grad study in history info please....

DespSeekPhd
Sat, 05 Aug 2006 13:34:24 +0000

It depends on what you consider reasonable, I suppose. You would have to do each separately, which is about two years each (not one year). There are, I believe, a few combined programs that exist, which would be shorter. But there are other considerations…

Don’t do a MA in ed just to teach a couple years. It’s a waste of time and money, as there is no way you’ll recoup that tuition in just a couple years with teacher salaries being what they are. An MA doesn’t boost your salary that much - you can look at salary schedules online at district websites generally. Plus, and I’ve mentioned this before, good luck getting a teaching job in history. It’s a totally oversaturated field, there being anywhere from 40-300 applicants for each position (and that’s information directly from hiring administrators). I taught high school history for 5 years, with great test scores, GPA (yes, schools look at that for hiring purposes), and letters of recommendation, plus an awesome portfolio. And every year I struggled to get a job, and was even unemployed one year.

If your intent is to get a PhD, why? Do you want to teach college - because that’s pretty much all you can do with that degree. If you want to teach college, go do your MA in history at a place that will give you a teaching assistanship if you want the experience. Otherwise, PhD programs train their TAs as well. If you’re concerned about your undergrad GPA, go MA in history first - if you do well, it will increase your ability to get funding for your PhD.