US vs UK masters-oh my! (fisheries biology)

[kam159]

Hi!

 

I'm  recently graduated undergrad with a BS in Fisheries Biology. I am looking for some sort of fisheries biology or marine ecology masters program and am considering going abroad. I am mainly looking at University of Alaska Fairbanks (in Juneau) in the US, and Queens University Belfast and University of Aberdeen in the UK. I have a ton of questions about going to school in the UK so here it goes. Does anyone know how these school are viewed in the natural resource sciences? Are there other programs I should consider as well?

 

And the big questions.....how is a UK masters degree viewed by employers in the US? Would I be shooting myself in the foot by not networking with US employers during graduate school? Would staying in Ireland/Scotland and working for a couple years after graduation be possible with visas and immigration?

 

I think there are pros and cons to going abroad, but I am really attracted to the opportunity to live in another country for a while. I don't know in how many periods of life I will have so much flexibility.

 

Thanks for you input!

 

Kaitlyn

[grad_wannabe]

I applied for a doctorate at Oxford and was warned by quite a few people (including my rec letter writers) that pursuing a UK PhD would all but assure a very tough time in the US academic job market, while at the same time grooming oneself for an equally tough life navigating the bureaucratic/political nightmare that expats face in trying to get a work visa in the UK. I heard many stories confirming this from people who did their doctorates as LSE and UCL. 

 

i work mainly in communications/social sciences, don't know how it is in natural resources. 

[FoggyAnhinga]

Not sure about the academia job prospects in fisheries here in the US with a doctoral degree from UK, but I do know that there are quite a few prominent fisheries/marine biology faculty in the US who pursued a doctoral degree at the University of British Columbia.

 

McGill and Laval University are also good schools to pursue a PhD degree in fisheries and marine biology.

Edited March 17, 2015 by FoggyAnhinga

[kam159]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Canadian degrees seem to be viewed the same as American degrees. Some very prominent faculty at University of Washington went to U British Columbia.

 

I am still considering UK universities, but I don't want to stuggle super hard in the job market. 

 

I am getting a masters, not a doctorate. I would  like to go into governmental agency work or consulting, not academia. I'm not sure if these two points change things or not. Any responses to those points  in regard to the US job market?

 

Thanks all, your input is SOOO appreciated!

[Eccentricity]

I applied for a doctorate at Oxford and was warned by quite a few people (including my rec letter writers) that pursuing a UK PhD would all but assure a very tough time in the US academic job market, while at the same time grooming oneself for an equally tough life navigating the bureaucratic/political nightmare that expats face in trying to get a work visa in the UK. I heard many stories confirming this from people who did their doctorates as LSE and UCL. 

 

i work mainly in communications/social sciences, don't know how it is in natural resources. 

 

So, I am from the States but am getting my Masters at Oxford, and plan to stay in the UK for my PhD...

From my personal experience, what your rec letter writers told you is a myth.

 

Especially at Oxbridge, there is what is called the "halo effect" and from the moment I was admitted into Oxford, I noticed it. People take you much more seriously, whether or not it is warranted. I'm not saying you're guaranteed a job, but there are lots of partnerships between higher-level institutions in the US and Oxford.

Besides, as far as getting a job in academia goes, it's who you know, not where you went, that is of utmost importance. Trust me -- I've witnessed it over and over in the past few months. Academics will introduce you to other academics and you are more easily able to build a reputation. I'd warrant, because of the nexus of communication and scholarship here, networking opportunities are much better, and often its a recommendation from a top person in your field that can land you a job more easily than a solid GPA at a different tier of institution and letters from more obscure academics can.

 

What they are worried about (your rec writers) is that you won't have teaching experience and/or grades to show. At this stage of modernity, most US universities know how Oxford works, and as far as teaching experience, I don't know one PhD student here who doesn't teach and who hasn't organized high-level conferences in various countries, much less the UK. Trust me, you wouldn't want to work for an institution that doesn't know these basic things anyway.

 

The only difficulty that a person I know has encountered was that a university wouldn't accept her for her PhD because she didn't have "credit hours." She ended up not wanting to go to that university anyway...they didn't have decent connections with the rest of academia.

My takeaway with that is that going to a highly centralized place like Oxbridge (or Ivy Leagues) puts you right in the middle of opportunities you wouldn't necessarily have elsewhere. After all, a degree is what you DO with it...