TexasGirl

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post! I appreciate your replies and insight and apologize for not writing earlier. I am new to the forum and had checked a couple of times and never realized that anyone replied. I am still deciding what I am going to do, though my days to ponder my decision are dwindling. :-/ I am leaning towards going for fear that perhaps I won't get into a comparable program next year, but the reality of the debt is still weighing on me. My family is telling me that going would help my resume for work and for future doctoral applications. BTW, thanks for calming my fears of being too old to go for my doctorate when I'm in my thirties. When I think about it, I really feel I need a masters as I would like to use it for a few years before PhD study. I guess the choice is now whether I stay, teach again, take a few sociology classes and hopefully make myself competitive for another masters program for Fall 2012 or I eat the debt and go.

Hi Juillet Merceredi, Being a teacher, there are many opportunities for getting a subsidized masters in education, educational leadership or curriculum and teaching, but not for sociology of education, which is my interest. As far as I know, there are not very many sociology of education programs and NYU is among the top schools offering a degree in Soc of Ed. My undergrad major was print journalism and I like the idea of taking a few sociology classes before embarking on a doctorate to ease my anxiety that I am underprepared for doctoral study. If I end up teaching another year, I am absolutely going to take classes.

Hi Gradschoolvoyage, I agree with exploring more opportunities. I actually just kind of saw the NYU sociology of education program, read up on professors and was completely gung ho. It was the only school I applied to and I told myself that if they didn't help me with funding, I wouldn't go. I ended up with a 12k scholarship and with my Americorps scholarship, I still will be about 60k in debt. However, once the prospect of embarking on a masters at a great university, in a great city and in a great program loomed ahead of me, I really started debating whether i could afford the debt. My plan was to to go to NYC, get my masters, and then work before I get my doctorate, preferably in sociology of education or sociology with a focus in education. If I don't go to grad school this year, I will teach another year and soul search and hopefully find a masters or doctoral program that gives me a little more funding. I can't believe I am still debating as I need to make arrangements here pretty quickly and the stress of this all is getting to me. :-/ I really would like to get my masters from Steinhardt at NYU but I am having a hard time with the debt as the education/non-profit field is not known for being a very lucrative field.

Thank you for the insight. I guess I would just like to pay off the loans as soon as possible as debt is one thing that really terrifies me, but I could always make the interest payments and go to get a Ph.D., as you suggested. I would definitely only go for find a funded program, though. No need for more debt if I can help it!

Hi everyone, I am currently a 27-year-old teacher considering a masters in the sociology of education at NYU Steinhardt. I joined a program to teach for two years in an underserved school and my experiences have instilled in me that I would like to continue working in education after my graduate studies, though not necessarily as a classroom teacher or school administrator. I see myself working at a non-profit involved in education or doing research after my masters study. I would like to get my masters at NYU, but I am extremely concerned with taking out 70k in loans for this degree. I know it would be a useful degree considering my area of interest, but I know I probably will start off making around 60k after I am done. I am also interested in eventually getting my doctorate. I chose to get my masters first because I have a BS in an unrelated major and zero research experience. I know that I would need to have paid off my MA loans before I pursue a doctorate, which would mean I wouldn't be able to pursue my doctorate for at least six years after I get my masters. I wouldn't mind this as I would like to work before I begin my stay in academia, but I am worried about my age when I will be applying for sociology doctoral programs, as I read that most students are usually in their mid-twenties with many years to contribute to their field. Is a masters from NYU worth getting into so much debt and not being able to save for the next 6 years or so before I begin doctoral study? Is 35 too old to go for a doctorate? Should I just wait and apply to a doctoral program next year?