Applying with terminal intentions

[ousia]

I'd like to attend a (funded) masters program in the next few years, but have felt conflicted for a while now. I do not have any intentions of continuing past a masters, nor of working in academia. At most, I'd like teach an adjunct intro class here and there in a community college setting. With this one exception, the program would be a personal endeavor, not really professional. Would I be wrong to take a funded seat? 

[TwoTimesTolstoy]

No, you're fine.

If anything, there are way too many people who think/feel that if they don't climb the ladder of academia and get a TT job at a university that they're a failure. Philosophy was once, thousands of years ago, concerned with living a meaningful life -- something that concerns everybody. Nobody should feel bad about pursing an education in philosophy while planning to do something with their lives outside of the academy.

I think it would very much behoove a lot of people if they were to realize that there is more than one right answer to the question of what to do with their lives and their education.

[AP]

Absolutely not. Your own professional choices do not (or should not) determine funding in a program. Even more so now, when many universities are trying to prepare us for a different job market than academia. 

[MentalEngineer]

Having attended a high-level terminal MA program with perennial funding issues, I have a somewhat different take. While I completely agree with posters above that the purpose of graduate study in philosophy is, or at least ought to be, focusing less on academic job placement, the purpose of terminal MA programs is not changing in this way. While other options are (lightly) discussed at my program, and choosing not to go into academia isn't stigmatized, the curriculum, organization of the department, and baseline social expectation is that students will at least be attempting to continue into a PhD program. This is an explicit primary goal of the program, and funding someone who wasn't on that pathway would, to a degree, run counter to its mission.

With this in mind, here's what I want to ask you: why do you need the degree? Is it because you think having an MA will be good for a nonacademic career? Unless your specific situation gives you strong evidence for this, it's probably less true than you think (cf. here). Just in case you do in fact want to adjunct later? This may be harder to do with just an MA than you think. Because you want to do some graduate-level work and/or write a thesis? You can do this without even formally enrolling in many cases - my MA has a guy in it who's been auditing classes for more than 10 years, and he works just as hard as everyone else. Because you want to be able to get the formal reward for the work you plan to put in? I think this one's actually a decent reason for wanting the degree, but I'm not sure it justifies seeking a funded spot.

I think if you have the ability to sit in on or audit some graduate classes, you should start there. Departments are often very accommodating of people who want to be in their classrooms just because they really like philosophy, especially if they're also actually good at it. I suggest this as a starting point because you may find that this is "enough" for you, solving your concern about taking funding without costing you a lot of money. If you still want more, you can always formally apply to programs, at which point having audited grad classes can only help your applications - and at which point you should have no qualms about accepting funding.

Edited February 10, 2017 by MentalEngineer

[753982]

On 2/10/2017 at 9:42 AM, MentalEngineer said:

Having attended a high-level terminal MA program with perennial funding issues, I have a somewhat different take. While I completely agree with posters above that the purpose of graduate study in philosophy is, or at least ought to be, focusing less on academic job placement, the purpose of terminal MA programs is not changing in this way. While other options are (lightly) discussed at my program, and choosing not to go into academia isn't stigmatized, the curriculum, organization of the department, and baseline social expectation is that students will at least be attempting to continue into a PhD program. This is an explicit primary goal of the program, and funding someone who wasn't on that pathway would, to a degree, run counter to its mission.

With this in mind, here's what I want to ask you: why do you need the degree? Is it because you think having an MA will be good for a nonacademic career? Unless your specific situation gives you strong evidence for this, it's probably less true than you think (cf. here). Just in case you do in fact want to adjunct later? This may be harder to do with just an MA than you think. Because you want to do some graduate-level work and/or write a thesis? You can do this without even formally enrolling in many cases - my MA has a guy in it who's been auditing classes for more than 10 years, and he works just as hard as everyone else. Because you want to be able to get the formal reward for the work you plan to put in? I think this one's actually a decent reason for wanting the degree, but I'm not sure it justifies seeking a funded spot.

I think if you have the ability to sit in on or audit some graduate classes, you should start there. Departments are often very accommodating of people who want to be in their classrooms just because they really like philosophy, especially if they're also actually good at it. I suggest this as a starting point because you may find that this is "enough" for you, solving your concern about taking funding without costing you a lot of money. If you still want more, you can always formally apply to programs, at which point having audited grad classes can only help your applications - and at which point you should have no qualms about accepting funding.

Does everything have to be so teleologically motivated?  I think that doing an MA is valuable for those who went to low-tier, smaller, or unrecognized state schools, or those who didn't major in philosophy, in that they can expose themselves to more areas of philosophy, try to compete against better students (and get better themselves, hopefully, as a result of being around other serious, smart philosophy students), possibly try out teaching, get exposure to graduate school in philosophy, and so on. Many may find out that it isn't really what they want to do for a career and save themselves the opportunity cost, time, and money they'd have invested in a PhD program. So respectfully, I don't agree that people shouldn't do a master's degree in philosophy just to do a master's degree in philosophy. Some people just really like philosophy and need to go to that next level so they can see if they want to keep pursuing philosophy after moving up to the MA level, in my opinion. I'm not saying you'd disagree with that, but I wanted jump in and give my input after reading your post.

Edited February 17, 2017 by 753982