I'll add to this too. We have had potential employers invited to speak in front of classes for the joint MS/PhD program, often ~6 employers for the hour of clas

I'll add to this too. We have had potential employers invited to speak in front of classes for the joint MS/PhD program, often ~6 employers for the hour of class time, and this happened a few times. One guy said '... entry level positions for MS students like you ...', though I was half asleep, I did pick that one out of the talk. When the Q&A part came around, I asked him about it. He said "We will not hire any engineer without a MS. The MS is now entry level", and the other people there agreed with him. This was in bio-medical engineering, fwiw.