In the US.
Was gonna say. My Master’s program paid for itself by the time I graduated and absolutely helped land me my dream job which turned into a dream career.
Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
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Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#12In the US.
Sure, but personally I would argue that it almost always makes more financial sense to do a combined Masters-PhD (i.e. a research degree), especially in fields with plentiful funding. That was the case for me in Ireland when I did my doctorate.
Can you share which fields are these?
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#13Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#14One of the key issues I see is that we don’t place a high enough value on adult education. A philosophy professor of mine told me the word “andragogy”, which is the theory of adult education. It’s different from “pedagogy” which means the education of children.
I always thought that learning is learning. It never occurred to me that there’s a difference between how and why children learn and that it could be different from adults.
As an adult, who considers myself a life long learner, I see the differences. The education system hasn’t adapted to adult learning. Most masters classes are simply just repackaged versions of undergraduate classes, maybe with a little more depth.
The schedules haven’t changed either. As the article points out almost all the bad practices are online classes. It’s hard for adults to juggle family, kids, and work while being a student. People feel it’s necessary to further their schooling but don’t have many options. They can’t just take off two days of the week to attend a class. Few schools offer nights and weekend classes. Online becomes the only option.
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#15Will Master's allow me to obtain US visa / get job in US & relocate easier? or the diff between bachelor/engineering degree is barely significant
It does. One goes through a separate, advanced degree, pool for the h1b lottery. If one is not selected on that pool, then one enters the regular one.
Also, a STEM masters allows one to do three years of OPT, which is basically a work permit.
A masters was a great choice for me. I did my engineering undergrad abroad, got a very good education for not much money. Doing a masters in the US allowed me to specialize and enter the US market.
Comparatively, the price of a technical masters in the US was on part with that of an MBA on my country of origin. After crunching the numbers, it was an easy decision.
I am happy with the education I got, and the opportunities it opened for me.
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#16Will Master's allow me to obtain US visa / get job in US & relocate easier? or the diff between bachelor/engineering degree is barely significant
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Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#17When are we going to learn that encouraging everyone to get more education is a waste of resources? All it leads to is lowered standards and devalued degrees. Your credential is only worth something because someone else doesn't have it.
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#18Will Master's allow me to obtain US visa / get job in US & relocate easier? or the diff between bachelor/engineering degree is barely significant
It does. One goes through a separate, advanced degree, pool for the h1b lottery. If one is not selected on that pool, then one enters the regular one. Also, a STEM masters allows one to do three years of OPT, which is basically a work permit. A masters was a great choice for me. I did my engineering undergrad abroad, got a very good education for not much money. Doing a masters in the US allowed me to specialize and…
Thank you for explanation
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#19In the US.
Sure, but personally I would argue that it almost always makes more financial sense to do a combined Masters-PhD (i.e. a research degree), especially in fields with plentiful funding. That was the case for me in Ireland when I did my doctorate.
In engineering a MS pays best, at least historically. Lately PhD's are becoming very common and much more product-oriented I'd say (as opposed to long-term high-risk research). So may be a better ticket to the upper ranks of technical tracks at large tech companies.
Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?
#20When are we going to learn that encouraging everyone to get more education is a waste of resources? All it leads to is lowered standards and devalued degrees. Your credential is only worth something because someone else doesn't have it.
> Your credential is only worth something because someone else doesn't have it.
That would be true only if all the jobs requiring these credentials were already filled and none were to be created in the future.