ZeChocMoose

If you are coming right from undergrad, you are going to want a 2 yr program mostly to gain more experience. It would be sorta unusual for offices to value your undergrad work experience esp in academic advising. Undergrad work exp might fair better in student activities or orientation but those tend to be pretty popular areas in student affairs to get jobs (i.e you might be competing with people who have full time experience and a master's degree). Also pick your assistantship very wisely and make sure that you are getting some quality experience so you'll be marketable when you graduate. Also I would look into programs that fully fund their master's students. There are a couple on the East coast-- UConn, UVM, UMD, etc. You can also look at partially funded programs but I would make sure that your loans don't exceed 30/40 K which would a typically entry level salary in the areas that you are talking about.

Do you hope to go the faculty route? One of the negatives I can see with a shorter program is that you'll have less time for articles to be published before you go out on the market. It typically takes about a year to get an article published from initial submission-- some can be shorter or longer depending on the journal and their backlog. I do have to say that having a master's degree might not cut down the time to degree. It depends on how the school looks at those credits and whether they will "count" in reducing the total credits that you need for the PhD. It is definitely something to bring up if program length is your ultimate concern. The only other programs I can think of are executive EdD programs that can be as short as 2-3 years depending on the school. They are typically aimed at senior level administrators though. I am not sure why length is your major focus. Are you concerned your funding will run out?

I think it depends on the area that you are in, what type of house or condo that you buy, and how competitively you price the house/condo. I have seen houses sit on the market for a couple days up to a year or so. Some houses don't sell and the owners take it off the market and try for another time. There are so many factors involved that it would be really difficult for anyone to tell you exactly what is going to happen or to give you a guarantee that your house will sell. It might help to talk to people who know the area well or examine past real estate data of the community that you are interested in. I did seriously consider buying something, but the risk just felt too great. What happens if you can't sell it once you get a job? What happens if you need a repair that is way beyond your current savings? What happens if you lose your funding or decide the PhD is not for you? I think if you have a partner or another person that could financially contribute to the house, maybe it is a less riskier situation. If you go the renting out a room route then you are stuck with screening the prospective tenants and becoming a landlord. Personally, it just seemed too much of a job to take on given how busy and stressful graduate school can be. Personally, I am going to save buying a house to a time in my life when I have a steadier income. It is something to help motivate me finish the degree!

This thread was started in March 2009. I doubt it is a concern for the OP anymore...

All three schools are great programs and well respected in the field but as you said are fairly different. What do you hope to get out of your master's and what do you hope to study? Personally, in a master's program I would want to attend a place that has a decent number of faculty members pursuing various research interests so I would be exposed to different types of scholarship and topics.

It is a bit unusual to have to pay tuition at the PhD level especially in fields where the salaries are not high. At minimum, they should be offering a tuition waiver and a stipend. Without these two items, it is going to be difficult to get through the program and live without going into massive amounts of debt.

My experience was that programs released their funding decisions with their acceptances. Since funding can vary a lot between programs, I wouldn't make a decision w/o having that information from all the schools. So yes, I think it is appropriate to ask about funding, how many years you are covered for, what is the process for renewal each year (if there is one), if they require you to apply to outside fellowships at some point, etc. Finances can have a huge impact on your quality of life during graduate school. You should know what each school is offering and what form of assistance the funding is in (TA, RA, fellowship, etc).

There is clearly no easy solution here. I thought about this for awhile when I was deciding on where to apply to when my dad was really sick. Should I go far away to my dream school? Or should I apply to a local school so I can be close by in case anything happens? I think at some point, you'll want to discuss this with your mom and see whether a compromise can be reached if you decide on the far away school. What support systems can be put in place that makes you feel comfortable and that she will agree to? Unless you are willing to live at home for the rest of your life, you need to make this decision at some point in your future. To me, deciding to leave to attend a graduate school that I really cared about and would help me in my career seemed like a justifiable position especially since you tend to only go to graduate once (or perhaps twice) in your lifetime.

Some things that I would ask when you visit the program is how the EdD students are being treated compared to the PhD students. Are they given the same opportunities and do they have access to the same resources? Are faculty available for mentoring? What are the opportunities for professional development? Usually EdD programs (with some exceptions) assume that you are going part-time and don't offer much for financial assistance. If this is the case with Vandy's program, can you afford to take on the debt for the degree? You are definitely right that some people don't consider an EdD program to be very rigorous. I would look at the institutions that you were hoping to be a VP of Student Affairs to see what degree that these people possess. If it is mostly PhDs, you might be better off going the PhD route. If there is a mix of degrees, EdD might be fine.

If possible, definitely visit all the schools that you are seriously considering. I know before and after my campus visits for my master's degree, my preference list and where I ultimately selected changed drastically. It is also important to get a feel for the faculty, current students, and your potential cohort mates as they will be your colleagues. Schools expect that some people who visit will ultimately go elsewhere. It is not unusual and that is why there are waitlists or the programs will admit more people than they expect to matriculate in the fall.

One year master's programs can be tricky for employment unless you already have a lot of experience -or- you plan to go immediately on to a PhD program so that is definitely something to think about. Also, it is fairly typically to only receive 35K to 40K for an entry-level student affairs job so I'll be hesitant to take out more loans than what you expect to make during your first couple of years. You mention that prestige is an important factor in your decision. I would just make sure after visiting the departments to see how the master's students are being treated. Prestige comes to departments through their doctoral programs so what may be the most prestigious department on the doctoral level in higher ed might not be a great place to pursue your master's degree. You really need to talk to current students and ask critical questions because if the majority of the resources are only available to doctoral students that would be important to know. Since higher ed program are very course intensive, I would make sure there are the necessary courses that you need to pursue your interests and that there are sufficient opportunities available to gain more experience. If a PhD is your ultimate goal, I would ask the departments to give you data on how many of their master's students go on to PhD programs and where they are attending. If you want to remain at your institution, how typical is it to accept master's students in the PhD program? Good luck!

Being in a doctoral program in Education, I would just throw in my 2 cents. I think it is really important at the doctoral level to go to the place that is doing the type of work that you aspire to do (assuming that you want to be an academic). Ideally, this program should also have a couple professors that are doing this type of research in case one of the professors leaves or you don't have compatible working styles. I think it becomes discouraging and disappointing when your program is not very strong in what you want to do -and/or- you can't find faculty members to mentor you. If there is a research fit between you and the faculty members at USC and you like the program when you visit, I would chose it over an unfunded master's program. I also think USC has a good name as an education school. I won't worry about what US News ranks it as. However, if you are still drawn to HGSE and Stanford and want to pursue the PhD eventually, I would ask faculty and current students whether it is typical for master's students to get into the PhD program. I know at some programs they would rather their master's students go elsewhere for their PhD.

I don't think it has anything to do with popularity, but more to do with how there is an assistantship selection process that usually follows the first round of admission decisions. Therefore, you need some time to get both in by April 15th and account for your applicants applying to other places. Therefore higher programs who offered this model tend to notify early so they can set up campus visit days where finalist or admitted students can interview for specific assistantship opportunities. From other education master's programs, I don't get the sense that they have this dual process so perhaps that is why they notify later than the higher ed programs.

I am going to be honest-- from what you wrote, I would suggest not to enter a higher ed master's program especially since it sounds like your real academic interests are in a different field. It is not quite clear to me how pursuing a master's program in higher ed will be helpful to your interest in Media Studies and Women's Studies. You might be able to take a class in women in higher ed (assuming that your program offers it), but that is only one class out of many that you will have to take. Based on my experiences from people that have master's in higher ed and then tried to switch to other academic fields, they encountered some roadblocks along the way. The ones that were successful were the people that could clearly articulate how the higher ed master's degree was helpful to their new academic field and they also sought research experiences in this new field to strengthen their candidacy. If you are hoping that you will gain enough research exp in a higher ed master's program that usually isn't the case as most higher ed master's programs are not designed for students to gain research exp instead they are designed for students to gain enough practical experience in the field to get jobs in student affairs/higher ed after graduation.

I agree with Origin=Goal. I would just talk to your supervisor and explain the situation that you haven't accepted yet, but it is looking like you won't be there in the Fall. I know it might be an awk conversation, but better to do it now when they can position someone else for the leadership role than a month from now. If you accept the leadership role and then end up leaving to go back to school, I think that would burn more bridges than just being honest about your current situation.

In Education, this is fairly common (part-time PhDs). Your course load seems high to me (2 classes and a proseminar), is that the typical load of part-time PhD students in your program? Are there many part-time students in your program? From friends that I have seen doing this, it can be a real drain on the personal life aspect. They are either working or doing schoolwork and there isn't much time for anything else. This can be hard to sustain if it ends up taking 8-10 years to complete the degree. Also as your cohort will be completing the program faster than you are, you might feel like you don't have quite the same support system as the full-time students. My understanding is there are just trade offs that part-time students have to face. Some weeks, the job is the priority and other weeks, school is the priority. If you have a supportive office, it seems like it all works out. The good news is you are working in the place that you are doing your PhD so you won't be losing time to travel. And since you don't plan on being an academic, you don't have to be concerned about publishing constantly which is good as well.

I am looking to gather graduate-level syllabi on Philosophy of Social Science courses. Primarily I am interested in the content of the courses, readings that were assigned, and the structure of the course. If you have taken such a course or if your program has such a course and you don't mind sending me the syllabus that would be great. (Please feel free to PM me.) I have been doing some web searching, but I keep on running across undergraduate courses which isn't very helpful.

I think that is a great question: how much debt is too much debt? I think the answer depends on how much debt that you already have from undergrad and whether you are planning to do a PhD at some point. Unfortunately the federal government got rid of subsidized Stafford loans for this upcoming year so if you end up taking them out you'll be accruing interest even in deferment which is something to think about. Also as pourtant points out it depends how old you are (20K at 25 might be very different than 20K at 35) and what your plans are for other big purchases in your future (cars, houses, weddings, etc). Another good thing to look at is what is the average starting salary for someone in your field with a master's degree. I know when I was selecting where I would go for my master's degree-- affordability was a major concern. I decided on the school that offered me full funding that could meet all my needs instead of the school that was slightly better ranked, but required that I pay about 60-70K. Personally, it was a good decision and I had a great experience in my master's program. I also don't think it hurt me in the PhD process either because I ended up at that second school for my PhD. This time around though they offered full funding because it is a PhD program.

Yup, that is why I wrote "several" and not "all." If you reread my post, I also suggested practical experience as well.

I have to disagree with several posters who suggested for you to seek out research experiences. If you were applying to a PhD that would be important, but since your aim is on the master's-- your best bet (assuming that you are unsuccessful this time around) is to rewrite your SOP to better explain why you wish to enter a career in higher ed admin and to seek out experiences in education whether that is through volunteering or what not. It doesn't need to be at an university. It can be with an organization that focuses on education, working with students at the local high school, etc. FYI--It's really unusual for master's degree applicants in higher ed to have relevant research experience. Typically adcomms are more interested in the practical experiences that you are bringing with you and your interest in the field. Also some higher ed master's programs don't really focus much on the research-side of the field to begin with...

I don't regret it for a lot of reasons. My program is where I need to be to become the best quantitative researcher that I can possibly be and I don't know if that would have been possible staying in my current job. Mainly because the universities around me in my former job were not particularly strong in statistics or methodology. Also, I would have only got to a certain level with a master's degree in my field. I knew I wouldn't be satisfied personally or professionally being stuck in this "middle zone." That is not to say that every day is roses, sunshine, and daises. There are definite challenges living on less than a 1/3 of what I use to make. My housing accommodations have been the biggest shock to my system as I now live in a pretty small one bedroom apartment (compared to a 3 bedroom house). Granted, I don't share with anyone but it is rough going back to "student" apartments and dealing with less privacy and noise. Honestly though, you adjust, your priorities shift, and as long as your stipend is adequate to live on in the area of your university, you hopefully won't have a lot of financial issues. If the funding that you get from your program is not adequate to live on, then I think that is when your decision process becomes tricky and money might become a real big issue. Edit: Also not being afraid to say "I can't afford it" with friends and families. I don't know if you are an American or not- but seems like this country has a weird issue with saying this. I have had to learn how to do this, but the response has been fine and I think people generally understand that as a student I have more financial limitations.

I just wanted to add that master's programs in higher ed that fully fund their students can be very competitive. I don't know which program that you got rejected from-- but that could be what is going on. I do echo the other posters who stated that your SOP and relevant experience is valued more than GPA and GRE scores.

I left a well paying job to enter a PhD program. For your situation, you don't have enough information to make a decision because you haven't been accepted yet and you don't know the funding package that you are being offered. I say go to the interviews, check out the program, and wait to see what they say. You may decide the program isn't a good fit or the funding situation is not doable. You can always stay with your job and apply to programs in the future. In the Bank section, there is a good discussion on how to live on a graduate assistantship salary. Basically, it comes down to living within your means and making sacrifices on some luxuries. Everyone chooses to do that a little differently so there really isn't a one size fits all answer. (I gave up TV and I eat out less especially lunches. When I worked full time, I always bought lunch.) It also helps if you don't have a lot of debt going into graduate school and have some savings.

When I applied last year, I started to get interviews at the end of January and then I heard decisions in February so there is definitely plenty of time. I know the waiting at the time was terrible though. The good news is hopefully in a couple days, they will offer you a decision, hitomimay. Or at least some information that you made it to the next round or something. I remember I had to wait a week between my interview with my dream school and the ultimate decision last year. It was really hard, but I was glad that at least I had a deadline.

It is probably going to depend on the school that you are interested in. The other question you would want to know is how many EdD students in those particular graduate schools have master's degrees when they enter the program. That will give you some understanding of what will make you competitive for an EdD degree (assuming that the program is competitive.) Also since EdD programs tend to be more practitioner focused, you will want to have sufficient full-time experience in your field of interest.