Second Masters Degree in English: useless or worthy?

[GatsbyGirl100]

I'm a bit new here, and I was recommended here by a friend of mine from grad school. Hope everyone's doing well.

I was an English Major in college, and I went to a grad school in New York, but I attained my master's in humanities and social sciences.

My two years at this school were terrible. It was the wrong environment and it had some really bad professors that didn't want to help out. I actually heard rumors that the money paid for this program is actually used to fund the PhD students.  

Anyway, I'm now working as a high school English teacher, but I still want to go for my PhD. I applied to several PhD programs before, but I only got accepted to one without funding. My GRE scores weren't that great, but I didn't have solid letters either. 

My grad school wasn't a good experience for me. I didn't have the support or guidance I needed. That's why I'm contemplating getting a second graduate degree in English. 

What do you think of getting a second master's degree? 

[Dr. Old Bill]

I suppose it depends on what your ultimate goal is. It's hard to tell from your post. You say you want to go for your Ph.D., but you're talking about getting a second M.A....is that because your GPA with your current M.A. wasn't good? That's the sense I get, reading between the lines.

Your decision to go for a second M.A. really does hinge on your future plans. For instance, there is a woman in my cohort who got her M.A. in Education, took a few years off to start a family, and is now getting a second M.A. in English specifically so that she can teach at a particular community college -- apparently some institutions treat a double-M.A. almost like a Ph.D., so in a situation like that, a second Master's seems very logical. As for getting a second Master's to bring your GPA up to snuff to springboard you into Ph.D. contention, there might be some merit to that too. Without knowing a bit more info about your long-term goals, however, it is truly hard to say.

[ExponentialDecay]

 

Quote

 I actually heard rumors that the money paid for this program is actually used to fund the PhD students.

Why is that a bad thing? 

Quote

I applied to several PhD programs before, but I only got accepted to one without funding. My GRE scores weren't that great, but I didn't have solid letters either. 

Well, do you now have solid letters and competitive GRE scores? What is the specific reason that makes you doubt your chances for the PhD this time around? I'd say it's pretty redundant to repeat the same degree in the same subject and in the same country (by which I mean, my answer would have been different if you were an international student from a non-Anglophone educational background, not that you should go to England). You don't mention any specific goals you want to achieve by taking this degree, which does kind of make it sound like your concern is that you missed out on the college experience rather than on anything relevant to the competitiveness of your PhD application. Plus, there's the loss of income and the potential debt. 

Edited March 1, 2016 by ExponentialDecay

[EmmaJava]

I have 2 masters degrees. My first was in a different field, not right for me. When I made the decision to switch to English Lit, I thought I'd be able to apply straight to PhD programs (what with my other masters and all), but that turned out to be mostly not so doable, and I was happy to get the advice to pursue an MA in English first. I feel like this gave me the foundation I needed to keep going for the PhD in English. But from what I can see, this situation is different from yours because I switched fields (??). You mention your MA in humanities/social sciences - was this a degree in English, or would you be switching fields, too?  I don't want to say that I'm the expert here, but my inclination is to echo ExponentialDecay's suggestion that a second MA in the same field would be redundant, whereas if you're really switching gears into a new field then I don't think it's redundant at all. Just my instinct, though. 

[heliogabalus]

You didn't happen to post as YoungCharlie earlier, did  you?

[goldfinch1880]

37 minutes ago, heliogabalus said:

You didn't happen to post as YoungCharlie earlier, did  you?

I had the exact same thought...
 

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by goldfinch1880

[heliogabalus]

It's gotta be...

[ExponentialDecay]

 

[goldfinch1880]

4 minutes ago, heliogabalus said:

It's gotta be...

If it is it'll be obvious soon enough....

 

 

[heliogabalus]

Also saw this one--although I only remember the mentions of NYU.

<<I graduated with my MA from Columbia back in May, and I was set to go to Syracuse for my PhD in anthropology, but it was an unfunded offer. Also, as you can tell, my health is not exactly in the best position. I have severe anxiety that left me hospitalized twice. That's why I decided to take a year off school and reapply.>>
 

 

[GatsbyGirl100]

For the second MA, I would like to get better recommendations from my professors. My GPA for my masters was a 4.0, but my letters weren't good enough. That's why I was contemplating a second master's. It might be expensive though.

[GatsbyGirl100]

1 hour ago, heliogabalus said:

You didn't happen to post as YoungCharlie earlier, did  you?

 

Was this question directed at me? I'm lost. Still figuring out how this website works.

[ExponentialDecay]

She randomly downvoted me! It's gotta be her.

This is the bio masterpost btw:

 

[heliogabalus]

Gatsbygirl, my post was directed towards you. Your story and style sound very similar to an old poster here. If you are not the same, I do apologize. If you are the same person, that's fine too. There must be tons of people who haven't had the best experiences during their MAs and got an unfunded offer for a PhD, but there's just something about your style that brings YoungCharlie101 to mind.

Either way, I wouldn't get a second MA in the hopes that you'll get better recs out of it. Why not use recs from professors from your undergrad? Also, how do you know that you didn't get good recs from your MA program--aren't they confidential? Two MAs is probably overkill. Also, why do you want a PhD? It sounds like you have a teaching job, what would make it worth it to give up your career for the dubious prospects that an English PhD brings?

[goldfinch1880]

26 minutes ago, ExponentialDecay said:

She randomly downvoted me! It's gotta be her.

This is the bio masterpost btw:

 

 

[GatsbyGirl100]

37 minutes ago, heliogabalus said:

Gatsbygirl, my post was directed towards you. Your story and style sound very similar to an old poster here. If you are not the same, I do apologize. If you are the same person, that's fine too. There must be tons of people who haven't had the best experiences during their MAs and got an unfunded offer for a PhD, but there's just something about your style that brings YoungCharlie101 to mind.

Either way, I wouldn't get a second MA in the hopes that you'll get better recs out of it. Why not use recs from professors from your undergrad? Also, how do you know that you didn't get good recs from your MA program--aren't they confidential? Two MAs is probably overkill. Also, why do you want a PhD? It sounds like you have a teaching job, what would make it worth it to give up your career for the dubious prospects that an English PhD brings?

 

Thanks for your help. There's a chance I could get funding, but I might just audit a class. I do love my teaching job, but I'd like to go into research someday. 

 

Im not sure who that is you're speaking of. I just started here yesterday. 

[GatsbyGirl100]

1 hour ago, ExponentialDecay said:

She randomly downvoted me! It's gotta be her.

This is the bio masterpost btw:

 

You've lost me. Thanks for the laughs, I guess?

[heliogabalus]

Well, good luck with the whole process. I hope it all turns out well for you.

[GatsbyGirl100]

15 minutes ago, heliogabalus said:

Well, good luck with the whole process. I hope it all turns out well for you.

 

Thank you 

[knp]

Sorry about people being weird! But back to business, for a very important question: was your "humanities and social sciences" master's degree in the field in which you want to get your PhD?

If no, and in a major way, like you got a psychology master's, apply away to English MAs! I could even argue for this being fine if you studied a really different subgenre of English studies than you'd now like to apply for—like you did modern stuff and now you want to do Old English, or something else that involves substantially different skill sets, not like moving a couple centuries in time period or wanting to now start doing ecocrit rather than Marxist criticism. Only go if you're funded, since you've already paid once—and yes, not being funded means your tuition will help fund the university, up to and including paying for other students' funding packages—but that would be fine. Many universities do offer TAships with small stipends for master's students, and that would be a good path to take.

But if your master's was on something even a little bit similar similar to what you want to study for your PhD, then you should work on improving your relationship with your old letter writers now, or even taking a graduate course or two to get a couple new ones. You already have a 4.0 in your subject in graduate school; you don't need another degree to prove you can do graduate work! I would talk to your letter writers to see why they think your application did less well than you wanted last time. They might have good suggestions! Then you can fix them. And starting a new conversation with them is a good way to get new letters. One of my recommenders a) is renowned for his Speech about Don't Go To Graduate School and b ) was particularly harsh on me when we had a chat about potential graduate school ideas senior year. But after I'd gone away, worked for a while, and come back with a somewhat better writing sample and a far, far better sense of what I wanted to study in graduate school and my potential "fit" at different places, he was actually really supportive! And I've gotten into all the places at which I had the best fit, so I think it worked out great. Just because your relationship wasn't great then doesn't mean you can't present new evidence and reasons for them to support you effectively now. If you feel you would like some fresh perspective among your letter writers, though, then other posters are right that taking/auditing one local graduate course each semester next year is a way better idea than spending the time, effort, and redundancy to get a second master's in the same field.

[GatsbyGirl100]

5 minutes ago, knp said:

Sorry about people being weird! But back to business, for a very important question: was your "humanities and social sciences" master's degree in the field in which you want to get your PhD?

If no, and in a major way, like you got a psychology master's, apply away to English MAs! I could even argue for this being fine if you studied a really different subgenre of English studies than you'd now like to apply for—like you did modern stuff and now you want to do Old English, or something else that involves substantially different skill sets, not like moving a couple centuries in time period or wanting to now start doing ecocrit rather than Marxist criticism. Only go if you're funded, since you've already paid once—and yes, not being funded means your tuition will help fund the university, up to and including paying for other students' funding packages—but that would be fine. Many universities do offer TAships with small stipends for master's students, and that would be a good path to take.

But if your master's was on something even a little bit similar similar to what you want to study for your PhD, then you should work on improving your relationship with your old letter writers now, or even taking a graduate course or two to get a couple new ones. You already have a 4.0 in your subject in graduate school; you don't need another degree to prove you can do graduate work! I would talk to your letter writers to see why they think your application did less well than you wanted last time. They might have good suggestions! Then you can fix them. And starting a new conversation with them is a good way to get new letters. One of my recommenders a) is renowned for his Speech about Don't Go To Graduate School and b ) was particularly harsh on me when we had a chat about potential graduate school ideas senior year. But after I'd gone away, worked for a while, and come back with a somewhat better writing sample and a far, far better sense of what I wanted to study in graduate school and my potential "fit" at different places, he was actually really supportive! And I've gotten into all the places at which I had the best fit, so I think it worked out great. Just because your relationship wasn't great then doesn't mean you can't present new evidence and reasons for them to support you effectively now. If you feel you would like some fresh perspective among your letter writers, though, then other posters are right that taking/auditing one local graduate course each semester next year is a way better idea than spending the time, effort, and redundancy to get a second master's in the same field.

 

Thank you very much for this excellent answer. I got a master's in humanities, but I want to get my PhD in English. I did manage to get into a PhD program before, so maybe I can try again. I can work at the letter relationships and my GRE scores.

[KappaRoss]

Did you take English classes for your master's in humanities?

[echo449]

Honestly, I would just take classes as a non-degree student and use those for letters of rec. 

[GatsbyGirl100]

16 hours ago, mikeck said:

Did you take English classes for your master's in humanities?

Yes, I did take a few, but not as many as I would have liked. 

[KappaRoss]

How did you perform in them? Were they in your potential area of study? Also, are those classes you can get letters from?

I think you shouldn't go for a second master's degree if your goal is to get a PhD. Instead, I think you should work on your letters of recommendation, SOP, writing sample, potential research interests, and GRE. Those things are all really important. The SOP and writing sample are crucial elements, and many people can improve their GRE scores with enough preparation. You have a lot of time to work on all of these things.

However, from your original post, I kinda get the vibe that you really want to get another master's degree. If that is the case, then just make sure that it is fully funded so that you are at least not paying for a similar degree.