Higher Education Administration Help

[Iapyx]

I am strongly considering going the path of higher education administration, but had a few questions. I would attend the Higher Education Program at Indiana University, first receiving a masters and then the Ed.D (not the PhD, since I want to work in admin). I believe Indiana's University administration program is ranked #5 by US news. What kind of positions does one usually get coming out of a high ranked university administration doctoral program with no job experience? Does one start as a dean, or should I expect more entry level positions and working up. Anyone know starting salaries. I have seen around 40K for the masters degree, so I imagine a bit more for the doctoral program. Do you think University Admin offer much job security? How is the current market in general? Any other insight into this career path you can give me would be appreciated.

[FingersCrossedX]

I am strongly considering going the path of higher education administration, but had a few questions. I would attend the Higher Education Program at Indiana University, first receiving a masters and then the Ed.D (not the PhD, since I want to work in admin). I believe Indiana's University administration program is ranked #5 by US news. What kind of positions does one usually get coming out of a high ranked university administration doctoral program with no job experience? Does one start as a dean, or should I expect more entry level positions and working up. Anyone know starting salaries. I have seen around 40K for the masters degree, so I imagine a bit more for the doctoral program. Do you think University Admin offer much job security? How is the current market in general? Any other insight into this career path you can give me would be appreciated.

An Ed.D and PhD are not very different from one another. They are both designed to make you a good researcher. With a PhD or an Ed.D you will be able to get a job as a professor. Once you are on a tenure track, you can possibly become a department chair or even a dean. This is true in any field. Are you interested in doing research in education? If so then this is the right track for you. If you just want to be a dean and have no interset in issues surrounding education, you may want to step back and evaluate your interests. You can be the dean of say the English department or the Engineering department all with out a degree in higher ed but a PhD in that discipline. You become dean after you are a tenure track professor in that field.

[ZeChocMoose]

I am strongly considering going the path of higher education administration, but had a few questions. I would attend the Higher Education Program at Indiana University, first receiving a masters and then the Ed.D (not the PhD, since I want to work in admin). I believe Indiana's University administration program is ranked #5 by US news. What kind of positions does one usually get coming out of a high ranked university administration doctoral program with no job experience? Does one start as a dean, or should I expect more entry level positions and working up. Anyone know starting salaries. I have seen around 40K for the masters degree, so I imagine a bit more for the doctoral program. Do you think University Admin offer much job security? How is the current market in general? Any other insight into this career path you can give me would be appreciated.

Are you in IU's master's program currently? If you are interested in higher ed admin (and are not going the tenure track route), I would highly suggest that you take some time off between your master's and doctoral program to gain some full-time experience. I also don't know how IU's EdD program works but some EdD programs expect you to work full-time and attend on a part-time basis. Personally that might be a good option for you since you will gain a higher level of experience than a traditional graduate assistantship position.

In general, higher ed admin is concerned with your experience in the field so not having any is going to put you at a *huge* disadvantage especially since you are interested in an administration position. Typically people in higher levels of administration will have 10+ years of experience after their terminal degree. So, no you will not start off as a dean (!) and it may take several years or a decade or so to reach that level. I am also not sure if "dean" should be the title you should be reaching for here as they typically come up through the faculty ranks except of course dean of students and perhaps dean of undergraduate admissions. You might be more interested in a VP position or something that is not directly tied to academic affairs.

To be honest, I haven't seen people who go straight through that are interested in the admin track. Usually that happens if the person wants an academic or research/policy position and then their research is more important than their years of full time employment. To go the admin track, you need to show years of experience with increasing levels of responsibility so that the president/provost/etc will be confident in your decision making skills. You cannot demonstrate that through a degree alone.

Good luck!

[Iapyx]

Thank you both for the information. The IU website inferred you went straight through to the Ed.D. It stated that to enter the program one needed significant work experience OR a masters in higher education. But perhaps this is an anomaly. Thanks.

[ZeChocMoose]

Thank you both for the information. The IU website inferred you went straight through to the Ed.D. It stated that to enter the program one needed significant work experience OR a masters in higher education. But perhaps this is an anomaly. Thanks.

I just read the IU website too. They didn't provide much information on the background of their EdD students (or really any of their students)!

After reading the website, my understanding is that a bachelor's with work experience OR a master's degree is the minimum requirements you need to meet to be eligible to apply. The problem with minimum requirements is that they are not helpful in determining what type of experience you need to have to be a competitive applicant especially since (in my experience) competitive Higher Ed PhD programs admit only 5 - 15% of the applicant pool. (I don't know the acceptance rates for EdD programs.)

I would talk to some faculty members that you are interested in working with and ask if they can shed some light on what is a competitive applicant for their program.

Edited April 26, 2011 by ZeChocMoose

[Iapyx]

I just read the IU website too. They didn't provide much information on the background of their EdD students (or really any of their students)!

After reading the website, my understanding is that a bachelor's with work experience OR a master's degree is the minimum requirements you need to meet to be eligible to apply. The problem with minimum requirements is that they are not helpful in determining what type of experience you need to have to be a competitive applicant especially since (in my experience) competitive Higher Ed PhD programs admit only 5 - 15% of the applicant pool. (I don't know the acceptance rates for EdD programs.)

I would talk to some faculty members that you are interested in working with and ask if they can shed some light on what is a competitive applicant for their program.

Thanks!