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Are you happy with your master's degree?


GLASSJAW

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I have teaching colleagues who get their Master's only to boost their salaries and pensions. It certainly doesn't make many of them better teachers, from my observations. Actually, it makes me wanna puke! :sick:

I'd rather invest the $20 000+ dollars now and grow it rather than have tax payers pay for my retirement in the future.

Just sayin'...

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My plan after my undergrad was to get a masters right away. Not the case anymore, as most of my friends who got a masters are working in the same jobs and getting the same pay as those who have an undergrad. Might just be my field (health sciences/public health) but I also know that an MBA is worth a lot less these days than it used to be.

Personally the only reason I'll go back for a masters is:

1) if it is required to rise the ranks in the company/job I work at

2) to eventually get a PhD so i can teach, because that has always been my goal

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just curious, that seems like such a specialized field. when you went into it, did you expect to get work out of it? did you intend to get a phd? or what?

don't mean to slag off your degree or something, it just seems like the whole 'greek and roman studies' field has a super, super, super niche market, especially outside of the mediterranean

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I have a masters in Library Science and am now working as an astronomer, ..i know, wtf? Theres more to the story about why im not working in the field that i trained for, which i dont feel like going into. But, i think getting the Masters was valuable. For most of my school colleagues it paid off, and in the library field, getting a Masters is vital to getting a gig as a librarian. And although im not using it, it was a very interesting degree, and if youre getting to shell out the money and take the risk, be sure its something that interests you. Plus having a Masters is always good resume material, no matter where youre applying. Also a confidence builder, was for me anyway.

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Depends on the field you're entering. I needed it to get further up the ladder, so I got it. Does your employer actually care what it is about? Not really, it's just a box you can tick on your application.

Was it personally worth it? Not really, but it does open doors. Undergrads are basically a dime a dozen now, so you gotta make yourself stand out somehow. Hopefully your employer can pay for part/all of it.

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It takes most people 4 years to get their undergraduate degree, and then depending on your schedule you can complete law school in ~3 years and then take the BAR. The difficulty really varies on each individuals effort level and of course which school you go to. It is really not THAT hard though, a LOT easier than med school.

edit: Forgot to add, tuition isn't terrible. I think you're looking at like 11 grand at ubc per year

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Education at this level is an expensive investment, but opportunities abound for those who graduate. I am happy with my program, and the prospects after graduation are very promising. I should see a significant pay increase. But then again I will have about $100,000 in student loans which should equate into a $1,000 payment each month. Should be chump change when clearing ten grand a month.

Here is an interesting stat to consider: According to Stats Canada, in 2009, about 2.5% of the population had earned a master's degree and 8.6% had earned a four year university level bachelor's degree.

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Depends on the field you're entering. I needed it to get further up the ladder, so I got it. Does your employer actually care what it is about? Not really, it's just a box you can tick on your application.

Was it personally worth it? Not really, but it does open doors. Undergrads are basically a dime a dozen now, so you gotta make yourself stand out somehow. Hopefully your employer can pay for part/all of it.

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Teaching doesn't get the respect it deserves. So i hope you accomplish your goal.

Agreed. In the case of grade school I think the lack of respect might be related to the fact that not many of the teachers are passionate about what they're doing. At least, that was the case when I was there. It was just a job to them and they didn't really take pride in it.

In university though, the biggest difference was that my profs really loved what they were teaching about and they took a lot of pride in transferring that knowledge and interest in the field and in the subject over to us. I gained a lot of respect for my profs for their knowledge, accomplishments, and for just the fact that they liked that they did.

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Well, I was doing interviews for an entry level position in October. We had about 200 applications, 12 had a phd and about half a masters. Everyone had a BA.

In the professional world, a BA is what a high school diploma was in the 80's-90's.

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As for your company, I do not know what field you are in. To me, receiving 200 applicants seems to be an HRIS problem. We do not conduct HR like we did in the 1980s and 80s. Anyone can fill an application online. Unless it is a specialized position that was well advertised or that you work for such a prestigious company, most of those applicants are entertaining fantasies and are not serious about working at your company. The fact is HRIS does not discern an applicant's motivation.

I would not generalize that a BA is equivalent to the high school diploma of the 1990s, but an associates degree might be. One reason is that some high schools now offer dual credit and/or advanced placement opportunities. However, in academia, there are questions as to whether these programs adequately prepare students for university.

Two other issues are social promotion and grade inflation--I was a victim of that. I had decent grades in high school and I thought I was a good student. I earned a 1.41 GPA my freshman year of university and was given a time-out. After maturing and gaining life experience I went back and graduated with honors. After my first year of grad school I had a 4.0, but I have slacked off a bit this year so my GPA is down to 3.9. I just hope I do well on my thesis later this spring.

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Well we didn't look at them all, just the hr department told us that. We didn't want anyone with a masters or phd. Point though, that a ba was just common and in no way made them stand out.

As for grades, in the real world,no one gives a damn. I have no idea what any of my employees or colleagues got for marks in any course or test or overall gpa. Totally irrelevant. Real world experience and the ability to think on you feet trumps any test score or grade every time.

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Finished my MA last Spring and started my PhD Fall 2012. I can say that I am happy with my MA, but only because it was necessary to do my PhD. In many fields, an MA is absolutely useless unless you are wanting to go on to get a PhD. This is particularly true if you are interested in taking the academic route. When I started my MA, I knew that I was going to go on to do a PhD. I would never have started grad school with the end goal of getting an MA. Law School would have been a better route.

I'm doing my PhD in Criminology.

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