Words of Experience
To
Prospective Students
Please keep in
mind that I’m writing from the perspective of a University
of Idaho undergraduate student who went on to do graduate
work in Civil Engineering at the University of Idaho.
Graduate
school afforded me the opportunity to mature both personally
and professionally. Personally, I had more time to assess
potential career paths and strengthen my character through
knowledge and experiences. Professionally, I could focus on
a discipline that I enjoyed. I was able to study in-depth
academically, apply my knowledge to real-wo rld
situations, and gain contacts with other professionals. I
began to realize that I was part of a very large team -
transportation professionals around the world - who are
collectively working towards a better way to move people.
What a motivating thought!
Yuri
Mereszcak
M.S.C.E. '05
Kittelson and Associates |
Are Advanced Degrees Worth Money?
Yes, according to
MSN Encarta®
Higher education pays off in the workplace! "An
advanced degree really can be worth millions of dollars
in earnings over the course of a career. In fact, almost
any step forward in education results in a significant
upward bump in income--the further you go in school, the
more you are likely to earn.
"Education
has always paid off, but the income gap between
education levels is expanding. According to the Census
Bureau, in 1975 workers with an advanced degree--that
is, a master's, professional, or doctoral degree--earned
about 1.8 times what high school graduates did. By 1999,
those with advanced degrees pulled in 2.6 times the
salary a high school grad could expect to earn."
|
Take a Job or Finish the Degree? My advise . . .
I have been asked to prepare a quick statement to
emphasize the importance of completing all Master’s
degree graduation requirements before departing
Moscow for full time employment. This I can fully
attest to as it directly applies to what I had done.
I left Moscow at the end of July 2005 and did not
complete all requirements until May 2006. Continuing
to work towards completing my thesis after working a
full 8-hour day, or doing thesis work on Saturdays
and Sundays after the work week was over, was an
incredibly difficult thing to do.
It is exactly why the small amount of work that
remained to be done took nearly 10 additional months
to complete.
Jesse Birchman, M.S.C.E. '06
Transportation Engineer
The Transpo Group, Inc. jesseb@thetranspogroup.com |
Working in teams . . .
One way NIATT helps you in your future career is by
creating teams of graduate and undergraduate
students in different disciplines, in which you can
work with a faculty member on a real problem.
“What I have always appreciated about NIATT is
its focus on skills for the real world centered on
practical applications and field work in an
environment that requires team work, sound
communications, and mutual respect. In my opinion,
this type of teaching encompasses the needs of
today’s work force. Technical people must be able to
work as part of multidisciplinary teams and convey
complex ideas to those with a variety of experience
and expertise.”
Joseph Marek
raffic Engineer and Development Review Manager
Clackamas County, Oregon
M.S.C.E. '89 |
A Career to Count
on . . .
According to
U.S. News and World Report, one career you
can count on is a career as a traffic engineer. And,
as the article states, "producing tangible change is
a source of job satisfaction for many."
In the 2002 article, Andrew Curry states that
"most traffic engineers have a B.S. in civil or
electrical engineering or computer science," but "a
master's degree and state certification are often
helpful." |
