Simple question: I have been accepted to the Arizona State Online MS in Forensic Psychology AND the MS in Organizational Leadership at Johns Hopkins.
AZU = $22,000 which I can pretty much pay without student loans.
Johns Hopkins = $44,000 …$30,000 which I can pay up front and having to take out a loan for about $14,000.
Question: Which is the better option for me. My goal is to go into teaching as my undergrad is in Psychology from Harvard.
Thanks for any advise!!
Teaching at what level ?
If high school, then check out the requirements of your desired state.
What course or area do you want to teach ?
Are both programs online ?
Harvard College / Harvard University or Harvard Extension ?
Thank you so much for you reply. I would like to teach at the college level…most likely and adjunct at a community or state college. I have a full time career which I love and obviously could use the JH degree to help with promotions, by my passion has always been psychology. THE AZ state program is online and the JH program is hybrid…mostly online with some attendance with professors one on one required. Oh and extension.
Teaching at the college level often “requires” a PhD.–especially for a subject like Psychology.
However, there are many posters who are professors or otherwise affiliated with universities who would know much more than I.
Hopefully, some will respond now that you have shared more information.
Sorry, but I cannot help any further. I wish you the best.
It’s true that teaching at the college level often requires a PhD, especially if you want to teach at a four-year state college/university.
It is possible to teach as an adjunct with a master’s degree - or even a full-time, tenure-track faculty member, at smaller community colleges (even in popular urban areas - I just looked at the psychology department of the community college at Bellevue College, a small city 10 minutes from Seattle, and many of not most of their faculty have MAs.) However, you’ll find the most opportunities (and the better ones) if you have a PhD in the field.
And when colleges do hire someone with that background, they usually want people with some teaching experience (often gotten by being a TA in your graduate program) and some professional experience that would be relevant to the classes they are teaching. Furthermore, community colleges especially want some kind of assurance that you have expertise with and comfort with teaching the kinds they attract: disproportionately lower-income, of color, and with lots of life circumstances they need help navigating so they can perform their best.
If your goal is to teach community college in a psychology department, I’d recommend an in-person (not online/remote) master’s in a more commonly-taught traditional psychology discipline. Think general, social, experimental, developmental, etc. Forensic psychology is less commonly taught, and fewer departments really need someone with an expertise in forensic psychology. An in-person program will give you the teaching experience you need - unless your online program allows you to TA for remote/online classes - which many community colleges will appreciate you having experience with, as very few incoming new professors have any experience teaching online. But most online MS programs are professionally-oriented, not academically-oriented, and may not offer that opportunity. At the very least you’d have to be proactive.
An MS in organizational leadership likely won’t get you there, especially if the MS is a program designed to prepare professionals for work in industry (as opposed to an academic program where professors conduct research on the foundations of organizational leadership).
Thank you so much for your comment. A lot to digest there but excellent advise. Thank you again…Chris