Why do engineering schools c**p all over their graduate students?

Question

My fiance is going to Northwestern and they recruited her like crazy. She's earning like $26k a year and has her education paid. They are even giving the people in her program free Macbooks! I, on the other hand, am at IIT in Chicago studying Electrical Engineering. Not only do they charge about $9,000 per semester, but in return they give you professors who are very difficult to understand (so I read about 30 pages per day per class to catch up), they don't let you do research until after a whole year, it's impossible to get advised or talk to a real person, and they just in general c**p all over you. What is the deal? I thought we were supposed to be ENCOURAGING math/science/engineering in the US?

Answer 1

Well... You know...

You aren't going to want to hear this. But there's a real difference in quality between Northwestern and IIT, and I think you're feeling some of the effects of that, at least in terms of the quality of instruction.

There are some grad engineering programs that do quite well by their students, but part of this - the money part - is because many engineering grad students, getting their masters, are having that masters paid for by their employer. There's less institutional (university) financial support there because there's such a huge base of employer support. You find similar in MBA and other professional programs - almost no one gets funded by the university for their MBA, or their JD.

There are external fellowships and etc. available to masters degree candidates in engineering. This is one example:

https://www.asee.org/ndseg/

You could do research, try to find a fellowship, and apply.

Most universities also have fellowships and assistantships to which you can apply. Usually, you are a research or teaching assistant, and in exchange, they pay your tuition and may also give you a stipend. This sounds like what your fiance may be doing, yes? Does IIT have such a program?