting/analytics programs at any top financial or consulting company have salaries above or near 6 figures for MBA grads (and no not just from top tier MBA schools).

8/28/2012 12:23:25 PM

^^^I'm the one who said that and I have two non-shitty degrees (BS and MS) and I love my job, so

8/28/2012 12:28:22 PM

Get the ME degree

Unless it's an MBA from a top notch school, nobody's going to give a shit. Besides, MBAs are about the networks and connections you make while you're in school, and you don't really seem to have a clear idea of what you're doing yet.

[Edited on August 28, 2012 at 12:33 PM. Reason : what others have said]

8/28/2012 12:31:25 PM

yeah, I'm definitely not saying they are worthless I just think a lot of people need to evaluate when, how, and why they get MBAs. That being said, my wife and I might both get ours, but our company would be paying for them which would be the only reason I would decide to get one at this point.

8/28/2012 1:53:27 PM