alexandra_sophie

I've had 2 years off now since finishing my second MA and I went straight from my BA into both MA degrees and I am really grateful that I took the time off between the last MA and this round of PhD apps because I am teaching college now (as a lecturer) and I got a chance to do some writing and publishing and professional activities in this time. If I had gone straight into a PhD after the last MA, I would be in a loony bin right now gnawing on the straps of a straight jacket. You don't realise how exhausted you and your brain are until you take about six months to decompress from all that school! It's really healthy to take time off. Most of my professors and friends have taken time off (my undergrad adviser actually almost flunked-out his first semester at Michigan after he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Berkeley) and they were/are much better students for it! Some people can just keep going straight through, but a lot of us need a little time to re-cooperate after being in school since the age of 5! Save-up some money so you have a lovely little egg for starting grad school and you'll be in a really healthy position all-around to start a postgraduate program in a couple of years. I think what you're doing is great and a lot of people I know wish they had done the same. Props to you!

My MA adviser, who is sooo sweet and so helpful 99.9% of the time, kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off until the very last moment (i.e. 2 weeks before it was due and literally a day before I went to Boston for a week right after Christmas). She's in the UK and I'm in the US and I was very patient and did everything that she told me to do but when she wasn't responding to me after I held-up my end of the bargain, I finally had to throw my hands up in the air in a state of panic and dread and had another recommender write-in for me from an internship (and she also happens to be a Philosophy Professor so that helped for a 2 for 1) :wink: . When my adviser finally wrote me back I told her very politely that I had someone else do it because I thought that she had forgotten or become bogged down with other things (as she had so many times indicated that she was "SOOOOO BUSY") and I apologised profusely because I was mortified and she was in a state of profound panic that she had missed a deadline (she had missed one and was about to miss another 2). It was a massive bust-up all-around and I felt really cheap asking another Professor/Superviser to write me a recommendation, but if I didn't, I would've dropped all my balls! I appreciate the fact that professors have other students and other things going on in their lives, but with the advent of all of these things being on-line and being given 4-5 months notice, it seems a bit ridiculous that we're chasing them around in a state of total and absolute panic. (Or maybe that's just me...??!!) I had to write a recommendation for a student this semester and I got it done by the final exam and I *was* running around the department office the day of my student's final getting it into the envelope for her, so I'm not much better, but at least I got it together and it was really just a letter in support of an app for her to attend my alma mater. Oi! Glad you got it worked-out though!!! That's good!

I know this post is almost a year old, but I thought I would reply... maybe it will be helpful? :| You can teach at a Community College or an Undergraduate College/University when you have a Master's Degree. That's the general requirement. I have two MA degrees and I teach at a college as an adjunct right now in the Religion Department with some professionals, some new PhD's, some grad students, etc. I think it's a *really* great plan for you to work towards the Adjunct gig as a transition into teaching at a Community College, just remember to get *out* of the Adjunct teaching because there are absolutely ZERO benefits and it's a pretty crappy deal in terms of how the school and your department treats you (my department chair doesn't even know my name and I've been there almost a year and a half now!), but it's terrific professional experience and you grow a lot as a teacher and as a professional. Good Luck!