Choosing an MA offer over a PhD offer

[hector549]

This is a post meant to serve as some unsolicited advice for those of you who were admitted to both a PhD program and an MA, and are considering turning down the PhD offer in favor of the MA, to try to get into a higher-ranked PhD program the second time around. I decided to go one of the top MAs last year, rather than a PhD program ranked around 40, and I learned some things after being in an MA for (almost) a year that I wish I would have known about and taken into consideration at the time:

1. My MA program is fully-funded, I live in a low COL town, and I’m a frugal person. However, my MA stipend is really only enough to cover very basic living expenses. Consequently, I’ve had to borrow money to move, to make a trip or two out of town, and next year I’ll have to borrow more for application fees, to retake the GRE, and to pay for various student fees that my stipend won’t cover. I wish I’d considered how much further the PhD stipend I was offered would have gone for me.

2. There’s a cost in terms of stress involved in reapplying from an MA that I very much underestimated. There’s a lot of pressure to do well, since my future is riding on how well I’ll do at my MA. The first time around was stressful, but I also had MA apps as a backup plan. This time, when I apply out, I won’t have that luxury.

I may have still made the choice that I ended up making; I’m not sure. I'm certainly getting the chance to develop my interests, and to get better at philosophy. It may also pay off next year—who knows! However, I wish I had known about these issues when I made my decision. I just thought I’d share these things I’ve learned as you make your admission decisions. Good luck!

Edited March 20, 2018 by hector549

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

I'm also being told that placement out of 'top' programs isn't necessarily better than lower-ranked institutions. An alumnus of a fairly prominent west-coast school told me that the department takes pleasure in throwing Yale applications in the trash... They don't care about how famous you are. They care if you can teach.

Another thing to consider might be 'climate.' Since your marketability depends so much on your own effort, it seems worth asking where you think you'd thrive. For example, some departments have an atmosphere of competition, and other are more community-support oriented.

Just my $2.

[thehegeldialectic]

On 3/20/2018 at 10:53 AM, Rose-Colored Dasein said:

I'm also being told that placement out of 'top' programs isn't necessarily better than lower-ranked institutions. An alumnus of a fairly prominent west-coast school told me that the department takes pleasure in throwing Yale applications in the trash... They don't care about how famous you are. They care if you can teach.

Another thing to consider might be 'climate.' Since your marketability depends so much on your own effort, it seems worth asking where you think you'd thrive. For example, some departments have an atmosphere of competition, and other are more community-support oriented.

Just my $2.

Well said.

[Zimmy64]

On 3/20/2018 at 9:53 AM, Rose-Colored Dasein said:

I'm also being told that placement out of 'top' programs isn't necessarily better than lower-ranked institutions. An alumnus of a fairly prominent west-coast school told me that the department takes pleasure in throwing Yale applications in the trash... They don't care about how famous you are. They care if you can teach.

Another thing to consider might be 'climate.' Since your marketability depends so much on your own effort, it seems worth asking where you think you'd thrive. For example, some departments have an atmosphere of competition, and other are more community-support oriented.

Just my $2.

My old undergraduate institution said something similar. The often end up throwing away applications from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc because those applicants often think the prestige of their graduate school will do all the work for them. The prestige helps but you also need to be able to teach (as you said).