I am trying to decide between enrolling in the PhD program at CGU vs. the EdD program at USC. My goal is to teach at the university level. Cost is comparable. Claremont is much closer. Any advise appreciated, thanks!
Honestly, the answer is probably “neither” if you want to teach at the university level. The short version is that it doesn’t look like either of the programs you’re considering are designed for training academic researchers and university professors in education. However, personally I might take a chance on USC more than CGU.
Program reputation is a lot more important than location when selecting a doctoral program. Program reputation is such a big part of the way that academics hire that it’s really important for you to go to a great school reputationally that’s also a good fit for you research-wise - and that program may be in rural Illinois or on the East Coast. That said, neither USC nor CGU came up a lot when I looked at the PhD institutions of current professors teaching in five more-or-less randomly though-of education departments in four states (CA, MA, GA, and WA). I found one CGU-educated faculty member and two USC-educated faculty members across the four departments I looked at; all three were located in departments in California, and none had been hired into their department recently (aka in the last 10 years).
USC says explicitly on their website that their EdD programs are designed for people who want to apply theory and research to educational practice and lead educational organizations; the PhD program is designed for those who want to do research and go into academia. However, it’s also true that people with EdDs and practice-oriented doctoral degrees go into academia relatively often, if they do the right work and publish. Given that USC’s school of education is a top-ranked one (top 15-20), and the professors and resources are there to do excellent research if you want to, AND they have a PhD program that you could - maybe - try to switch into after your first year that IS designed to train academics, I think I would take my chances there.
Most professors teaching at the university level have PhDs in the subject that they teach - not EdD degrees. Most EdD programs are geared more towards people that want to work in the field of education (e.g., school administration, educational reform), not doing academic research, which is the bread and butter of most universities. This is true even at LACs, where the emphasis tends to be on teaching rather than research.
What is your major?
for teaching at the University level, the PhD is the required degree. That being said, while their undergrad programs are top-notch, Claremont’s grad programs aren’t highly ranked. Thus, your teaching options are generally limited to those programs ranked similarly or lower. In other words, you have no chance to end up teaching at UCLA or USC.
It does depend on the subject, but EdDs are limiting, there are some governmental research grants that EdDs are not allowed to apply for.
Thank you for the insight. I have been in the field of K-12 education for 18 years and am currently a consultant with educational publishers. I plan on consulting per diem most likely for the next 30 years and teaching as an adjunct. Having either degree won’t hurt me in my current profession, but I would like to teach at the university level (and eventually do more teaching than consulting). Because of my age (40), I need to be pragmatic (also have 3 children in middle/high school). Thanks, again.