English or Higher Ed. Administration?

[TomJones678]

So I've got a really tough dilemma. I was awarded an inaugural fellowship at NC State for their Higher Education Administration program, but I was also accepted at UNC-CH for their English program with full funding (the financial package, really, isn't that much lower than NC State's fellowship). My heart has always been in literature, but Higher Ed is a new and exciting field for me, and I can't help but consider that with the Higher Ed program, I'd have more job opportunities (I could go into research, administration, or teaching), whereas with English--as we're all painfully aware (and yes, I did read the thread that was devoted to that topic in the last week)--the job opportunities are less.

Any advice/insight/suggestions?

[displayname]

Is there anyway you could do both (are they in the same city)?  Is the Admin program full-time? If not, I think its reasonable to do a part-time professional program and the first year of your PhD at the same time. It'll be busy, but I know some people that did something similar.  Then, you could re-assess at the end of the year.

Alternatively, you could ask the PhD program if its possible to defer one year (this is sometimes done for really prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes & Marshall).  Having professional training or experience in Higher Ed Administration would be a very good compliment to your PhD and could make you desirable for part-admin/ part-faculty jobs in research centers on campus.  I think these are actually some of the best gigs in academia today.

[ProfLorax]

Those are very different fields, so I guess the question is, what do you want to do? What do you want your life post-graduation to look like?

Do you want to work a 9-5 but never bring work home, or you have some flexibility but work potentially nights or weekends? Do you want to teach classes of 15-120 students, or work one-on-one and small groups with students, faculty, and other admin? Do you want to write and create policy and navigate bureaucracy to accomplish your goals on behalf of your department and institution, or do you want to set an individualized agenda that is shaped by personal interests and the expectations of your department? Do you want stable but potentially monotonous career prospects or (terrifyingly) unstable yet potentially exciting career prospects?  

[TomJones678]

4 hours ago, displayname said:

Alternatively, you could ask the PhD program if its possible to defer one year (this is sometimes done for really prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes & Marshall).  Having professional training or experience in Higher Ed Administration would be a very good compliment to your PhD and could make you desirable for part-admin/ part-faculty jobs in research centers on campus.  I think these are actually some of the best gigs in academia today.

Hmm, that's an intriguing idea, though I'm not sure I'd have time to do both, given I want to start a family in the near future, heh.

12 minutes ago, ProfLorax said:

Do you want stable but potentially monotonous career prospects or (terrifyingly) unstable yet potentially exciting career prospects?  

Yes--this seems to be my dilemma in a nutshell, heh. Thanks for laying all of that out there, Prof. I'll need to do some real soul-searching in the next couple of days!

[rising_star]

2 hours ago, ProfLorax said:

Do you want to write and create policy and navigate bureaucracy to accomplish your goals on behalf of your department and institution, or do you want to set an individualized agenda that is shaped by personal interests and the expectations of your department? Do you want stable but potentially monotonous career prospects or (terrifyingly) unstable yet potentially exciting career prospects?  

 

2 hours ago, TomJones678 said:

Yes--this seems to be my dilemma in a nutshell, heh. Thanks for laying all of that out there, Prof. I'll need to do some real soul-searching in the next couple of days!

Just chiming in to say that when I read ProfLorax's question, I wasn't sure which part referred to higher ed admin and which part to teaching in higher ed. I currently teach full-time and I have to say that it is stable but can be monotonous because I teach many of the same courses each semester. I actually view leaving academia as the potentially more exciting but more unstable potential career.

[TomJones678]

7 minutes ago, rising_star said:

 

Just chiming in to say that when I read ProfLorax's question, I wasn't sure which part referred to higher ed admin and which part to teaching in higher ed. I currently teach full-time and I have to say that it is stable but can be monotonous because I teach many of the same courses each semester. I actually view leaving academia as the potentially more exciting but more unstable potential career.

This is true.

[ProfLorax]

7 hours ago, rising_star said:

Just chiming in to say that when I read ProfLorax's question, I wasn't sure which part referred to higher ed admin and which part to teaching in higher ed. I currently teach full-time and I have to say that it is stable but can be monotonous because I teach many of the same courses each semester. I actually view leaving academia as the potentially more exciting but more unstable potential career.

Ha! Very true. I was thinking of these binaries because my partner and I have very different jobs. He has the full-time, 9-5 government job with no breaks or end of the semester excitement. But his job has a ton of stability and benefits, which really helps when raising a kid. Academic work can be pretty repetitive, but at least the courses we teach (potentially) change each semester, and we get breaks. But my salary is minuscule, and I have no idea if I am heading toward full-time work at one uni or part-time work at three. 

But rising_star is right: these were my binaries based on personal observation and priorities! Your definition of stability and exciting could very well be different.

TomJones: have you talked to people who work in Higher Ed Admin? Who teach English? You may consider finding some folks who you admire and see what they think about their respective gigs.