4 ms·

That’s something I’ve been thinking about. Doing a degree on Active Duty means a lot of late nights and weekends and no real time to explore anything not direct

That’s something I’ve been thinking about. Doing a degree on Active Duty means a lot of late nights and weekends and no real time to explore anything not directly related to the degree. Further, my son has cancer and autism and with the relative stability of my pension I have thought that I’d like to make the world a better place in some way that my experience can be leveraged. Unfortunately that combination leaves me with little hope of being admitted to a more classical MA or PhD because I just didn’t do the coursework that is needed to apply and distinguish myself. Perhaps a terminal MA at a state school? I’m in CA and can move to any school in the state; I can’t really leave the state for a few reasons to do with my sons care.

bee_rider 4y ago
FWIW, I did a MS with a thesis, I really liked it. Currently I'm working on a PhD, and honestly -- I dunno, with the MS I was working on more of a little refinement to something that my professor had done, it was pretty cool. With the PhD, there's almost too much freedom and the expectations are much higher, haha. The MS felt more much more practical. Some of that could be related to the specifics of the projects, but... I dunno, there's something to be said for restricting scope.
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  As a project/program manager I feel that last sentence in my bones.
adamsmith143 4y ago
Well it's not like there is shortage of great schools in California. Basically anything in the UC system is great, there obviously Stanford and USC as well. But certainly Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB are all world class and UCI, UCSC, UCR and UCD are nothing to sneeze at either. Cal State also has some great programs particularly in Engineering at Poly San Luis Obispo As far as the degree itself it really depends on what you want to do. Work in a business? MBA will be fine, work as an Engineer? Get an MS. Be a Lecturer at a CC? Any Master's will probably work.

bee_rider 4y ago

FWIW, I did a MS with a thesis, I really liked it. Currently I'm working on a PhD, and honestly -- I dunno, with the MS I was working on more of a little refinement to something that my professor had done, it was pretty cool. With the PhD, there's almost too much freedom and the expectations are much higher, haha. The MS felt more much more practical. Some of that could be related to the specifics of the projects, but... I dunno, there's something to be said for restricting scope.

CobaltFire 4y ago
As a project/program manager I feel that last sentence in my bones.

adamsmith143 4y ago

Well it's not like there is shortage of great schools in California. Basically anything in the UC system is great, there obviously Stanford and USC as well. But certainly Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB are all world class and UCI, UCSC, UCR and UCD are nothing to sneeze at either. Cal State also has some great programs particularly in Engineering at Poly San Luis Obispo As far as the degree itself it really depends on what you want to do. Work in a business? MBA will be fine, work as an Engineer? Get an MS. Be a Lecturer at a CC? Any Master's will probably work.