If you have more than one master's degree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Masters degree in the subject I teach (high school). I got it because I love the subject and having true expertise in this area vastly enhances my ability to teach/explain it to my students.

I also have a Masters degree in Education, which I needed to get teaching certification because my undergrad degree was also in my subject, not Education. The coursework for the Ed degree was childishly, almost insultingly simple, and I'm still pissed off that it cost as much as the academic degree. The sheer simplicity and uselessness of that Ed degree compared to the academic MA make me fear for the quality of education in our secondary schools.

Sounds like it was just a bad program. What school was it? I attended a leadership program at a very prestigious school for all of one semester. The curriculum was insulting and did not provide any preparation for taking on a leadership role in a school. Perhaps why our schools are lacking strong leaders.

It wasn't a bad program. It was an Ivy. "Graduate" degrees in Education cater to the academically inferior, or to very busy people who are also teaching full time and wouldn't be able to finish a "real" academic grad degree while working. It is really sad. I wish universities would stop marketing the Ed degrees as "graduate programs" and just call them something like "certification requirement classes".

[Anonymous]

DH has an MBA and MA in European History. One the military paid for and one he paid for. Plus the Army War College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Masters degree in the subject I teach (high school). I got it because I love the subject and having true expertise in this area vastly enhances my ability to teach/explain it to my students.

I also have a Masters degree in Education, which I needed to get teaching certification because my undergrad degree was also in my subject, not Education. The coursework for the Ed degree was childishly, almost insultingly simple, and I'm still pissed off that it cost as much as the academic degree. The sheer simplicity and uselessness of that Ed degree compared to the academic MA make me fear for the quality of education in our secondary schools.

Ditto

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH has an MBA, an MA in clinical psychology and an MS in computing and information science. Each one was a change of career move. It took him a long time to figure out what he was going to be when he grew up. He also has two bachelors - one in psychology and one in nursing.

Did he pay for all of them and consider each worthwhile?

I paid for them. (PI lawyer with fee sharing at my firm. I've had some big years.)

They were all worthwhile to him in different ways. He worked in CIS for 12 years before leaving for nursing and made good money doing that. The psych masters is useful for nursing. If he decides to step up to nursing management, the MBA is very useful to him.

I think the MBA is one that he could have done without. He used it for about 3 years as a financial analyst and then hasn't really used it since. The rest of them, he used more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Masters degree in the subject I teach (high school). I got it because I love the subject and having true expertise in this area vastly enhances my ability to teach/explain it to my students.

I also have a Masters degree in Education, which I needed to get teaching certification because my undergrad degree was also in my subject, not Education. The coursework for the Ed degree was childishly, almost insultingly simple, and I'm still pissed off that it cost as much as the academic degree. The sheer simplicity and uselessness of that Ed degree compared to the academic MA make me fear for the quality of education in our secondary schools.

Sounds like it was just a bad program. What school was it? I attended a leadership program at a very prestigious school for all of one semester. The curriculum was insulting and did not provide any preparation for taking on a leadership role in a school. Perhaps why our schools are lacking strong leaders.

It wasn't a bad program. It was an Ivy. "Graduate" degrees in Education cater to the academically inferior, or to very busy people who are also teaching full time and wouldn't be able to finish a "real" academic grad degree while working. It is really sad. I wish universities would stop marketing the Ed degrees as "graduate programs" and just call them something like "certification requirement classes".

My academic route was the same as yours, but most of my education courses were terrific. If you already had a BA or BS, you could pursue a program just to get the teaching certificate, which took about two years. Alternatively, you could get a M.Ed at the same time. Many of the cert courses counted toward the Masters, so you just had to take maybe another four or six courses and write a thesis. Sure, there were a few meh courses required for the certificate, but there also many good ones. My methods professor was one of the best teachers I ever had-- from K through a PhD program. I learned so much.

I specialized in social foundations of education, and my program had a corps of fantastic, dynamic, feminist and critical theory professors. Academically and intellectually, it was a life changing experience.

[Anonymous]

I have one and am in the middle of a second program. Both are interesting and while not directly applicable to my job every day, certainly make me better at my job in general. But my employer paid/is paying for both, so that makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why the need for more than one?

To avoid having to work

[Anonymous]

I am an academic librarian. I have an MLIS (that I paid for) and and MPA (work paid for). Having a second, subject-specific Master's is often a preferred qualification for academic librarians - it makes you more marketable. A second masters is pretty common among librarians - either the first was in something like English or History and people couldn't get a job, or because being a librarian is a second career. A lot of people like myself get one because most academic jobs come with tuition remission, so why not.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, multiple masters degrees are odd. It makes me suspect the person is a permanent grad student without enough commitment to a field or discipline to get a terminal degree or a job. The resumes I see like this are usually from pretty third-rate programs, since these programs are seldom fully funded and employers don't usually offer enough tuition benefits for better programs.

[Anonymous]

I got a Master of Arts in Teaching just out of college - wasn't sure what I wanted to do and thought teaching might be it. It wasn't. I went into the work force and went back for an MBA about 5 years later. I liked being a student but am probably done now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, multiple masters degrees are odd. It makes me suspect the person is a permanent grad student without enough commitment to a field or discipline to get a terminal degree or a job. The resumes I see like this are usually from pretty third-rate programs, since these programs are seldom fully funded and employers don't usually offer enough tuition benefits for better programs.

And that's why I don't put all my degrees on my resume. Just the relevant one(s).

[Anonymous]

MS in information science followed by an MS in finance. I enjoy learning and got each as my interests/career prospects shifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MS in information science followed by an MS in finance. I enjoy learning and got each as my interests/career prospects shifted.

Forgot to mention that I worked full time jobs while I got both of these degrees which I think changes the dynamic a bit.

[Anonymous]

I have a JD and a PsyD because I changed careers from lawyer to clinical psychologist after 12 years of law practice. The doctorate in psychology was more demanding than the law degree, but law school was more stressful and soul-sucking than grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, multiple masters degrees are odd. It makes me suspect the person is a permanent grad student without enough commitment to a field or discipline to get a terminal degree or a job. The resumes I see like this are usually from pretty third-rate programs, since these programs are seldom fully funded and employers don't usually offer enough tuition benefits for better programs.

And that's why I don't put all my degrees on my resume. Just the relevant one(s).

I think another reason you see this is logistics. Many people go back to school for another degree after settling down with a spouse and kids, and this geographically limits where one can apply. Not many people will choose to uproot their entire families to go back to school!