Higher Ed Masters at Peabody or Phd at Virginia

[jehed1990]

Hey Everyone!

I'm interested in becoming a full time academic researcher studying higher education policy affecting minority students. I received my undergraduate degree in Economics from a large respected private undergraduate institution. I have a about 2 years of research experience outside of the classroom in education (K-12). I also was able to conduct some higher education related research on my own through a research grant at my undergraduate institution. I'm currently employed as a Policy Analyst at a large medical school. 

I applied to both the MPP in Education Policy as well as the MEd in Higher Education Administration at Peabody. And I got into both of them! Peabody is one of my dream schools so I was very happy to receive the news. However, I also applied to the PhD in Higher Education at the Curry School of Education at Virginia. I was not expecting to get in, but I tried anyways to see if I would be able to get into a Ph.D. without having to get a masters first. Well I just found out I was accepted. Now I'm pretty torn about what to do. I love Peabody, but I feel like it's really hard to pass up being able to jump straight into a PhD. I don't have funding information yet from Curry, but I was offered a 1/3 tuition scholarship from HEA program at Peabody. Any suggestions on what program I should attend?

[ZeChocMoose]

I don't think you have enough information to make a decision right now.  Some questions that I would want to know is what is the funding situation and who would be your advisor at Curry.  At minimum, you would want at least guarantee funding though coursework.  Ideally, you would want guaranteed funding in your dissertation years too but that can vary a lot by programs.  You also want to work with someone who is well aligned with the research that you want to pursue.  Ideally, there would be a couple people that you are interested in working with in case you find that your working styles with your first advisor doesn't match.  Since funding and advisor selection are pretty critical components of a doctoral program, I would wait until you get more information to decide.  You want to enter a PhD program that is a right match for you and will be able to place you in a job that you want when you graduate.

At Vanderbilt - could you get involved in research?  I know in a lot of higher ed programs - faculty tend to prioritize doctoral students when it comes to research opportunities.  This seems a little bit more flexible in MPP programs depending on the size of the doctoral cohort (if they have one).  If you can't get involved in research, I would be hesitant to accept that offer either.  Also how do you plan to pay for the other 2/3 of tuition and living expenses?

Edited February 13, 2016 by ZeChocMoose

[nm16]

^ To add to the above post... Peabody definitely prioritizes their doctoral students when it comes to research opportunities, although there are a few exceptions where faculty have the funding to hire a couple MEd students.  The school is also generally more focused on K-12 research than higher ed.  That may change in the next few years, but doubt it'll be while you're enrolled.

UVa is an amazing school and their Higher Ed program, like other programs, seems stellar. If you want to go into academia, then there is hardly a point in taking extra years to go through a master's program and the pain (let's be honest here!) of applying again to PhD programs.