3 ms·

>I don't recommend a Master's degree unless you'd like one to pursue a research position in academia or an industry lab Even if their Bachelor's degree is unre

by ccajas 9y ago

>I don't recommend a Master's degree unless you'd like one to pursue a research position in academia or an industry lab Even if their Bachelor's degree is unrelated to the one they want to get, like the OP? I'm on a similar boat, unrelated degree, but doing programming work and don't want to be stuck doing the mundane forever. People keep telling me conflicting advice. Get a MS if you have a bachelor's already. Get a BS in CS, your degree is unrelated. Or DON'T get another degree, and learn what you need online. For me I have an end goal in wanting to partake in space exploration because I really like the mission of some companies and agencies to put people on Mars and possibly beyond. That's not a hop, skip and jump away but I want to know if it's really worth for more than a research. Especially if you consider there are career-oriented MS degrees, like the programs at DePaul for example. What is your opinion on career-focused MS degrees like that one?

dsacco 9y ago
First and foremost, I don't think a second Bachelor's degree is rational in any scenario. If you are going to spend the money to augment your education with another degree, make it a Master's degree. I think there's an argument for doing a professional Master's degree if your undergraduate degree is in an unrelated discipline. I still believe a research Master's degree is a more valuable use of time, but a one-year professional Master's degree could also be valuable in that scenario. However, the caveat is that since you won't be learning anything you can't learn on your own, you should probably go into this for the signaling effect. Large tech companies don't require undergraduate degrees in a specific discipline (or any undergraduate degree at all for that matter), which means the university name is the thing you're paying for that you can't do on your own. In consideration of this I wouldn't do a Master's degree unless it was from a top 20 or so school.

by ccajas 9y ago

dsacco 9y ago

First and foremost, I don't think a second Bachelor's degree is rational in any scenario. If you are going to spend the money to augment your education with another degree, make it a Master's degree. I think there's an argument for doing a professional Master's degree if your undergraduate degree is in an unrelated discipline. I still believe a research Master's degree is a more valuable use of time, but a one-year professional Master's degree could also be valuable in that scenario. However, the caveat is that since you won't be learning anything you can't learn on your own, you should probably go into this for the signaling effect. Large tech companies don't require undergraduate degrees in a specific discipline (or any undergraduate degree at all for that matter), which means the university name is the thing you're paying for that you can't do on your own. In consideration of this I wouldn't do a Master's degree unless it was from a top 20 or so school.