Any MS/MA students on here?

[Ilspflouz]

Hi everyone,

 

Are there any prospective MS/MA students following this forum, or is everyone pretty much PhD? I am starting a CJ MS at MSU in the fall. Do I have any cohort mates on here? MS/MA people at other schools, how are you feeling about the application process and starting graduate school?

[kjh22]

I am still waiting to hear from one school (had April 1 deadline). I was accepted into two programs: one MS in criminology/criminal justice on the west coast and one MA in forensic psychology on the east coast. The one I am waiting to hear from is MS in criminology, also on west coast. I am completely torn on where I want to attend, especially if I get into the third. The state schools (west coast) are much cheaper which is a big factor. But the school back east has an amazing internship program and I really like the classes I have read about.

 

I didn't receive any funding so far. I didn't think that was a thing for masters programs. I'm kind of clueless about how that works!

[Ilspflouz]

I am still waiting to hear from one school (had April 1 deadline). I was accepted into two programs: one MS in criminology/criminal justice on the west coast and one MA in forensic psychology on the east coast. The one I am waiting to hear from is MS in criminology, also on west coast. I am completely torn on where I want to attend, especially if I get into the third. The state schools (west coast) are much cheaper which is a big factor. But the school back east has an amazing internship program and I really like the classes I have read about.

 

I didn't receive any funding so far. I didn't think that was a thing for masters programs. I'm kind of clueless about how that works!

 

Hi kjh22. Congrats on your acceptances! Sounds like you have a lot to choose between. Do you know which program you would pick if cost wasn't a factor? I was choosing between forensic psych and CJ just a little bit ago, so I know the struggle! If you ever want someone to talk stuff over with ever feel free to PM me. :-) I am pretty clueless to how this funding stuff works too! Are you feeling excited but mildly apprehensive? That's how I feel right now. haha. I am not sure what to expect starting graduate school or how to navigate the funding process, but I am supposed to have an adviser contacting me at some point, hopefully they can answer questions!

[LittleMac]

I won't be a cohort mate (nor am I criminal justice), but I am going to MSU in the Fall! 

[Sword_Saint]

Yeah, I'm an MA student for the fall. I applied for and was accepted to Texas State, University of Cincinnati and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver Canada). I ended up going with Simon Fraser, and will be moving come August time frame. Funding was a big deal to me and all three of the programs had some sort of funding, even if it was just tuition remission. Texas State and SFU have really good opportunities to be a TA or RA and the pay from that is pretty solid. I imagine it all depends on the school you apply for and the political climate in that area influencing the schools and whatnot, but its not impossible to receive funding as a masters student, either in the form of scholarships or as a graduate worker.

 

I learned quite a bit about graduate funding opportunities from the faculty in my undergraduate institution; they all went through that themselves and were able to provide a lot of insight.

 

I'm more nervous about moving to Canada and all the paperwork associated than I am with starting graduate study. I'm finishing an undergraduate honors thesis at my school that used original data collection and fortunately have had a lot of research opportunities here. Maybe this is wrong of me, but I don't see a whole lot of difference yet between MA students and PhD students, in part because I'm going on to a PhD program after my MA and in part because at the conference I went to in March, there were just as many horrible PhD presenters as there were MA presenters. Obviously one has been doing it longer, but it isn't always reflected in the quality of their work, it just means they're older or have been around the scene longer.

[Ilspflouz]

I won't be a cohort mate (nor am I criminal justice), but I am going to MSU in the Fall! 

 

Awesome! Glad to find a fellow Spartan. I went to MSU for undergrad as well and worked for the university as a lab manager for ~3 years after graduating. So if you have any questions about MSU/East Lansing, feel free to PM me. :-)

[kjh22]

Hi kjh22. Congrats on your acceptances! Sounds like you have a lot to choose between. Do you know which program you would pick if cost wasn't a factor? I was choosing between forensic psych and CJ just a little bit ago, so I know the struggle! If you ever want someone to talk stuff over with ever feel free to PM me. :-) I am pretty clueless to how this funding stuff works too! Are you feeling excited but mildly apprehensive? That's how I feel right now. haha. I am not sure what to expect starting graduate school or how to navigate the funding process, but I am supposed to have an adviser contacting me at some point, hopefully they can answer questions!

Thank you! I really am completely torn on which program to choose. I have been out of college for five years and I'm just not sure I want to move across the country again (I did for college and then moved back to my hometown). I was really hoping one of the two state schools would offer funding because I would just go there. I am still waiting to hear from the other state school (should be any day now). Once I have heard from the final school I will make a good old fashioned pros and cons list for each school (cost of living, research interests, faculty, internships, etc). I will PM you about the programs-don't want to name them on here since I have technically accepted at both (one required a deposit back in March and the other just an email)

[Ilspflouz]

Yeah, I'm an MA student for the fall. I applied for and was accepted to Texas State, University of Cincinnati and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver Canada). I ended up going with Simon Fraser, and will be moving come August time frame. Funding was a big deal to me and all three of the programs had some sort of funding, even if it was just tuition remission. Texas State and SFU have really good opportunities to be a TA or RA and the pay from that is pretty solid. I imagine it all depends on the school you apply for and the political climate in that area influencing the schools and whatnot, but its not impossible to receive funding as a masters student, either in the form of scholarships or as a graduate worker.

 

I learned quite a bit about graduate funding opportunities from the faculty in my undergraduate institution; they all went through that themselves and were able to provide a lot of insight.

 

I'm more nervous about moving to Canada and all the paperwork associated than I am with starting graduate study. I'm finishing an undergraduate honors thesis at my school that used original data collection and fortunately have had a lot of research opportunities here. Maybe this is wrong of me, but I don't see a whole lot of difference yet between MA students and PhD students, in part because I'm going on to a PhD program after my MA and in part because at the conference I went to in March, there were just as many horrible PhD presenters as there were MA presenters. Obviously one has been doing it longer, but it isn't always reflected in the quality of their work, it just means they're older or have been around the scene longer.

 

Sword_Saint -- I've been reading this forum quite a lot and just wanted to say that I am really impressed at your knowledge of the CJ field and graduate study. I managed a lab for ~3 years after my bachelor's and we had so (SO SO SO) many RA's who were graduating and would just say "I want a PhD" but had no knowledge of what that would require. They also did not know much about the field the lab was in. I plan on completing a PhD after my mater's as well. I have heard that doing a PhD and a Master's are very different in terms of what is expected of students. But I am hoping that MA will help prepare me really well for further graduate study so perhaps I won't be bothered by the transition as much. I also agree about the conference presentations and doctoral vs. masters students vs profs. I've presented at 3 conferences now, and I really feel like giving a quality presentation depends more on your public speaking abilities and preparation than it does on the length of graduate study.

[Sword_Saint]

Sword_Saint -- I've been reading this forum quite a lot and just wanted to say that I am really impressed at your knowledge of the CJ field and graduate study. I managed a lab for ~3 years after my bachelor's and we had so (SO SO SO) many RA's who were graduating and would just say "I want a PhD" but had no knowledge of what that would require. They also did not know much about the field the lab was in. I plan on completing a PhD after my mater's as well. I have heard that doing a PhD and a Master's are very different in terms of what is expected of students. But I am hoping that MA will help prepare me really well for further graduate study so perhaps I won't be bothered by the transition as much. I also agree about the conference presentations and doctoral vs. masters students vs profs. I've presented at 3 conferences now, and I really feel like giving a quality presentation depends more on your public speaking abilities and preparation than it does on the length of graduate study.

 

Thank you. The schools i was interested in applying for ended up not allowing Bachelor students to apply straight for their PhD's, though if they did I would have attempted that route instead. As far as I can tell at the school's I've looked at the masters program is practitioner oriented instead of PhD programs which were researcher oriented. I used to think this was a subtle difference until it dawned on me that at my undergrad institution faculty were preparing students mostly to be line level officers and such. Because the curriculum was focused on that, there really wasn't a whole lot of talk about graduate programs or being in research.

 

At the MA level I'm curious how many folks at SFU go on to apply for PhD's (and what the attrition rate is for that) compared to going on to work in executive positions in policing or corrections.  

 

An anecdote from my life about your "I want a PhD" person example- my girlfriend romanticized for a while about getting a PhD because she liked the idea of the prestige associated with that. I'm not there yet so this is just speculation, but I imagine you need better motivations to successfully pursue and complete that degree than just wanting everyone to call you "Dr."