Graduate Course Workload
Graduate Course Workload
(OP)
Hi all,
I've recently decided to pursue a M.Eng degree in structural engineering through a distance learning program. Given that I'm currently employed and recently married, I'm trying to figure out if taking 2 graduate courses at once takes up too much effort and free time... On one hand, I'd like to finish the degree as soon as possible, but on the other I'm afraid that I'll be taking away from enjoying life if I bog myself down with too much schooling on top of work. Anybody had similar experience?
I've recently decided to pursue a M.Eng degree in structural engineering through a distance learning program. Given that I'm currently employed and recently married, I'm trying to figure out if taking 2 graduate courses at once takes up too much effort and free time... On one hand, I'd like to finish the degree as soon as possible, but on the other I'm afraid that I'll be taking away from enjoying life if I bog myself down with too much schooling on top of work. Anybody had similar experience?





RE: Graduate Course Workload
I'd recommend starting off with one and then bump up to two the next semester if all goes well. It completely depends on where you're attending and what course.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
RE: Graduate Course Workload
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Even though the classes were enjoyable (one was a programming course and the other was on operating system theory), never again would I attempt this kind of load. By the end of the session, I was a complete and total zombie and was worthless both at school and work.
Start with one class and see how that goes. You will most likely find it to be plenty. Graduate school will go by soon enough and I do hope you enjoy it. It is a completely different experience from undergrad.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
It's tough. But I want to get done before having kids. Probably half of my classmates do 2 at a time and the other half do 1 at time.
What you can do is try taking 1 at a time for a quarter (semester) or two, and then if it goes well take 2 at a time.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: Graduate Course Workload
I don't know much about statistics, but I do know that if something has a 50-50 chance of going wrong, 9 times out of 10 it will.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
I know a single guy who goes to school with me, who has been doing two courses along with 40 hours of work. He's pretty damn busy.
He and I discussed our "hectic" schedules recently and agreed that it hasn't been that bad. Even though your days are long, you don't get bogged down with one thing all at once. For example, one day this semester I went to work, then went to a class in the middle of the class, then went back to work, then ultimately went home to do schoolwork. Long day, but it really breaks what you are doing.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
As others have said, it depends on the courses. I took 3 geotech courses that required a lot of work. I was single when I took those and spent Saturdays doing homework.
Give 2 a try, you can always cut it to 1 per semester. If your school offers summer classes that's a plus. 3 to 4 courses per year, you'll be done in 4 years. It actually goes by quickly.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Before I started night school for my masters degree, I discussed it with my wife. It is obvious that you need to put some study time in. I reserved Saturday mornings for that. For two semesters I took two classes, it can be done but it definitely requires some extra time.
Good luck.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
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RE: Graduate Course Workload
RE: Graduate Course Workload
That being said, it was 25+ years after my BS degree and my math skills had eroded and my computer skills were very rudimentary. It took longer than I had originally planned in that there were two semesters that there were no classes I really wanted and one where I took off for personal reasons.
It did make me a better engineer, which was the main objective.
Good luck in your endeavor. It will be well worth it over the course of your career.
gjc
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Better brush up on your differential equations, partial differentials, etc. Recommend buying a calc book now if you dont still have yours from undergrad.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Structural Dynamics deals much with modeling systems and then solving the equations describing those systems. First starting with single DOF and then branching into multi-DOF systems.
One thing to remember. As a salaried engineer you don't have the problem that plagued many, if not all, students - There are more than one text on this material and if you don't understand the one your professor chose, then hit the library and pick one that resonates (no pun intended) with you and then purchase it if necessary. Most grad schools let you borrow for a semester at a time.
The above is true for any course really.
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RE: Graduate Course Workload
Also, I'm going to be using Jagmohan Humar's text for Dynamics, any idea if this is a quality book?
RE: Graduate Course Workload
RE: Graduate Course Workload
First of all, don't get too hung-up on the differential equations part....most of the equations for the systems you'll develop (SDOF and MDOF) will have standard solutions but you will need to brush up on calculus as you'll need to recall the derivative of cos and sin plus a few others.
As to your text, never heard of him and I dabble quite a bit in structural dynamics. Are you in the UK or the US or elsewhere? Here in the US books by Mario Paz and Roy Craig are good. Chopra is good for engineers with a background in the material and wish to pursue more earthquake engineering. Chopra presents more sophisticated work beyond the basics and does it very well. It's doubtful you'll need this for a beginner. For me, Clough reads like an old school graudate book where there is a lot of text and no illustrations or examples. But that's just me and yes I'm old too.
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RE: Graduate Course Workload
I can't give much advice because all of my graduate work was full-time and thesis based.
2 courses a semester is a really low course load in comparison to 7 a semester in undergrad.
I suggest going for a thesis based program, very rewarding in my opinion.
Fe
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Check out this website on structural dynamics from the U of Michigan.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/class/cee511/
This guy has some course notes and homework solutions that were helpful for me when I was taking the class a year ago. Its always good to have supplementary material. Plus, it helped that this guy was following the Chopra book, which was what we used as our text.
Interestingly enough, when I was studying for the midterm I was looking at some of the homework problems this guy gave his students as an means of my studying. As luck would have it, my teacher must have found this site as well and he pulled an exact problem from one of this guy's homeworks and put it on our midterm. My friend and I gave each other huge grins whenever he passed out the tests and we saw that problem. Needless to say, I did very well on that problem. It felt like cheating, but I didn't do anything wrong, lol.
RE: Graduate Course Workload
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask