Hi Super,
I had to make the M.A.T. vs. M.Ed. choice a few years ago when I was working toward certification. As you’ve said, the M.A.T. means that you’ve focused more on your subject area, while the M.Ed. seems to be more focused on education generally.
I chose the M.A.T. My sense is that it really doesn’t make too much of a difference. I ended up taking more classes than my M.Ed. colleagues – I was required to take the same education courses in addition to more subject area courses. I’m glad with my choice – it really gave me a chance to dig into my subject area at the grad. level before teaching.
I’m starting a Ph.D. program this fall, and I’m not sure that my application would’ve been received much differently had I done the M.Ed. instead. This seems a really small factor in comparison to letters, GPA, GRE, etc. etc.
Hopefully someone else can confirm my sense of this.