MA in psychology or work as RA

[Diogenes314]

I hope someone here can provide me with some info. on my question. Any help is appreciated.

I am currently trying to figure out what the best route is, I am considering pursuing a masters in psychology with the hopes to land a community college instructor gig. My question is, how saturated is the market with MA's trying to do the same thing and even PhD's vying for the same positions.

Also does it matter if the MA in is general psychology or social psychology in terms of landing one of these jobs?

Secondly how good of an idea is trying to get a 2year gig as a RA in psychology and then trying to reapply to a PhD? Is the risk of not getting in again worth it over going for the MA and getting into debt?

Again, any information is appreciated, particularly curious about the market for community college jobs and whether the type of MA matters.

Thank you.

[PsychGirl1]

I hope someone here can provide me with some info. on my question. Any help is appreciated.

I am currently trying to figure out what the best route is, I am considering pursuing a masters in psychology with the hopes to land a community college instructor gig. My question is, how saturated is the market with MA's trying to do the same thing and even PhD's vying for the same positions.

Also does it matter if the MA in is general psychology or social psychology in terms of landing one of these jobs?

Secondly how good of an idea is trying to get a 2year gig as a RA in psychology and then trying to reapply to a PhD? Is the risk of not getting in again worth it over going for the MA and getting into debt?

Again, any information is appreciated, particularly curious about the market for community college jobs and whether the type of MA matters.

Thank you.

I'm going through the same decision- I got into a few MA programs and I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to go that route or work some more and apply to PhD in a year or two. :-/

[Diogenes314]

I'm going through the same decision- I got into a few MA programs and I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to go that route or work some more and apply to PhD in a year or two. :-/

Well then we are basically in the same boat. I contacted a few community colleges and some of the people were actually quite helpful. It seems like at least you will be able to get an adjunct position which is basically part time, and they hire full time teachers with 1-2 years experience which I think you can get while you work on the MA. A few of them said it is a decent idea to go for the masters. The risk/cost being more debt of course and might not get the job, while the risk/cost with the RA route is that you waste 2 years in a job you don't really want in the possible hopes of the PhD.

I suppose you can go the MA route and eventually try to get a PhD after some community college experience if you so chose, but unfortunately heard from a professor that having a masters doesn't really take any time off of the time to complete the PhD. 33% of PhD students drop out anyways, so depending on how you look at it, maybe it's a blessing in disguise?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this whole life decision of suck.

[PsychGirl1]

Well then we are basically in the same boat. I contacted a few community colleges and some of the people were actually quite helpful. It seems like at least you will be able to get an adjunct position which is basically part time, and they hire full time teachers with 1-2 years experience which I think you can get while you work on the MA. A few of them said it is a decent idea to go for the masters. The risk/cost being more debt of course and might not get the job, while the risk/cost with the RA route is that you waste 2 years in a job you don't really want in the possible hopes of the PhD.

I suppose you can go the MA route and eventually try to get a PhD after some community college experience if you so chose, but unfortunately heard from a professor that having a masters doesn't really take any time off of the time to complete the PhD. 33% of PhD students drop out anyways, so depending on how you look at it, maybe it's a blessing in disguise?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this whole life decision of suck.

Honestly, I feel like we can analyze a lot of life decisions as far as risk/cost/probability and the like... but I think what it comes down to is what you really want. 33% of PhD students drop out... but if you take the time to think about it and be confident that this will get you where you want in life, you won't be one of those 33%. And if your goal is to teach at a community college and that's why you are doing your masters and that's what your passionate about, it's very likely you will find a job, especially because that passion will probably show through. Obviously I think it's good to be somewhat realistic about job markets, etc., but the fact is that if you're great at your job and passionate about it, you will most likely always find some sort of position somewhere, regardless of everything else.

Would you be content to work in a community college as a professor? Would you prefer the students in community college vs a 4 year college? Would you be content with only a masters degree and not going back for your PhD? You could also do the MA and go directly to the PhD from there. Is your end goal teaching, or would you want to do research as well? I couldn't really tell any of this from your 2 posts. I think maybe instead of thinking short-term to long-term, you should figure out what you want long-term and work your way backwards.

[Diogenes314]

Honestly, I feel like we can analyze a lot of life decisions as far as risk/cost/probability and the like... but I think what it comes down to is what you really want. 33% of PhD students drop out... but if you take the time to think about it and be confident that this will get you where you want in life, you won't be one of those 33%. And if your goal is to teach at a community college and that's why you are doing your masters and that's what your passionate about, it's very likely you will find a job, especially because that passion will probably show through. Obviously I think it's good to be somewhat realistic about job markets, etc., but the fact is that if you're great at your job and passionate about it, you will most likely always find some sort of position somewhere, regardless of everything else.

Would you be content to work in a community college as a professor? Would you prefer the students in community college vs a 4 year college? Would you be content with only a masters degree and not going back for your PhD? You could also do the MA and go directly to the PhD from there. Is your end goal teaching, or would you want to do research as well? I couldn't really tell any of this from your 2 posts. I think maybe instead of thinking short-term to long-term, you should figure out what you want long-term and work your way backwards.

That was short and long term goals, being a professor. I would probably prefer to teach at a 4 year college, but like you said, think realistically, it's too difficult to tell that far in the future what will actually happen and how many other people want to do the exact same thing.

[PsychGirl1]

That was short and long term goals, being a professor. I would probably prefer to teach at a 4 year college, but like you said, think realistically, it's too difficult to tell that far in the future what will actually happen and how many other people want to do the exact same thing.

Oh, sorry, I was a bit confused. I guess my point is, if you want to teach at a 4-year college, then you should go for your PhD. You can always drop out with your Masters if it comes to that and teach in a community college. I don't think you should worry about numbers or acceptance rates, just work super hard in the next 1-2 years and then apply for the PhD. And if you don't get in, apply again. And I'd probably cold email some professors at your undergrad or wherever and ask for advice. I've heard that mostly you just want to pick a narrow specific interest and just start publishing within that area. Basically at 4-year schools they just care about publications and having your PhD. And if you don't get in anywhere, do more stuff and apply again. I guess I just feel like you should do anything to make your life dream happen.

And I would definitely not go for your masters unless it is funded with a stipend. Even then, a lot of professors have recommended that I skip the masters, get more research experience and apply to PhDs.

[leica818]

I was actually in this position last year. Well.. the fall/winter of 2009. I'd applied to solely PhD programs my last year of college and was rejected/waitlisted-then-rejected from them all. I was so stressed out and desperate; it was a really horrible time of my life. I ended up taking a job in Dallas even though I did not want to leave home and worked for two years. Before leaving for Dallas though, I'd applied to schools again, this time to MA and PhD programs. I was accepted into quite a few programs the second time around (different schools), but in the end I decided to stay and work for 1+ years and then re-apply for MA and PhD programs.

I'm not exactly sure where the OP is (newly graduated, etc.), but I will say that having two years of RA in psychology is extremely helpful. It adds a lot to your resume and your personal statement, especially if you end up RAing in a field that you plan to do research in. Choosing to stay with my RA job instead of going back to school was a really big decision for me, and I'm so, so, so glad I made that choice. I learned about independence, friendship, respect in the workplace, relationships, basically life in general. It sounds really cliche, but these two years have taught me a lot (and I met someone here . Often times, going through an RA stint will teach you a lot about yourself too, like where your research interests and end goals lie. I worked for two years in a neuroscience lab and realized how much I love neuroscience--and miss psychology, which really encouraged me to work harder and apply to good graduate psychology programs.

I also agree with LisaLisa86 in that you really have to know what your end goal is before you go to graduate school. It's a lot different than undergrad; you can't go and wander around aimlessly until something hits you in the face because unfortunately, graduate school is real work (I know grad school will be hard for me because I was one of the wandering undergrads...).

Good luck~