How many degrees too many?

[LearnedHand]

Last night I told my boyfriend what I *think* I've decided on:

A Master of Public Health in Behavioral Health (1 year)
Master or Post-Bacc in Journalism (1 - 2.5 years)
PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psychology, with additional undergrad pre-req classes (5 years?)

I have a BA in History of Architecture, which is good for *nothing* except being a secretary!

My ulimate career goal is to be a practicing Psychologist who writes about issues in medicine and psychology. I love both journalism/writing and psych. Someday I also hope to teach - preferably English/writing or psychology! The MPH is because I really don't have a medical background and because it will give me research opportunities, which are ESSENTIAL for admission to a PhD program. Also, it is one year, cheap, interesting and in my city.

My boyfriend looked at me like I was NUTS and said that that is way, way too much school. What do you guys think? Am I living in a dream world? I *have* heard of people who have both an MD and JD, which, in my opinion, is way harder than what I'm going for.
:neutral:

[LaFille]

i'd say it's a fine plan, but in real life you have to take one step at a time! nothing is set in stone, so i would say go ahead with the plan but be open to diversions and other opportunities along the way. i really don't think you necessarily need a degree in all of those things to do what you want either...

oh yeah, and out of curiosity, isn't all that education going to cost a fortune?

[cheshrcarol]

Um, I'd think you were nuts too. Another 7-10 years of school is a huge undertaking. And you don't an advanced degree in journalism to be able to write. That will be a complete waste of money that I doubt you'd be able to get back.

I'd also say check out several phd programs and be absolutely positive you have NO chance of getting in without having the MPH and/or research experience. Are there other ways to get research opportunities? Are there undergrad classes (which would be cheaper) you could take that would achieve the thing?

[cache]

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. What you are doing is shooting for a specific, defined goal a long ways off. If you miss that goal, then you are just really over educated with little point to it. My advice is to take it step by step. You never know what is going to come up in the meantime, and if you get sidetracked, it might make some of your efforts not worth the effort you put in.

I see plenty of candidates who have numerous degrees, often in unrelated fields. I've even seen someone with 6 bachelor's and 2 master's applying for a position where one bachelor's was not even a requirement. The way I see those resumes, is someone who is not focused, someone who just drifts from area to area, never really settling into one field. Or even worse, I see a career student. Either way, not a great prospect for a long term employee.

You don't want those labels. So establish your career concurrently with your education, so you can be sure to hit your goals.

[wordsmith]

For me, more degees than I could afford would be too many.

[gradgirl]

Last night I told my boyfriend what I *think* I've decided on:

A Master of Public Health in Behavioral Health (1 year)
Master or Post-Bacc in Journalism (1 - 2.5 years)
PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psychology, with additional undergrad pre-req classes (5 years?)

I have a BA in History of Architecture, which is good for *nothing* except being a secretary!

My ulimate career goal is to be a practicing Psychologist who writes about issues in medicine and psychology. I love both journalism/writing and psych. Someday I also hope to teach - preferably English/writing or psychology! The MPH is because I really don't have a medical background and because it will give me research opportunities, which are ESSENTIAL for admission to a PhD program. Also, it is one year, cheap, interesting and in my city.

My boyfriend looked at me like I was NUTS and said that that is way, way too much school. What do you guys think? Am I living in a dream world? I *have* heard of people who have both an MD and JD, which, in my opinion, is way harder than what I'm going for.
:neutral:


Umm..what exactly are your career goals? If you really want to be a psychologist who studies issues in medicine and psychology, find a faculty member at some university with a PhD program who studies the same thing and apply there. You do not need a journalism background to publish in psychology...actually, the type of writing you do in psychology is completely different from the type of writing in journalism (psych writing is pretty boring and scientific and dry). Do you want to teach psychology? Then you need to get a PhD in psych or get a master's in order to teach at a community college. An MPH degree really won't help you get into many psych PhD programs, as far as I can tell.

I think you need to get some focus on what you want to do. You are talking about a LOT of hard schoolwork. Also, see my response to your other thread. Good luck!

[victoria.o]

I agree with gradgirl in a lot of ways.

I know someone who ultimately wants to obtain her PhD in clinical psychology, and from what she says, for a lot of those PhD programs, you should have a MA in Clinical Psych first (I think there's a few programs where you can go straight to the PhD).

Also, I just graduated with a degree in journalism, and honestly, ANYBODY can write journalism if you have the training. I say, instead of getting a MA degree in it (that's pretty intense, especially if you don't have prior experience), why not take a few journalism courses and try to get some sort of position, even an internship or volunteer position writing something for a paper. Start off small to get the experience. ESPECIALLY with something like journalism, your experience will be valued much more than what you studied. If you can write, you can write, period. There are peopel who do journalism who studied Political Science, Sociology, etc. I wouldn't stress out believing that you need a degree in it to do it.

Besides, academic writing that you would do for psych journals is COMPLETELY different than writing you would do for journalism. I've done both.

It def is hard to get into PhD programs, you for sure need that research experience. If you ultimately want to do psych, why not try getting a MA in clinical psych? That would provide the exact sort of experience you need to get your PhD (I assume), and it's on the track that you want. I say, look into programs and try to make an informed decision --your time is precious. At the same time though, focus on doing what YOU want to do, not what you FEEL you have to do just to accomplish certain goals (often, there's tons of ways to go about getting any goal you want). Good luck!

P.S. I think getting an MD/JD is different from your situation. I think people who get MD/JD want to be forensic pathologists. It's an actual career goal where you use both degrees in that line of work. It's for a specific career goal, not just to look good (well, usually).

[LearnedHand]

Thanks for all of the great advice! I will mull it all over. You guys are smart.

I should have been clearer regarding my goal: to write about health and psych issues in MAINSTREAM newspapers or magazines, not psych journals.

But, yeah, I need that research experience.

And maybe I can just read a book about journalism rather than taking a master's degree.

Thank you again for your opinions and ideas. :huge:

[spokes]

first off if you were talking about speration i would say that 6 is too many (get it 6 degrees of seperation - i kill myself).

anyways before running off to fulfil your career dream - i am wondeirng if you have thohgt aboutt he demand side of the equation - i mean is there a big demand to write about those issues in mainstream publications? seems to me that your goal is very very specific.

just saying....

[NewMrs.]

Last night I told my boyfriend what I *think* I've decided on:

A Master of Public Health in Behavioral Health (1 year)
Master or Post-Bacc in Journalism (1 - 2.5 years)
PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psychology, with additional undergrad pre-req classes (5 years?)

I have a BA in History of Architecture, which is good for *nothing* except being a secretary!

My ulimate career goal is to be a practicing Psychologist who writes about issues in medicine and psychology. I love both journalism/writing and psych. Someday I also hope to teach - preferably English/writing or psychology! The MPH is because I really don't have a medical background and because it will give me research opportunities, which are ESSENTIAL for admission to a PhD program. Also, it is one year, cheap, interesting and in my city.

My boyfriend looked at me like I was NUTS and said that that is way, way too much school. What do you guys think? Am I living in a dream world? I *have* heard of people who have both an MD and JD, which, in my opinion, is way harder than what I'm going for.
:neutral:



I agree that this is way, way too much school, especially if you're not independently wealthy enough to pay for it.

I noticed that one of your goals is to teach writing. I am assuming that this is at the college level. My experience might be different because I graduated from a small, private, liberal arts college, but I had alot of instructors in college who were adjuncts trying to get on full-time somewhere:

-The instructor I had for calculus had a JD and a Master's Degree. He was an adjunct at both my college and the nearby community college. He was really nice to me when I took his class at my private college. However, I know somebody who took his class at the community college and this person said he blew up at the students all of the time.

- The instructor I had for one of my writing classes had a Master's Degree in English and she was also a CPA. She, too, was an adjunct at my college, teaching both English classes and accounting classes. Apparently she realized after getting the Master's in English that she still wasn't marketable enough for her liking, hence the additional schooling to become and accountant as well.

- My father-in-law is a full-time assistant professor at a college. He teaches a field of study for which academic jobs are very competitive to obtain. However, he had decades of experience in his industry (alot of it before he even finished his BA or MA) before he was hired to teach as an adjunct for several years and was eventually hired full-time. He is still paying off student loans and working on his PhD (he is all-but-dissertation). He has to take alot of freelance gigs to pay his bills. He has said on more than one occassion that alot of former grad students in his department are getting antsy waiting for him to retire so that they could have a stab at his job.

I do know of one guy who already had a JD when he attended grad school with my sister to earn an MLS. His goal was to become a law librarian. I haven't heard if he had any success with this after graduation.

[weary]

ambitious, to say the least. i say if you want it and can afford it, go for it. just remember that school's not going anywhere. you don't have to rush or necessarily do all of this. your goals/desires/etc may change over time and that's o-k too. don't set a big (and this layout in your post is big) plan up and feel obligated to stick to it.

i have a relative who is currently a college professor. he has a bachelors, 2 masters and a PhD. he has tons of teaching experience as well as working in the corporate offices of some pretty big education companies. he JUST reached his goal of being a FT professor and i believe he is 50y-o. he had to be published in all kinds of journals, etc., and has to still do tons of research and writing beyond the undergrad and grad courses he teaches. he loves it and is happy, but it took a ton of time and effort and schooling. just somethings to consider...

[wordsmith]

Also, I just graduated with a degree in journalism, and honestly, ANYBODY can write journalism if you have the training. I say, instead of getting a MA degree in it (that's pretty intense, especially if you don't have prior experience), why not take a few journalism courses and try to get some sort of position, even an internship or volunteer position writing something for a paper. Start off small to get the experience. ESPECIALLY with something like journalism, your experience will be valued much more than what you studied. If you can write, you can write, period. There are peopel who do journalism who studied Political Science, Sociology, etc. I wouldn't stress out believing that you need a degree in it to do it.

True, all true. I've been a journalist for more than five years, now, and I never studied journalism, I came in with a strong writing background and learned everything else on the job.

None of the writers at my paper have journalism degrees even in undergrad, actually. We were all English majors. My publisher is the only one who works here who has a journalism degree, and he started out in sports reporting.

[LearnedHand]

I think you guys are correct: the Journalism degree is probably too much.

I'll just focus on the Psychology for now. But even that is going to require a lot of schooling. The good thing is that I'm willing to do it to reach my goal of becoming a PhD-level psychologist.

I like the idea of getting a master's before the PhD in order to decide on a specialization. But...I thought that most PhD programs didn't require you to have a master's first? I have only seen a few that do. And, I wonder if any of the master's classes would transfer for PhD credit - I guess it depends on the program, huh?

So, my plan right now is this: to go back to undergrad for the prereq psych courses OR get the 2nd BA in psych, whichever the admissions people recommend.

In the future, I may also have to get the master's to be a competative PhD applicant. Perhaps that master's could be in counseling rather than psych, but it's a 2-year master's nonetheless.

So, that's 3 or 4 years of school, possibly, before I even start the PhD! Does that sound crazy?

I think that I'm willing to do pretty much anything to reach my goal, though. I want to help people who have had anxiety and other mental health problems - I want to be one of the best psychs out there and to devote my life to the field.

Wow. So that's what I'm thinking about today.

Thanks, guys. You're a great sounding board. I've been out of school for 3 years now, working as a secretary and feeling like a loser. The depressed economy in New Orleans doesn't help, either. I want to move!!

[cache]

I want to help people who have had anxiety and other mental health problems - I want to be one of the best psychs out there and to devote my life to the field.

Just an observation, but earlier you said you really wanted to write psych articles for mainstream press, but now you say you want the clinical side more. For someone being ready to commit to significant additional educaiton, it seems like your still not focused. Just wondering.

[cheshrcarol]

So, my plan right now is this: to go back to undergrad for the prereq psych courses OR get the 2nd BA in psych, whichever the admissions people recommend.
I would say before you commit to anything, make sure to talk to people in the PhD programs you want to join. I think in most cases, an extra BA is not worth it. I am doing a complete career change myself and am in grad school, and my program is entirely self-contained. And I know in my program, there's an MS/PhD track, so you can do the master's, and then those classes count towards the PhD.

[AshleyJordan]

I'd say after a few grad school classes, you may decide that one graduate degree is more than enough!

I've thought about going back for a Ph.D. or a Master's in another subject, but definitely after a long break, and just a couple classes at a time (much more affordable.) Most of the people I know who've finished graduate school have said pretty much the same thing-- it's exhausting! The last thing you're probably going to want to do after earning one degree is to plow forward for another, IMHO.