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victorinox329

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  • Gender
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  • Location
    United States
  • Application Season
    2014 Fall
  • Program
    Masters in Liberal Arts and Sciences

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  1. Yeah ... outlooks are bad. I have been doing a lot of research the last few months and things are really not looking good for me in the future. I really want to do something that I love in life, I want to be able to look back at my life and be happy with what I did. I would ultimately love to know that I made positive changes in students lives. Coming from a very low income family and being a first generation college student, I just wanted an opportunity to give back. It really is looking like I may have to bite the bullet and follow in the footsteps of my cousin. He got his B.S in Marketing with a minor in Communication was able to get a full time job working for Altira group (i.e., Philip Morris) 4 years back. He works in their marketing department and his job is in his own words "To get people to voluntarily poison themselves." He hates what he does and his life is full of regret ..... but his job is secure, full benefits, and salaries are extremely lucrative. I know that I could get a job where he is working, but I really want to try to do good with my life. I guess ill have to figure out what is more important to me, having a stable income and a decent standard of living, or my morals.
  2. Thank you for that advice. With regard to the estimated salary, I am actually not overestimating that salary at all. I know several people who graduated from my current M.A. program who started off making anywhere from $35,000-$43,000 teaching as adjuncts.In fact, around here the average person who graduates with an M.A. and goes into adjunct teaching makes at least around $35,000 a year. The issue is that the cost of living where I am (Southern CA) is extremely high and that money really doesn't go very far at all. Anyway, I wanted to also ask if getting a second Masters degree would be preferable to a Ph.D or Ed.D? I know that I would have a full tank of gas going into an M.A. program in something that I am thoroughly interested in learning more about. As was previously stated here, getting an Ed.D doesn't really put me into the college classroom but out of it. Additionally, if I were to get a Ph.D I would have to endure 3-5 years of research — which I don't want to do — in a discipline which I am no longer all that interested in studying. I was thinking getting a masters in an area that I am more passionate about such as sociology or political science so that I could be more marketable (i.e., cast a wider net in the CC application pools). Oh and my current discipline is Communication, sorry I never mentioned it before. I have been doing a lot of reading on the Chronicle of Higher ed and several different online sites regarding the job market for TT M.A/M.S at CC's. The outlook is terrible right now, but employment opportunities are improving slowly as the economy bounces back. Furthermore, it is not impossible to land a full time TT position at a smaller college in more rural areas of the country. Essentially, areas that are undesirable for most people to live in (i.e., South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, etc.). I would be willing to move anywhere in the country that I could find a full time TT job.
  3. I hope I get lucky. My plan was to apply to work at various CCs in a few months while at the same time applying for the Ed.D program. If I don't get into the Ed.D program — likely because I lack professional experience — then I could just work a few years and build experience. I'm hoping that being bilingual in Spanish and willing to relocate anywhere in the US helps with the full time CC job hunt. If I get accepted into the Ed.D program I was considering "sucking it up" for the 2-3 years it takes to finish it. It wouldn't be as bad as going into a Ph.D for my current discipline since Education would feel like a brand new area of study. I would likely enjoy it at least for the first few years. Additionally, People who did the M.A. program I am in and then proceeded to get their Ed.D degree from the schools I'm looking at said that their Ed.D program was significantly less challenging. This is not surprising given that professional degrees (i.e., built for working professionals) tend to have less assignments / reading.
  4. Hi all, I'm in a bit of a complicated situation and would like to share my story with all of you. I hope that by sharing this It will help me figure out what I should do in the coming months regarding application to Ph.D/Ed.D programs. I will begin by giving a bit of background about myself, then I will explain my current situation, lastly I will propose the questions that have been keeping me awake at night the last few weeks. I am a Hispanic male in my mid 20's currently attending a Masters program at a State University. I graduated from a State University with an undergraduate GPA of 3.5 and currently hold a graduate GPA of 3.95. My GRE scores fall around the range of Q142 V160 Writing: 5.5. I am the first person in my family to have attended college and would like to get some advice from others who have gone through the graduate school experience. My area of study is among those listed as "social sciences" on this forum. I am a little over halfway done with my Master's program and have been encouraged by many of my professors to not only present my work at multiple conferences, but also to apply to some of the top Ph.D programs in my field. I know that If I wanted to go that rout I could, but I know that I do not want to be a full time scholar / researcher. In fact, I have really started to grow tired and uninterested in my current area of study. I usually avoid going to conferences and have no real interest to publish my research in abstract journals. No, my real passion falls within the realm of teaching. Indeed, my ultimate goal is to be a full time professor at a community college (i.e., a full time educator not a researcher). Despite this, I have been encouraged several times by various people to pursue a Ph.D in my discipline. I on the other hand believe than an Ed.D with an emphasis on Higher Education would be more in line with my goals. In fact, I have identified several Ed.D programs close to me that offer such a specialization. I have spoken to people who have completed the Ed.D programs that I am interested in and have been informed that the programs are: 1. Doable in 2-3 years 2. Designed for Working professionals 3. Emphasize practical application and learning skills over researcher training. These are essentially the three things that I would want out of a graduate program. With this in mind, I am all but convinced that when choosing between a Ph.D and an Ed.D I should probably apply to the Ed.D. However, there is an additional issue that I am contending with. That issue is my own academic exhaustion. I am just plain tired of being in school. I have been in college for a total of 8 years non stop now and even though I am in the middle of my summer break, I still feel exhausted and don't even want to think about next semester. I don't know if it is wise to apply to an Ed.D program when my energy level for academic work is at an all time low. With that said, there is a very good reason to apply to the Ed.D program as well. That reason being the increased job opportunity and salary that comes with an Ed.D. If I were to start teaching as an adjunct upon finishing my M.A. I would essentially be making about $38,000 - $40,000/year starting. This salary is assuming I teach 6-7 classes per semester as an adjunct. If I were to do the same job as an adjunct with a Ed.D I would be looking at roughly $51,000 starting salary. Assuming that I manage to land full time employment, my salary would being in the range of $55,000-$60,000 while only teaching about 5 classes per semester. The best part is I would be in a community college, and I wouldn't have to research! So my questions are: 1. Should I consider the Ph.D rout even though I no longer have interest in researching within my discipline? 2. Should I suck it up and begin a Ed.D program as soon as I graduate from my current M.A. program? 3. Would you recommend I work for less money with my M.A. for a few years before making any decisions? 4. What is your opinion on going into a Ph.D/Ed.D program while suffering from high levels of academic exhaustion/ burnout? Thanks all! Hope to get some replies that will help me make up my mind. I need to know in the next 1-2 months whether or not I will be applying for the Ed.D or a Ph.D program.
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