Hi y'all. I'm hoping for some feedback from the community before I take the leap into paying for a Masters of Engineering in mat sci. Brief background on myself: graduated from Northwestern with an earth science degree, 3.9 gpa, did 2 years of engineering coursework (including some mat sci classes) before switching majors, also did 2 summers of research (biology-adjacent). Have been in the workforce for 12 years, doing non-science jobs (mostly grocery and music work). I'm ready to transition into a more serious career and after doing some independent study I feel I would enjoy a career in mat sci.
My question now is how to get my foot in the door given my non-traditional background and long absence from school. I was thinking I would try for a funded PhD or thesis-based masters position and have emailed quite a few professors to ask about the possibility of joining their labs, but haven't gotten any promising responses. After talking with a few academic advisors and seeing the student profiles of PhD and thesis-masters students my sense is that my background is not sufficient to get a funded GRA position and that applying to schools with that aim would probably be a waste of time. So, I'm re-thinking my options.
I've heard a lot of advice not to pay for a masters in science/engineering, and I would of course much rather get a tuition waver and a salary, but at this point it seems like my best bet is to do a masters of engineering. I'd be able to get in-state tuition at oregon state and I'm also hoping I can potentially switch to a thesis-masters or PhD once I'm in the program and have made connections with professors. Does this seem like a reasonable path? Should I consider a post-bacc instead? Or are there any mat sci jobs I could potentially get with my background and then work my way up vs going the school route? Any other thoughts or advice are welcome. Thank you!
Edit: I forgot another option I was considering, which is to find a masters program in Europe that's taught in English and would accept my background. Generally very low tuition so would just have to think about cost of living. I'm not sure about the quality of the European programs I'd be able to get into and how they're regarded in the US.