Masters in Engineering Management Online
All you need to know

As opposed to your typical MBA program, a master’s degree in engineering management bridges the gap between the various learned engineering skills and business acumen.

As a bachelor’s degree holder in engineering, a management science course would help you to:

1. Enhance your leadership skills: a management skill set will provide you with a solid foundation in financial handling, human relations, strategic planning, organizational behavior, and project administration. As an example, Drexel University offers a challenging program that can improve your business skills.

2. Solve business and technical challenges that can ultimately lead to organizational success.

In short, yes. It's beyond doubt that a multitude of engineering projects such as transportation and structural tasks would require robust business skills, as well as systems engineering competence for successful completion.

Therefore, by pursuing an engineering management program, you would obtain the necessary leadership skills while building professional experience. This puts you miles ahead of the competition as far as employment opportunities are concerned.

To determine the kind of online degree to pursue or university to attend, you need to consider several aspects:

• The kind of skills you need to acquire: Generally, most engineering management degree courses focus on practice rather than theory.
  
  You want to settle on a master’s degree with a research aspect or require the development of a thesis if you need a program that could lead to a doctoral certification; for instance, the Stanford's coterminal program, which allows you to undertake a B.S. in management science and engineering, M.S in management science or a quantitative major.

• The type of flexibility you want: This issue matters a lot if you wanted to consider a coursework that would seamlessly fit in with your work schedule.
  
  In this case, an online master’s course such as those offered at Purdue and Cornell universities will provide you this chance as you can adjust your coursework depending on your needs and time frame.

If you're a working professional, especially in the architectural or engineering sector, you have a higher chance of being enrolled in an engineering management master’s degree program in a prestigious university since most admission committees require some experience.

For instance, the Vanderbilt engineering program requires two years of professional experience in the field you're applying for.

With a master’s degree in engineering, you can virtually work in a variety of organizations such as a scientific research university, or architectural and manufacturing firms.

This stems from the fact that a management skill program equips you with an essential mix of technical and business skills crucial for any organization's prosperity. Combining skills from both fields prepares you for job opportunities in either sector, especially where they intersect.

Upon successful graduation, you will have increased eligibility for many jobs, including:

An analyst

In this position, you'd be tasked with determining how products are developed and completed. You may work in a wide range of organizations such as healthcare, computer science, and food firms. You'd spend most of your time resolving problems and producing reports of technical recommendations and strategic practices. The position has a projected growth rate of about 26%.

A construction manager

In this role, you'd be tasked with planning budgets, overseeing production, and coordinating labor at your workplace.

In this role, you'll need to work alongside customers, construction panels, and engineers. This position has a projected growth rate of around 5%.

Architectural and engineering manager

In this position, you'll be required to oversee projects, liaise between contractors, clients, and designers, and engage in the planning of new engineering projects. The position has a projected growth rate of 2%.

These are just a few of the career positions you can end up within a long list of other options.

Absolutely. Most online master’s degree engineering management students work while studying, thanks to the degree programs' flexible nature. For instance, the Johns Hopkins University online professional engineering management program allows you to enroll for on-demand, weekend, or evening classes.

These would enable you to work full time within your study period.

According to Payscale, a master of engineering management degree would lead to the following career options and the equivalent average pay per annum:

• Manufacturing engineer: $76,000

• Process engineer: $78,000

• Project Engineer: $78,000

• Mechanical Engineer: $82,000

• Project Manager: $ 84,000

• Electrical Engineer: $87,000

• Project manager, Engineering: $95,000

These would increase steadily over the next coming years due to the increased need for engineering management professionals.

Your salary can also be dictated by other factors such as the existing national average pay for engineering management experts, your type of industry, geographical position, education level, and experience. For instance, there is a variance in the average salaries for engineering managers operating in different U.S. states.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for architectural and engineering managers was $144,830 in 2019 and is set to rise in the coming years.

As an online student, you'll require some preliminary qualifications before you apply for a master’s degree program at any university. For an engineering management course, you'd need to have the following general requirements:

• An undergraduate bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution or college of engineering or science field

• Specific subjects, core courses, or discipline combinations depending on the college of engineering you wish to enroll in and the graduate degree you are eyeing.

• GRE scores

• Resume

• Academic or professional references

As an online master’s student, you’ve got several options for financing your tuition.

This includes:

• Working as you learn to finance your tuition fee.

• Completing a free application for federal student aid (FAFSA), which would determine your eligibility for grants, loans, and scholarships.
  
  As such, your potential college can offer you a scholarship or helping hand, depending on your qualifications and situation, for instance, the Drexel University online financial aid opportunities.

• Getting a sponsorship deal from your employer that can see you through your preferred online degree University.

• Other financing options since two-thirds of the current University students depend on one loan or another to further their education.

• Financial aid for veterans and those still in active military service.

A master's in engineering management online program can be advantageous in the following ways:

1. Allows a flexible coursework routine that can be of great convenience, especially if you're a working professional.

2. Provides an opportunity to study at a college of engineering of your choice despite your geographical position.

3. Can take a lesser period to complete compared to on-campus learning models.

Are the master's in engineering management online programs offered by various universities different from each other, and what can you expect from them?

On a broad scale, an online master’s degree will equip you with the necessary engineering management skills that can enable you to run the engineering and business aspects of a project effectively.

However, each of the core courses is designed differently to meet the various needs that span the engineering field, depending on the existing concentrations and school faculty. Each online program might feature different undergraduate degree qualifications, engineering project requirements, curricula, application procedures, and completion times.

It is therefore vital to research each course to determine the most suitable learning style and objectives.

The completion time for your online master’s program depends on several factors. Some questions to consider include: 1) Are you studying full time or part-time? 2) What are the existing term lengths? 3) Are there any final engineering projects or Master’s degrees you need to complete? and 4) Are there any transfer credits required? These and other issues would cumulatively determine the time you'd spend on your online program.

However, if taken on a full-time basis, you can spend up to two years (and between 30 to 36 credits) to complete your degree. An example of this would be the Penn State University university program that utilizes the cohort-based approach to learning and instruction. On the other hand, a part-time engagement would dictate its own completion time as it would depend on your pace.

Various factors come into play when determining a program's curriculum and what you can expect to cover in your coursework. For example, it’s important to understand the program’s core courses, and the skills they are designed to strengthen.

Some of the top universities offering engineering management courses have specialized in particular areas or subfields. As such, you need to inquire on an individual basis to determine what you can learn from these courses. Nevertheless, most courses have similar content despite having minor curriculum differences.

Your online master’s degree's value is just like a traditional master’s degree: it significantly depends on the accreditation standards and acceptance rate of the institution.

Some of the available accreditation criteria and standards include:

• National Accreditation: usually meant for for-profit institutions and religious or vocational organizations. This accreditation is considered inferior to others, making it more challenging to transfer your credits.

• Regional Accreditation: covers a wider area and spectrum of schools and is more rigorous. It caters to traditional and online non-profit institutions and is customarily provided by one of the six regional groups responsible for determining an institution's eligibility and accreditation standards.

• Program-Based Accreditation: Takes care of public institutions, online learning, and industrial engineering courses. It is usually administered by the national council of examiners for engineering and surveying, programs within universities or technology accredited independent engineering schools, and the accreditation board for engineering.

Likewise, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), in collaboration with the Department of Education (DOE), oversees accreditation standards and acceptance for private institutions. For instance, they certify their accrediting agencies since CHEA is a union of universities and colleges meant to identify the best accrediting practices.

While DOE is an agency concerned with federal education policy and financial goals, it puts them in the correct position to provide the best accreditation standards.

These are groups responsible for connecting those in the engineering profession; for instance, helping in their continuation of professional education, entrepreneurship journey, as well as industrial development.

Some of them include:

• Society of Women Engineers: This is a technical professional group that promotes female engineers' interests by uniting them via different networking forums.

• National Society of Professional Engineers: A country-wide organization responsible for uniting all the engineers with a professional license.

• American Association of Engineering Societies: A nationwide group that brings together engineers from both the private and public sectors and different fields for a common objective.