Getting Informed about Pursuing Grad School

[pete4454]

Hi,

I'm in my late 30s and am considering going to grad school for an MA program in a humanities field, with the goal of teaching (either at a 2 year or 4 year college). I'd like to get more info about the job market in the field I'm considering and get feedback about whether my goal is sensible, but I'm not sure who to talk to. Should I reach out to professors, grad students, advisors at prospective programs, or? I'm trying to figure out the best ways to start getting information. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thank you.

[fast_and_bulbous]

Why not be more specific and pose your questions here? That's kind of what the forum is all about.

All I will offer with such little to go on is I'm not sure an MA is going to compete well in a market saturated with PhDs looking for tenure track jobs, many of whom are adjuncting (teaching only, which you say you want to do).

[spork]

An MA for a K-12 teacher that will result in a pay raise makes sense. Enrolling in an MA program on the expectation that it will lead to a career in post-secondary ed at a liveable wage is delusional. It's the same financial effect as throwing cash into a furnace.

[polly_mer]

Because we're not just responding to one person on most threads, I'll repost here for future readers:

Since some of us are still here, I will respond here:

No, your goal is not sensible in the US at the current time unless what you mean is "have some other middle-class job with benefits to pay the bills and adjunct one course per term for the joy of teaching".  You can absolutely teach with an MA, but so many people have graduate degrees, want to teach, and already have solid teaching experience that getting a good full-time faculty job at an institution with a future that values education instead of butts in seats is essentially in the category of "not gonna happen".

I'm just not sure where to start getting information.

Try googling  "<specific humanities subject> full-time faculty positions".  Go look at cached webpages on various academic job listings and look at what the job ads indicate as necessary qualifications for jobs you think you might want to have.

Go look at the relevant national professional society's report on academic jobs from the past few years.  Again, pay close attention to the jobs you'd like to have and how many were available.

Read some of the bazillion in-the-classroom threads and ask yourself what kind of students you would like to teach. 

Be brutally realistic with yourself about whether you want to wrangle students who are underprepared, under motivated, and resent the hell out of anyone who is trying to make them participate in education instead of checking boxes. 

Be brutally realistic with yourself about whether you want to live in a particular place or need specific amenities.  I can point to people with bachelor degrees who are teaching at hard-to-staff places, but those places are hard-to-staff in part because no one wants to live there.  Again, the question to ask and be brutally honest with yourself is why someone would hire people with only the bare minimum of qualifications when the national pools are so deep.

Then, go look at the faculty directory of the institutions likely to have those kinds of students and create a table on:

1) where those faculty obtained their degrees
2) what degrees those faculty have
3) what classes are actually being offered for fall on the schedule and cross-compare who is teaching those classes with the list of faculty who are listed as being in the department.  It's a bad sign if the names of people doing most of the teaching are not the same as the names of the people who are listed in the department by level of degree and where the degree was earned.

[Hegemony]

You can certainly get reliable information here, and the truth is that there is a huge glut of PhDs on the job market, applying for jobs at both four-year and two-year institutions, and at least half of those people with PhDs will not be able to find tenure-track (living-wage) jobs in academia.  I'm afraid that someone with an MA will almost certainly be unable to land a job with a living-wage. The only academic jobs available to most of these people — people with MAs, and many many people with PhDs — are adjunct jobs, which offer no job security, are on a semester-by-semester basis, and pay around $2000-2500 per course, which comes out to around $20,000 per year.  This is the awful truth of the current job market.  There are some fields that are exceptions, such as accountancy, as I understand — but none of the fields that are an exception are in the humanities.  I'm sorry for the bad news.

[tuxthepenguin]

Hi,

going to grad school for an MA program in a humanities field, with the goal of teaching (either at a 2 year or 4 year college). ...feedback about whether my goal is sensible

Sorry to say this, but it's not, unless you have a spouse making enough that you are planning to retire and do a little teaching for fun.

Should I reach out to professors, grad students, advisors at prospective programs

No, stay away from all of them. That is like asking a car salesman if you should buy a new car. From a financial/career perspective, an MA in a humanities field is largely useless.

[mamselle]

Except as a stepping stone to a doctorate, for which see above...or just because you want one and can make it happen without it needing to bear you along further.

And you have the fees in the bank to spend....

As also said above.

I have one, and I'm glad I do.

But by itself, it functions just to get you started.

You'll want more...

M.

[Cheerful]

...get feedback about whether my goal is sensible....

If you are independently wealthy, all set for retirement, and this is your dream, go for it.

Otherwise, no, not sensible.  If you plan to take out loans to do this, that's downright crazy.

[Kron3007]

Just to show the other side, my cousin recently landed a good job at a CC after a couple years on the adjunct circuit with an MA in English Lit, so it does happen.  I am not saying that doing an MA in humanities with this as an expected outcome makes sense, and perhaps it is the exception that makes the rule, but it does happen.

[spork]

Just to show the other side, my cousin recently landed a good job at a CC after a couple years on the adjunct circuit with an MA in English Lit, so it does happen.  I am not saying that doing an MA in humanities with this as an expected outcome makes sense, and perhaps it is the exception that makes the rule, but it does happen.

It happens so infrequently that it is an unrepresentative outlier.

[Hibush]

Just to show the other side, my cousin recently landed a good job at a CC after a couple years on the adjunct circuit with an MA in English Lit, so it does happen.  I am not saying that doing an MA in humanities with this as an expected outcome makes sense, and perhaps it is the exception that makes the rule, but it does happen.

It happens so infrequently that it is an unrepresentative outlier.

A somewhat similar outlier is Russ Wilson. He did a Masters at Wisconsin, then landed a good job as a footballer. A few years out, he just signed a $140 million contract. While the masters can be a route to sports success, expecting to follow Wilson's path might be a tad optimistic.

I have not been able to find the subject of his MA thesis.

[tuxthepenguin]

Just to show the other side, my cousin recently landed a good job at a CC after a couple years on the adjunct circuit with an MA in English Lit, so it does happen.  I am not saying that doing an MA in humanities with this as an expected outcome makes sense, and perhaps it is the exception that makes the rule, but it does happen.

It happens so infrequently that it is an unrepresentative outlier.

A somewhat similar outlier is Russ Wilson. He did a Masters at Wisconsin, then landed a good job as a footballer. A few years out, he just signed a $140 million contract. While the masters can be a route to sports success, expecting to follow Wilson's path might be a tad optimistic.

I have not been able to find the subject of his MA thesis.

His degree was in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and as such does not count for the humanities.

[apl68]

Just to show the other side, my cousin recently landed a good job at a CC after a couple years on the adjunct circuit with an MA in English Lit, so it does happen.  I am not saying that doing an MA in humanities with this as an expected outcome makes sense, and perhaps it is the exception that makes the rule, but it does happen.

It happens so infrequently that it is an unrepresentative outlier.

Probably true.  Before definitively abandoning all hope of an academic career, I applied to an obscure two-year college supported by a small church denomination where I had a family history.  I made it clear that I intended to stay, and not just use the job as a stepping stone to apply elsewhere.  I thought maybe I actually stood a chance, even with my MA.  But no, even this obscure school had multiple PhDs applying for the position.  That was what finally convinced me that I would never, ever, have even the slightest chance of working in academia.

[tuxthepenguin]

This thread reminded me of this gem of an answer on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/comments/5zedym/support_only_i_hate_being_poor_and_i_often_think/dexq8fs/

Advice on the internet is often worth less than what you pay for it.

[Hibush]

This thread reminded me of this gem of an answer on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/comments/5zedym/support_only_i_hate_being_poor_and_i_often_think/dexq8fs/

Advice on the internet is often worth less than what you pay for it.

I like the bot at the end..."The original poster has indicated that this is a support only thread. Please ... refrain from providing advice the OP has not explicitly asked for."