dancedementia

Just wanted to chime in. I'm one of those people who decided to attend a top-tier masters program at a private university vs. much cheaper public universities. I did it for the prestige and because I truly believed that my higher-ranked institution would open more doors for me. Halfway through the program, I realized it was a terrible choice. I could not afford to live in the Boston area anymore. I had a small scholarship, but it barely made a dent in the tuition. Coupled with high cost of living (even in the cheaper areas of town), the cost of parking (!!!), some prior student loan debt that was due (private loans, so no forbearance/postponement), and just the stress of grad school in general.... I had to drop out of the program. I was doing well - 4.0 GPA, multiple research commitments and conferences, making great connections. But for someone like me, who absolutely hates debt and has seen how destructive it can be (one of my cousins is still paying off student loans 30 years after she graduated and struggles to make ends meet, one friend committed suicide because he just couldn't make any more payments, etc.)...... well, I realized that in the end, it's not just the program but what you do with it. If I had taken the less-prestigious institution, I wouldn't have had to work 2 jobs to pay my tuition and would have had more time to network and attend conferences. I would have been able to live closer to campus, so I could be more involved in research and student organizations. The worst thing is, that one year at Private Institution cost me $90k in student loans, all of which I still need to repay. Had I chosen my in-state public institution, that $90k would have been more like $20k, which is much more manageable. I'm not a Dave Ramsey addict who believes that all debt is bad, but everyone has a line that they are uncomfortable crossing. For some people, that line may be as high as $200k (looking at you, lawyer/b-school/med school friends). For others, anything above $50k all-in is a no-go. For yet others, $10k is already a big red number. For me, I was not comfortable taking out the amount of debt that I did, and if I were to go back, I'd gladly trade some prestige for the peace of mind that comes with not having so much debt. tl;dr -- think about your own values and what you're comfortable with paying. Don't let other people's perceptions of prestige or ranking sway your own gut feelings.

I think it largely depends on your state and where you're willing to relocate. For example, in Texas, in order to be a school counselor you need to be a certified teacher and have taught for 2 full years before you can even apply for the counselor certification/license. This is definitely a barrier to entry for a lot of people. In Massachusetts (Boston specifically), there are a lot of people vying for very few jobs, so competition is high.

Houston - loved the program, option for online classes, graduate assistantships (at the masters level!) that pretty much gets me a full ride in tuition. Located in a city that I want to eventually work and settle down in. Loved the campus. Suuuuper excited!

I'm also working a temp job to save up some money for a move. Thankfully my job is somewhat peripherally related to my masters program (I'm working in higher ed research administration... as an admin assistant, haha). As an update, got in at University of Houston too! Now time to make the decision...

In at Texas Tech, whoo

Declining UH Clear Lake, UTSA, UTD, and Texas State. Good luck everyone!

The wait is killing me! What are some of you guys doing in the summer between now and (hopefully) starting a program? Continuing to work? Volunteering? Vacation?

Hey there! I've always been interested in teaching at the college level as well.... how feasible is it to hold an actual student affairs position (like, an Assistant Director position) and also be able to teach courses? Is an EdD enough, or do I need the PhD?

I've heard it very often said that in order to get an MFA in a performing arts field (in my case, I'm interested in Dance), you need to have a BFA or at least a BA in the subject. I don't have either - I chose to get a "useful" business degree instead. But I do have years of performing with a small dance company, studio teaching experience, arts admin experience, etc. Is that experience worth anything? Or am I SOL on the MFA front without appropriate bachelor's credentials?

Hey friends! Made a huge career decision switch and am now pursuing a dual masters in Higher Education and Counseling (was previously aiming for PhD in Counseling Psychology... decided that focusing on research was really not my thing). Due to the dual-masters status, I've only got a few applications in progress: Submittted: University of Houston, Texas Tech University Anxiously awaiting hearing back from either of them!

Has anyone attended / interviewed / had any experience with the University of Houston? It's been growing quite a bit in the past decade or so, and I've noticed their research grants have been increasing (and now designed Carnegie Tier One, which they are apt to mention often). But how is the Education department specifically? (Undergrads, feel free to chime in!)

It's not so much the content of the hobby itself, but the fact that they're bringing it up, off-topic, over-emphasizing, in the middle of a program interview. I think it's great that people have outside hobbies and are well-rounded people, but when we ask about your involvement in your undergraduate years that led you to choose psychology as a career..... I just think nonchalantly tossing in side hobbies is an attempt at either a brag or not understanding the question. "Right, so in my undergrad, I was involved in a lot of things, like [insert out-there, unrelated-hobbies here], and that took up a lot of my time, but I learned to juggle it well with my commitments in Psi Chi and tutoring and....." I don't know - it might actually just be a pet peeve of mine. It's not the hobby, it's the context in which you bring it up, and it just shows me that you're a poor interviewer. I didn't ask for a laundry list of your extracurriculars - I asked "why psychology".... In terms of your question about someone's involvement indicating they are uncommitted.... there are definitely some programs who expect 100% from you at all times. Research trumps all. I interviewed for a few programs who straight up told me that my involvement in a semiprofessional dance troupe was concerning - not because of the dance, but because they were concerned that in between rehearsals and performances, I couldn't dedicate proper time to my research. And I can definitely understand this - dance troupes are no joke and eat up a ton of your time. As for categorizing people based on stereotypes, I don't see why psychologists are to be held to a higher standard than anyone else when it comes to this. Everyone should refrain from assigning negative stereotypes, psychologist or not.

Sorry I can't respond to everyone directly - there's a lot of good discussion going on here. To clarify some of my points: 1. I don't think it's terrible to have interests outside of academia. But when we're in the middle of our group interview and you're blatantly tossing out unrelated hobbies (in an attempt to do what?) in front of a panel of conservative academics.... it's not exactly the "best foot forward" approach. I'm personally not offended by any of the items I offered as examples (and actually partake in some form of all of them), but there is a proper time to mention "out there" items, and the group interview - where you're being asked about your career goals and your research interests - is not the time or the place. A person who feels the need to "stand out" as a sparkly unique snowflake comes off as trying too hard. 2. I personally get irritated at try-hards and most professors do as well. There is a line between trying hard and being excited about being there. One of the candidates ambushed one of the professors on her way out the door - when she had just announced that she had a meeting to go to - and tried to engage her in a long conversation about a fairly trivial point that could have been asked to anyone else in the room who DIDN"T need to leave (something along the lines of, "Can I substitute X class for Y class" - girl, calm down, you haven't even been accepted!) Yes, I get you're trying to make a connection and show interest, but disrespecting someone else's time is not the way to go. In my other example (sorry I was typing on my phone and not being clear), there was a LINE of people to talk to us, and this individual straight up cut three people in line to gush in my face. Sorry, no. Expressing glee over being from the same state does not trump common human politeness. I guess tl;dr - don't be an ass and respect the people you're interviewing with. I've been on both sides of the table and it's *always* the candidates who are respectful that get the most points. Another thing to think about is that yes, we're choosing candidates based on their personality, but we're also choosing candidates that we think can represent the program well, not make fools of themselves at conferences, and treat other members of the academic community with professionalism and respect. Anything that is contrary to that -- such as gushing about your love of cats for 15 minutes -- is kind of a red flag.... Like, I'm not going to judge you for liking cats, but if you can't control yourself and be professional for a single interview day, how are we going to trust you to behave professionally at a conference or something?! This sentiment was the one I was trying to get across, sorry I didn't communicate very well EDIT: As a final point, I just wanted to mention this: evaluating candidates sucks, it really does. There are a lot of you, and most of the time y'all all look great on paper. I used to do recruiting for a Wall Street firm, and whew, trying to sift through literally THOUSANDS of applicants is terrifying. At some point, you need to start cutting using *anything* possible. The first rounds of cuts are usually GPA/GRE/easy stuff, but once that's done and you have 300 great candidates, you start cutting based on gut feelings, first impressions, and perceptions of who acted disrespectfully or not. Most of the time, it really isn't personal, but when you have a ton of candidates you need to be selective in ways that aren't always fair. Personally, I would love to admit a cosplaying, anime-loving nerd into my program (mainly because I need a friend to attend PAX and Anime Boston with)... but for the 70-year-old conservative professor emeritus who thinks that kind of thing is bizarre and childish? Not so much :/

Honestly, just the little things that make you think, "Wow, this guy's a jerk." Some examples I saw the past few interview days where I was helping to interview prospectives... Continually apologizing for attending a poorly ranked undergrad ("I could have gone to Yale but my parents wanted me to stay closer to home, I really regret that, my state school was pretty terrible, etc.") Makes you sound like you only care about the prestige of the school... Being a suck-up. No one likes a blatant suck-up. Do it tastefully. But shoving your way past three other people just to ask me a totally obvious question, (e.g. "I've been wanting to talk to you all morning since you come from my same home state! So, do you like it here?" Uh, duh I like it here or else I would have left? And being from Texas in no way implies we are anything alike.) This also extends to blatant show-offs. Treating other candidates disrespectfully when you think the interviewers/profs aren't watching. That's why we have student volunteers and admin assistants hovering around to help out.... they report back to us.... Any sort of bizarre hobby, like.... attending anime conventions every weekend or being part of a burlesque troupe or cold-calling for Bernie Sanders. Not saying any of these things are inherent bad, but you don't want to be singled out as "weird" or uncommitted (unless, of course, you're doing Culture Studies, Dance Studies, or Political Science, respectfully, in which case maybe a brief mention would be fine). You can let that crazy out once you've been in the program for a while, but not on interview day.

Thanks for the insight! That's good to know, as I was debating just getting a masters in counseling and then doing my practicum/internship in a college or academic setting then going straight to work. I still love Counseling Psychology but I don't think I could stand 5+ years of research-oriented work, just to go out and do something like career counseling, so it sounds like the masters in counseling with applied practice in a higher ed is a good way to go?

Hey there! So I'm on the fence about continuing with my original plan (getting a masters + PhD in Counseling Psychology) or switching gears and going the Higher Education route instead. I'm specifically interested in academic advising / career counseling positions on college campuses. So, for example, the advisors you meet with when you go to career services, etc. Do you think having a degree in Counseling Psychology suffices for the job? Or is that almost... overqualified? (For the record, most of my research focuses on multicultural and vocational psychology). Would they prefer someone who has a masters in Higher Ed and some related experience (maybe in other student affairs areas)? Just trying to make sure I do this right before I switch career paths!

Hey there. I'm interested in adjuncting at community/junior colleges in the future (it's a population I'm passionate about and I would prefer to adjunct there than at a 4-year institution, personal preference). If I get a masters in Counseling, would it still be possible to teach Psychology courses? Or would I specifically need to get a masters in Psychology?

Unfortunately that's the exact situation. 2.8 GPA, Economics major. I'm honestly afraid that with my stats/background, I won't be able to find a psych RA job that will let me do more than just data entry and transcription, haha. Thanks for everyone's feedback though. It's definitely not a decision I have to make overnight - have at least a month to decide, so I'm definitely weighing options and seeing what paid options I can find.

No, but comparatively cheap due to in-state tuition (tuition is approx $8-9k per year...) Or maybe I just think it's cheap since I've been wallowing around Boston for the past couple of years haha.

Planning to apply for fall 2018 matriculation for PhD programs (have a few financial situations I need to sort out before then). I have some offers from experimental psychology programs prior to that. Do you think it would be better to go ahead with the masters program (very research focused, allows for thesis), or should I just find a RA job and work that for 2 years instead?

^ I really needed this tonight. Thank you for your perspective and know that what you've written really made me stop and think. I appreciate it.

Just wanted to pose a philosophical question to the high-achieving crew here. How do you guys tone down the overambition? For example, I specifically got myself into a masters program that was top in the field but also cost me a terrible terrible amount of debt. Prior to that, I entered a "prestigious" industry (investment banking) and ended up burning out. I know that if I set my mind to it, I can be - and have been - wildly successful. But I also know that on that road to attainment, I usually end up irritable, overwhelmed, anxious, and push a lot of friends and family away. I stop doing things I enjoy, I stop wanting to be social, etc. I see how it damages my life but I can't keep myself away from trying to do more, be better, and becoming obsessed with prestige. I'm really not trying to humblebrag or anything. Somedays I really really want to be able to NOT be obsessed with getting into a PhD program. I want to be happy with just getting a terminal masters and practicing as a clinician. How do you get out of your head, to stop overanalyzing everything, to choose to be happy with what life throws you instead of always wondering how you can one-up the opportunities you've been given? /rant

Grades are not important at the doctoral level - once you're in. But for me, it's a red flag that OP has a 3.9 ugrad GPA... and then a relatively low masters GPA. Here in the States at least, most masters GPAs are heavily inflated so that most people should be getting around 3.7/3.8 to be "average". A 3.5 is on the low end.

The whole point of a masters is to get more research experience and boost a poor ugrad GPA. You had a great ugrad GPA but your masters GPA is pretty bad in comparison, so that might hurt you. Are you able to publish or present using your masters research? That will help.

Hey friends! So my plans have changed slightly and I'm also applying for MA/MS programs for fall 2016. All of my apps (all four of them haha) are in, so now it's just time to play the waiting game Thankfully many of the programs in my state (Texas) are research-oriented or clinical with a significant research component.