Should I go for an English MA?

[erinnicole]

Hi all! I'm a 21 year old senior at Fordham University. I just got accepted into University of Colorado Boulder's English Master's program. This has been my number 1 choice since I started applying to schools and when I visited but the waiting period had me second guessing getting a Master's at all. I'm on my 3rd internship in New York in publishing and I'm wondering if it's stupid to not just keep going with that and hope to get a job. I want to be an editor one day - being a professor is a consideration of course - but I'm definitely academically oriented and liked the idea of continuing school in pursuit of this goal. I know a Master's isn't necessary for this career but publishing is so competitive. Is there anyone getting their Master's in English with the goal of going into publishing? And what are your opinions on an English Master's in general? Thanks for the help! Any opinions/advice are heartily welcomed.

[ExponentialDecay]

There are definitely people who get their MA in English with an eye to going into publishing, but somehow I doubt that any of those people go to Colorado to do it. It's not a publishing hub, you know? I would ask the program for their placements and see if any of their graduates work in the companies you want to work for. My hunch is, even if you do do a master's, you're better off staying in New York.

[erosanddust]

I know very little about these programs, but some schools do offer a Masters in Publishing (eg. NYU, Emerson College in Boston). From what I gather, these programs provide training/internships, as well as networking opportunities relevant to the field. But I don't know about the funding for these programs or how much of an edge they would give you.

[firstsummerinthesierras]

Most of the people I know who went into publishing after getting MAs were doing something journalism-related and had been working in the field before and/or during their time at graduate school.

[DaniB23]

What did you say your goal was in your SOP for Colorado?  The reason I ask is if you talked about your end goal being publishing, then perhaps there is a reason you've been accepted in terms of fit.  If you only talked about being a professor then I would second what @ExponentialDecay suggested and contact the program for placement information (I would probably do this anyways).

Something to consider is whether or not the department is housing a journal.  At my current program I happened to stumble into a position at a scholarly journal in the humanities, and I do believe the experience would be really great for someone on a publishing track.  Keep in mind though, even if the program does house a journal, it is not a guarantee a position will be open during your tenure with the program, so this is something you may also want to inquire about.

[Warelin]

Most professors have a Ph.D. which will require about 5 additional years after the M.A. The chances of being admitted into a Ph.D. program is between 3-6 percent. Recent surveys show that one open tenure track position receives more than 600 applicants. Unless you can't see yourself do anything but teaching, I'd stay away from being a professor. This is not meant to discourage you but rather to give you insight about the field.

You mention that this is your third internship. For most fields, work experience goes further than education experience if a minimum level of education isn't required. How much time have you spent looking for entry-level positions? Have you gone to events?

[acciodoctorate]

While I can't say for sure what you should do, since you've already had several internships, I'm currently finishing my MA at CU and knew several people who plan to go into publishing.  No, Boulder isn't a publishing hub, but it's very close to the publishing institute at UDenver, so several of my friends chose to do their summer program between years to beef up their publishing resume.  You mentioned being a professor is still on your radar as well, and I will say that every MA student here had at least one semester of TAing, and every MA who chose to apply to PhDs was admitted to more than one top-50 program--and still have more schools to hear from.  We had excellent support during the application process.  Feel free to contact me for more specifics!

Edited March 8, 2016 by underwater

[kb88]

An MA in Professional Writing or an MS in Journalism might both be better fits for you unless you want to take more English classes. Additionally, if you're goal is to get the same jobs you're currently interning for, you might just want to continue that trajectory unless you want to go back to school. For job in publishing, experience >>> advanced degree. Your goal should be to get as much experience as possible so you can get a more senior position. They might find your education interesting, but most senior-level jobs have requirements such as 5 years of experience on the job and a BA in English. It is very rare that a publishing job will ask for a Master's in English. They value experience much more, and experience is what determines which jobs you can get.

[erinnicole]

Thank you all so much, this is really helpful. I think my lack of a strong, 100% feeling toward either publishing or teaching is what has me torn so a consideration is a year off to test out publishing and see if it's what I'd like to keep doing.

@DaniB23 I did mention in my SOP that I'm interested in publishing and actually went into a little depth about my internships, but I also mentioned an interest in teaching. I'll look into that, that's an interesting point. I also like the idea of discussing my placement in regards to publishing and what past grads have done. @underwater that's really great to hear, I remember when I spoke with CU what stood out to me the most was exactly as you said, that everyone TAs at least once. True, I've been looking into DPI as it's got a great reputation and seems to do well with connections. Thanks for the feedback, I'll reach out with any Qs!

 

[klader]

In my opinion, I think getting an MA in English (as long as it's funded/doesn't drag you into debt) is a good thing to do if you're not sure exactly which road to go down. Assuming what someone else mentioned is true/applicable to you, the MA students at Boulder TA at least one semester (so you'd get a taste of that) and you could do other kinds of research/activities that could give you some insight into publishing.

This is partially why I'm pursuing my MA (albeit in rhet/comp) - to see what's out there and what I like. It's also only a 2 year commitment instead of 4/5/6+, and in some fields (I'm thinking rhet/comp again), it seems to be the norm before the PhD (a professor at one of my prospective schools told me that their rhet/comp program never admits students to the PhD program without an MA). Some programs prefer BA applicants, though (Penn State? OSU?), so I guess ymmv.

Edited March 13, 2016 by klader

[haltheincandescent]

Just to add: there's always also academic publishing, which is fairly welcome, in my experience, to a path of MA and perhaps PhD first and then on into publishing work. A lot of the editors I've worked with have their doctorates (in the fields they acquire in, so, English, folklore, musicology, etc.) or a masters (also in lit. and related areas). If you do end up deciding to accept your offer at Boulder, I'd check into opportunities for grad students there to maybe work with the University Press of Colorado which might let you continue to juggle both possibilities.