Foo - Work.. or masters...

Ok here's the deal, I have a 50/50 chance of getting into a masters program for mechanical engineering that I'm not exactly qualified to be in, I don't meet the requirements but I have friends who can pull a few strings. Once I'm in, I know I'll be struggling in it. Plus I have to work under a mentor/professor who while smart is totally arrogant and a total ass. The program does however, pay full tuition plus give a $30000/yr stipend.
My other choice is to start working full time at the company I currently work at.
What do you guys think?

Ok here's the deal, I have a 50/50 chance of getting into a masters program for mechanical engineering that I'm not exactly qualified to be in, I don't meet the requirements but I have friends who can pull a few strings. Once I'm in, I know I'll be struggling in it. Plus I have to work under a mentor/professor who while smart is totally arrogant and a total ass. The program does however, pay full tuition plus give a $30000/yr stipend.
My other choice is to start working full time at the company I currently work at.
What do you guys think?

school no doubt. once you start working it's REALLY hard to go back to school. trust me on this one.

If you want it and are going to work at it, keep on with school. If you are going to go just to stay out of the real world, give someone who really wants the chance to get into the school..

If you want it and are going to work at it, keep on with school. If you are going to go just to stay out of the real world, give someone who really wants the chance to get into the school..

There's an empty seat that no one wants in this program. So I'm not really depriving anyone of it.

I don't think you should persue a masters if you don't really want to do it. You may find yourself really frustrated and quit and that would really suck. You may be frustrated and just plug thru it and that would suck too, I've seen it happen to friends. They begin to lose all interest and don't care about there thesis since no one else cares and they just drudge through it. Sure you'll get the piece of paper but that's about it. The best way to get advanced degree is If you have an idea for a thesis that really excites you then you go to the university that best supports your goals and work with them. Just my opinion. otoh if you give it a try you may like it. I'm no help ;)

I agree with jfmckenna, if you're not really excited to do it, then maybe its night right for you. Work should be the same way. I know enough ME's that have droped out of their masters programs becuase it sucked, and they hated it. There is no reason to do it if you dont want to.

good luck either way

i can not speak from experience, but i know that ChE master programs or research based and the reason is that after you graduate you will work for a company in their R&D doing design/development (scale-up, ect.) I would assume that a master in ME would be the samething, so the question becomes do you want to do research, if so do you know what you are interested in, if so then you might want to continue with school, if not then the job world is calling your name
i am currently in chem grad school (instead of ChE, b/c i am not interesting in development, i wanted to do bench-top research)

Personally I'm hoping to be persuing a master's in another year, even if it is ridiculously hard. On the other hand, if you get a job with a company that does a lot of cutting edge type work, they might be willing to cover the costs of your advanced degree while working part time a few years down the road. One of my uncles did it one way, one did it the other and both seem satisfied with the result.

BTW, what school and what will be the topic of thesis?