MAT programs, looking for a great experience at a reasonable price

[engled52]

I'm going to be applying for MAT degrees in Secondary Education English this year. I'm interested in a program where the experience will be challenging and worthwhile and that has great teachers and smart students. But, cost is also a big concern.

 

I will be applying to my public university but I'm a little concerned about the overall experience. Therefore, I've been looking at HGSE, Stanford, Peabody, Penn, UVA, Lynch and William and Mary. Do these programs offer a great experience? Do any of them offer good merit aid?

[econteacher]

Someone in the applications forum posted something similar (looking for MAT at Stanford). I have some similar advice here. As always, YMMV.

As background: I worked as a high school teacher (social studies) for six years, and was a department chair (so I'm the one who would be making the decision to hire you.) I also worked in a state office of curriculum and assessment for 2 years. I graduated with a content degree undergrad and then went and got an accelerated Master's (MAT) in one year to get certified. I looked into more "prestigious" schools in my area (Johns Hopkins, Loyola) but ultimately went to the more affordable state school. Best decision of my life, and here's why.

Now, it is most likely the case that if you go to a place like Harvard or Penn that you will have some top notch instructors. But, never forget that for a degree like an MAT the most important thing is not the classes you take but your field placement and student teaching experience. Indeed, in the interview with the department chair (and I was one) they are likely not going to give one thought to your resume and the "name." The only thing that is going to matter are these three things:

• The recommendation from your mentor teacher during student teaching (this is probably most important). Basically, can you control a classroom and teach kids?
• Your certification credentials (will you have also have a special ed endorsement? ELL? Reading specialist?). If you can tack on some other credential, particularly in a fairly crowded field like English Secondary Ed, you will make yourself much more competitive.
• Your flexibility and willingness to teach whatever is offered. You may (read: will) be stuck teaching Hamlet to kids who are high school juniors but read at the 4th grade level.

The MAT is not a "sit in the classroom and soak up knowledge degree," so you're not going to be spending much time sitting amongst the hallowed oaks of the Vanderbilt campus, pondering great pedagogical truths. The MAT is a "go out there and get dirty" degree. You'll be in a 7th grade classroom until 7pm finishing up tomorrow's lesson plan on trying to teach Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry to kids who don't know what the Great Depression is.

Further, because you'll (likely) be working in a public school upon graduation, you will be in a union where the salary is the same whether you graduated top of your class at Harvard or are coming out with a bachelor's in education from the local party school; unlike the private sector or industry, there's no wage premium for the name on the diploma. Just anecdotally, I had several friends start working at my school who all got MATs from Johns Hopkins for a zillion dollars. My loans were paid off fairly quickly, so I could spend my summers traveling on teacher grants and scholarships; they spent their summer teaching summer school to pay their loans.

I am not in any way downplaying the importance of a challenging program, but I think the MAT is somewhat different than an M.Ed or something in that the MAT is designed to get you ready for the classroom, not research. And in my experience, an expensive tuition bill is not worth it given the ultimate outcome. I stress again that YMMV, and if you get full funding to Stanford than why not. But if a (for lack of a better word) "fancy" school is going to cost a great deal of money, I would seriously think about what the value added is for those extra years of student loans.

[engled52]

Thank you for the feedback, econ teacher! I think a challenging program is worth paying more, but not a whole lot more.

Does anyone know the acceptance rate of Harvard's TEP or Stanford's STEP program? The acceptances rates for all their masters degrees are 53% and 24% respectively, but I'm guessing it is more competitive for their secondary education programs.

[vaporeon]

14 hours ago, engled52 said:

Does anyone know the acceptance rate of Harvard's TEP or Stanford's STEP program? The acceptances rates for all their masters degrees are 53% and 24% respectively, but I'm guessing it is more competitive for their secondary education programs.

If I had to guess based on non-representative samples of posts on here, I would actually say TEP and STEP are the less competitive programs at their respective schools. I seem to see far more posts about policy, IED, etc. than I do about the teacher-prep programs at HGSE and SGSE.