When I was there, this was true, and probably still is. I did an MIT EECS MEng and I'll be honest with you: its probably not worth it if you dont land a TAship or RAship that covers all costs.
Getting into the MEng program is not done by application and decision, its purely 'decided' by your ugrad GPA. The theses dont have any sort of committee, just your advisor signing off. Many advisors cant/wont pay for your tuition unless you are the Bomb so the key is if you can get a TAship, just keep doing that. 1.5 to 2 years later, write a 40 page LaTeX paper about something and you get an MEng
Personally, I did it because you get to polish off your ugrad degree with a bunch of fantastic grad classes and if you play it right, the whole thing is free and comes with a stipend. its a bit more education and lets you stick around but I wouldn't say its thought of as a way to boost income or job status.
Getting into the MEng program is not done by application and decision, its purely 'decided' by your ugrad GPA. The theses dont have any sort of committee, just your advisor signing off. Many advisors cant/wont pay for your tuition unless you are the Bomb so the key is if you can get a TAship, just keep doing that. 1.5 to 2 years later, write a 40 page LaTeX paper about something and you get an MEng
Personally, I did it because you get to polish off your ugrad degree with a bunch of fantastic grad classes and if you play it right, the whole thing is free and comes with a stipend. its a bit more education and lets you stick around but I wouldn't say its thought of as a way to boost income or job status.