Need help, confused of choosing my master's degree. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Sarvesaa
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2025, 07:13:43 am
content: Hi guys,I am currently going to finish my third year (junior year) of my bachelors in electrical and electronic engineering. I chose EE engineering because of my passion towards it from my childhood. Now I am totally confused of choosing a master's degree in EE because I feel interested in every aspect of EE from analog, embedded, Power Electronics, control system, DSP.But after a bit of thinking I felt Power electronics would suit me the best.I am a part of Formula Student team of our institute. During my sophomore year, I designed the battery pack and analog-digital circuits along with the planning for wiring harness and also the controlling a BLDC motor driver.Now currently I am working on a Phasor Measurement Unit Project. I am designing a P-class (Protection class) PMU from scratch. I would like to do my master after completing my undergraduate degree. My grades are not so great 8.0/10.What do you guys think about my decision. Also I want to do my masters outside of my country (India), I want to get some exposure to other country's engineering and culture. I chose Germany for doing my masters in Power Electronics, I am learning German through textbooks.Please give your thoughts and advice on my decisions.Thanks.Regards,Sarvesaa J

author: SteveThackery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2025, 01:58:26 pm
content: I used to lecture at a university in England; which I mention simply because I am probably biased.So, most engineering Masters (mine is in Audio Engineering) aremuchharder than degrees. Mine felt like a big step. There is one thing in particular that equips you to overcome the intellectual challenges and seriously steep learning curves:passion.In that list of options you gave, think about, and "feel" each one, and see which one excites you most. Find the one that you believe you can be truly passionate about for the next year or two, and sign up for that one. Your passion and enthusiasm will carry you through what will probably be a pretty tough course.Just FYI, my degrees are: BEng. Hons., Motorcycle Engineering (1st class); and MSc Audio Engineering (Distinction). I'm telling you this because I don't have an electronics background, so perhaps other people's advice will be more relevant.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2025, 05:28:53 pm
content: I'd also look at which subject most of the work is in and whether it is wise to specialise so soon or choose a wider area. Power probably focusses mostly on converters and so on but that will be probably largely digital signal processing and loop control. IMHO control systems, DSP and embedded sounds like directions where you can be employed in a wider variety of fields instead of just power conversion. And I don't think it is out of the question to choose several subjects. For my EE Bachelors degree, I choose my own collection of subjects (including data encoding/compression which a software engineering subject). When I complained to the dean none of the pre-defined collections of subjects appealed to me, he gave me a big book with all the subjects they thaught and he said: just choose what you like and fill in this form.And your education won't end with a degree. You're just starting. I've studied & picked up a lot along the way. Getting a degree is just filling your toolbox with tools on how to tackle a problem.

author: bte
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2025, 11:49:31 pm
content: Let me focus on one particular part of your post:Quote from: Sarvesaa on May 03, 2025, 07:13:43 amTLDR: You chose Germany but will Germany choose you?Long version: I do have a BS and an MS degree in EE. I graduated from the top college in the country about 30 years ago. During my studies, I wasn't the best in class but I was doing OK. I didn't push too hard because I had no intentions to leave the country for either further education or work. My friends who were planning their career from the very beginning with the idea of going abroad had very different styles throughout the years. According to what I heard from them especially on the senior year, they HAD TO get 4.00 GPA (out of 4.00) otherwise their applications would not even be considered. They also had to have good grades so that they would get good references from the professors. In the end, their hard work in chasing good grades and good references paid off and the ones that I still know about have had it quite nice in terms of getting PhD from known universities or careers they built afterwards. It was good to see that not only the guy graduating with 4.00 GPA but also the others who got measly 3.90+ averages also did well.To cut it short: Can you make sure that your grades will not be a hindrance in your path to Germany? Do you know for sure the requirements of how foreign students are allowed? Which of those requirements are more important than the others? Do you need good references? If so, would you be able to get them? It is nice to learn German ahead of time but if there are other requirements to be met, would it be more prudent to work on them first?Yes, this was long time ago. A lot has changed since then. However, the principle of making sure you are treading on the correct path for your intentions has not changed. Yes, you may not end up what you have planned to do but all is well if your efforts end up being useful in some way. An explanation about the "top college" remark: We do have a central examination system for admittance to university (public or private). A candidate applies beforehand with the choice of schools and departments (there were about 1 million applicants when I took the exam). After the exam, everyone is sorted top down according to the score (different scores are calculated for math, science, social, foreign languages etc). EE department of my college took 50 students each year and they came from the top 200-300 students in the math score (as an example, I ranked 17th out of the 1 million applicants that I mentioned). I am a good example of that: I wanted to be an EE. I never intended to leave the country. After the MS degree, I found a job abroad in software development (rather, the job found me) and I never did EE professionally. Some of my classmates are now professors in the US but not as an EE: They are in the finance or economics departments. My professor's prophecy came out to be true: He used to say "If you can become an EE, you can do anything you want".

author: u666sa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2025, 12:36:19 pm
content: Quote from: Sarvesaa on May 03, 2025, 07:13:43 amTwo words, alumni networkPeople are getting hired from alumni network, they get preferred. While people from outside alumni get chosen rarely and often because you have to pay them less.My word of advice is going to be to choose United States as country of study -- if you have such a choice. People often don't have a choice to choose United States. That's why Europe is often a go to place.Then, choose a university which has a popular alumni network in your field.Now, all roads bring you to United States, sooner or later. Because U.S. is the richest country in the world. It can stop buying stuff from another country, and that country won't have any other place to go, because only United States has excess profits to be able to go on shopping sprees online. Entire BRICS combined with everyone else including Europe, don't come even close. So keep that in mind. Ideally you'd want to immigrate. There are people and circumstances where people actually state they want to stay at home country, because so and so and so. That is indeed valid for some. Choose whatever will make you happier.But if you going to immigrate, the sooner you do so, the better. U.S. is the place to be in my opinion, rest of the world is the place to travel to once in a while.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2025, 05:51:59 am
content: Sounds like you might be a Polymath, although need to hear about other (non-engineering) passions, like, for example, extremes of specialty gardening or some particular branch of physics / astronomy. 'Polymath' just means doing well in many fields.I never had spectacular advisors, but they gave some guidance, and doesn't hurt to get more opinions.The first advice involved choice of first year College; Did you have a counselor or advisor on that ? Maybe that person could help sort out the choices....or even suggest ways that avoid the 'choices' altogether (?). Ever consider a degree in Chemistry ? Some schools allow double-major study.