S/o if you are interested in becoming an adjunct professor, is it alright to earn your master's degree at the same institution where you earned your

[Lisa R.]

Undergraduate degree?

 

Dd has a BA in English from one school, and a bachelors in nursing from another school. Now she'd like to get a masters in teaching. She's like to be an adjunct professor teaching English. She's like to get her master's degree from the same institution she received her English degree from. She thinks she's like to teach at a community college part-time.

 

I'd always heard one should get their master's degree from a different institution from the bachelor's. Is this still true? If she would like to teach at a community college rather than a university, does this change anything? She seems to be under the impression that if she teaches at a community college, she can get both degrees from the same school.

 

Does the fact that she has an undergraduate degree from a different school in a different field make a difference here?

[poppy]

Wouldn't a masters in teaching qualify her to teach high school, not college?

 

Adjunct professors when I went to school (admittedly 10 years ago) were all PhDs, or well on their way to one. And all had graduate credentials in their own fields, not in "teaching". Their teaching experience came from teaching undergrads in the subject matter while they were in grad school.

[Lisa R.]

Wouldn't a masters in teaching qualify her to teach high school, not college?

 

Adjunct professors when I went to school (admittedly 10 years ago) were all PhDs, or well on their way to one. And all had graduate credentials in their own fields, not in "teaching". Their teaching experience came from teaching undergrads in the subject matter while they were in grad school.

 

 

You could be right. Perhaps she's thinking of getting a Master's degree in English. I just can't recall. She's just starting the process of looking into this.

 

I guess my main question is: Is it alright to get a Master's degree at the same institution where you obtained your bachelor's degree?

[Sherry in OH]

 

Having a bachelor’s and master’s from the same institution is less of a problem than having the wrong degree. A master’s degree in education is typically a job requirement/career advancement degree for school teachers. If your daughter earns this degree, she *may* be able to find an adjunct position at a community college teaching education classes. If her goal is to teach English courses, it won’t help her. A Master’s in English is unlikely to be sufficient. She is aware that there is a surplus of underemployed persons holding PhD's in English, isn't she? They are her competition.

[QueenCat]

Wouldn't a masters in teaching qualify her to teach high school, not college?

 

Adjunct professors when I went to school (admittedly 10 years ago) were all PhDs, or well on their way to one. And all had graduate credentials in their own fields, not in "teaching". Their teaching experience came from teaching undergrads in the subject matter while they were in grad school.

 

 

It really depends on the college and the specialty. Dh is an adjunct with a masters. His specialty is relatively new. They wouldn't be able to get enough people to teach it if they didn't have people with masters teaching the undergrad classes. The school he got his masters from DID NOT have masters students teaching undergrad classes. This is more common in very large universities. My son's college does not use TAs to teach. Only to tutor and grade.

[Danestress]

I agree with the others. She is probably going to want a Doctorate in English to have a good chance of getting even a Community College teaching position.

[QueenCat]

Undergraduate degree?

 

Dd has a BA in English from one school, and a bachelors in nursing from another school. Now she'd like to get a masters in teaching. She's like to be an adjunct professor teaching English. She's like to get her master's degree from the same institution she received her English degree from. She thinks she's like to teach at a community college part-time.

 

I'd always heard one should get their master's degree from a different institution from the bachelor's. Is this still true? If she would like to teach at a community college rather than a university, does this change anything? She seems to be under the impression that if she teaches at a community college, she can get both degrees from the same school.

 

Does the fact that she has an undergraduate degree from a different school in a different field make a difference here?

 

 

English is an area that is overpopulated with PhD's. She would need to excell at a competitive school, one that she didn't get her undergrad degree from, to have a real chance in that particular area.

[zoobie]

Academia is a flooded market right now. Back when I was deciding PhD vs JD, the issue was called "academic incest." I wouldn't have been able to get a job at the institution where I received my graduate degree. Where I got my undergrad was irrelevant.

[poppy]

Yes, getting an adjunct professorship in English, anywhere, will require a PhD, and still won't be that easy to get.

 

A master's degree in English by itself is completely worthless, aside from the intellectual stimulation of getting it (which does have value).

 

I think you should be frank with her that she would have a higher income, more opportunities and more job security getting that teaching degree and looking to teach at the high school level.

[Lisa R.]

I appreciate all the replies. She received her nursing degree in December and is currently working as a nurse. She likes nursing but has a passion for English and teaching. I've tried to convince her to look into the qualifications needed to teach nursing at a nursing school, but she doesn't seem interested in that. I've heard there is a shortage of nursing instructors.

 

She just keeps coming back to the idea of teaching a few English classes at a community college as a side job.

[Dana]

As always, it'll vary according to school.

If she's looking to adjunct, it won't matter that undergrad and grad are the same school typically.

I have a MAT degree and adjunct. At our cc, you need 18 graduate hours in your subject to teach. I have 21 in math, so I can teach for the math department.

 

English is one that there is a glut of people with degrees.

It is certainly possible that she'd be able to pick up a course or two at the cc, but it's highly unlikely to get hired full time in English with only a masters.

I wouldn't go for a degree with the idea of using it for part time work. That'd be really pricey!

She could work part time at the tutoring center at the cc....get a feel for the population and see if she might like teaching...but getting a degree to teach part time is a bit crazy.

[stripe]

I strongly advise her to stick with nursing. There are many good and flexible jobs in that, whereas English teaching is not likely to be very financially rewarding. Many schools pay less than $2000 per course to adjuncts. I don't see the appeal. At all. Better to volunteer tutor on the side and keep the nursing gig.

[Tokyomarie]

I'm guessing that CCs in the larger population centers would have more instructors with PhDs. Our CC is in an area w/several 4 year universities and colleges, but taking a brief look at the English Dept. faculty info reveals that one person is a candidate for a PhD in Educational Leadership, another did doctoral level studies but didn't complete the degree, and the others have Master's Degrees in varying English and Education related areas.

 

I think most of my son's CC instructors to date have had master's level education.

[AngieW in Texas]

I know that 20 years ago when I was teaching at a cc, there were plenty of people available to teach English classes, but not as many to teach math or science.

 

My cc constantly has openings listed for nursing and phlebotomy, but I have not seen English pop up at all.

 

A cc generally requires that you have a master's degree in the field you want to teach. An education degree would be for teaching education classes, not English. It doesn't matter what your BS is in, only your master's.

 

On the other hand, English as a 2nd-language teachers aren't as readily available and I know that my mil was able to teach that course without even a BS because it was a continuing education course rather than a course for college credit.

[G5052]

Yes, I agree with the others. Getting an English adjunct position with a master's and no experience in that field is going to be really difficult. The English adjuncts I work with at the local community college either have PhD's and/or many, many years of experience teaching. We seem to get a lot of moonlighting and retired AP English teachers. There may be exceptions elsewhere, but not where I teach.

 

And keep in mind that the majority of adjuncts are going to teach the remedial and/or ESL classes (i.e. not literature and not English 101/102).

 

I've been doing this in a STEM field since I left full-time employment when I had 15 years of experience. If I tried to get hired now, I probably wouldn't get in because I've cobbled together various part-time jobs for the last 15 years, some not at all in the field I teach at the college level. Generally they are looking for a decade or more of recent experience in the field you plus at least five years of teaching older teens or adults. A friend is trying to get in to teach in the Early Childhood Education program with a master's and six years of teaching kindergarten, and the dean in charge of adjunct hiring told me that her resume probably wouldn't even be put in the hold file. Every school is different though.

 

On the other hand, a friend of mine went from being a medical lab tech, to homeschool mom, and then to high school English teacher by getting a fast-track teaching certificate. She's thinking of getting a master's to be a reading specialist because she really loves working with the kids that have failed the state tests. So maybe high school English would be a more reasonable possibility.