I’m a sophomore undergrad English major (and history minor) at GMU. I’ll be going for a master’s in English right after I finish my undergrad. I live in Virginia, so I get in-state tuition for GMU and UVA. Additionally, with GMU I can (I think) finish my master’s in a single year through their accelerated program. However, I’m under the impression that the same degree would be significantly more attractive from UVA, and even more so from PSU.
Any advice on what school I should pick, provided acceptance is not an issue?
Currently, I’m leaning towards UVA, as it is both a prestigious university and gives me in-state tuition. I’m really not sure how much clout GMU’s one year program, or PSU’s extra reputation points, are worth in this. Thoughts?
Ideally, a career in either publishing, public relations/communications, or marketing. Not sure about that last one. I want something that will allow me to make the most of the critical thinking and assessment skills I’m supposed to be developing, and pay decently.
I have no idea what PSU will do for you over your instate options except make you pay a bigger bill. Talk to the dept heads at UVA and GMU to see how/where grads go to work. Publishing in particular can be hard to gain entry.
UVA >>>>> PSU for what you want, which is prestige on the East Coast.
Since it’s instate… the choice is easy. Except that you still need to get in.
Since you’re interested in communications/marketing, how strong are your statistics skills? If they need to improve, you MUST take a class or two or no one will take you seriously in that field.
Why not try for Data Science at College of Charleston, or directly a communications degree at UVA?
An English MA isn’t about communications. It’s about semiotics, literary theory, postmodernism, postcolonial approaches, etc.
UVa’s grad English dept. has a top reputation. However, I’d look into some more practical/applied communications degrees.
Saving an entire year of college, and making an extra year’s income can be a very good reason to stay at GMU. Just read the fine print - sometimes it is extremely hard to actually finish the bachelor/masters degree within 5 years at some schools.
I’m not sure that you want a master’s in English for those things. Perhaps the publishing, but not the latter two. You can get jobs in those fields with a master’s in English, but if you know ahead of time that’s what you want, it’s better to actually get a master’s in one of those fields. (Publishing is a really competitive field to get into, but even that has many functions - there are marketing teams and PR teams in publishing companies, and if yo want to do that kind of work a PR or communications or marketing degree is probably better than an English degree, which is really designed as a more academic qualification to study literature.)
Then beyond that, it’s way too early to be choosing between three programs. You hate to be accepted first, of course. Your needs may change. The concentration you want to do might change. The programs might add additional features in the next 3 years that distinguish them. You don’t even have to choose until the end of your senior year. So in the mean time, you can concentrate on just gathering information about programs and less on choosing between them.
Finally, you’re not worried about university prestige but reputation in the field. UVa might have more overall prestige to the common person off the street, but Penn State has a strong English program and both they and UVa are regarded similarly in the field. (George Mason is harder to gauge because they don’t have a doctoral programs, so they are frequently excluded from rankings.) However, the ROI on an English degree is not such that you should pay the much extra $$$ it would cost to go to PSU even if PSU were significantly better. It’s not, though, so at the very least you should attend UVa - if you don’t choose GMU for the cost savings.
However, this brings me back around to my first point, which is that to do what you want to do you probably don’t want an MA in English.
This advice applies to many fields: go to online sites and look for jobs you would like to have. Then look carefully at the qualifications they are seeking, and try to prepare yourself to meet those qualifications in a few years. You may find that some jobs are more interested in skills in using certain computer programs and a year of practical experience in the field than they are in a masters degree.
While I agree PSU’s English department commends a lot of respect, for the particular field OP is trying to break into, UVA will be better. But really, what OP should be doing is trying to get into COmmunications, Marketing, etc. with her English degree. UVA and PSU will both be good (not sure about GMU but I think they have lots of contacts in the DC area which could be good to “get a foot in the door”.)