Part Time vs Full Time student at Columbia for MA in psych in education

[gradstudentMACP95]

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if anyone at TC, Columbia is enrolled part time and decided against being a full time student, and vice versa. Trying to figure out what would be best.....You'd be done in a year if you did full time but my main concern is rushing through everything. 

Anything would be helpful, thanks so much!!

[readyset123]

I did my MA at TC and I know the credit requirements make it appear you could be done in a year, however, if you're working at all during the program, an active member of a research lab (putting in the time to publish and present), trying to get in to specific sections of classes, etc., it's actually not super common to finish in a year. There were two people that did that I know of in the last few years and they went full time during the summer and started their IP (your thesis-esque project) their first semester in order to graduate that quickly. And it was still difficult for them to do it. Each one of them did it because they had extenuating circumstances and needed to, however, it's definitely not very common. Most people who start in Fall 2019 would finish in Spring 2021. So it's about 1.5 years. 

[TigerMem]

I'll be at TC in the Fall doing my MA part-time while working. Finishing the program "fast" isn't important to me. I want to take time to build relationships with professor (who will likely serve as future recommenders), getting into and contributing to a research lab, and publishing and presenting. 

@TR95 do you plan to work outside of school?

[gradstudentMACP95]

19 hours ago, readyset123 said:

I did my MA at TC and I know the credit requirements make it appear you could be done in a year, however, if you're working at all during the program, an active member of a research lab (putting in the time to publish and present), trying to get in to specific sections of classes, etc., it's actually not super common to finish in a year. There were two people that did that I know of in the last few years and they went full time during the summer and started their IP (your thesis-esque project) their first semester in order to graduate that quickly. And it was still difficult for them to do it. Each one of them did it because they had extenuating circumstances and needed to, however, it's definitely not very common. Most people who start in Fall 2019 would finish in Spring 2021. So it's about 1.5 years. 

Yeah...I'm definitely leaning towards part time so I can actually take my time and figure out what exactly I want to do and what I want to focus my IP on. It's interesting because all other programs in different schools are 36 credits as well and take two years so it makes sense why most students take 2 years to finish their masters at TC. Thank you for this, it helped.

[gradstudentMACP95]

14 hours ago, TigerMem said:

I'll be at TC in the Fall doing my MA part-time while working. Finishing the program "fast" isn't important to me. I want to take time to build relationships with professor (who will likely serve as future recommenders), getting into and contributing to a research lab, and publishing and presenting. 

@TR95 do you plan to work outside of school?

I am in the same boat; I want to build relationships with faculty and take my time to figure out what exactly I want. I'll be working, yes.