Thank you for responding, this is very helpful and clarifying! I have been so caught up in thinking about graduate school that I hadn’t considered finding a firm that shares those values of EC and LCA. I can imagine a good mentor as being one of the most important ways to learn, just like good professors.
I know this is a complicated puzzle, but would you rank two years of work experience (in the right firm) higher than a two year masters degree? I think this is another big question a lot of undergraduates have in structural engineering.