Name Recognition/Cost/Future Job Potential

So that I don't derail the thead about loans and emotions I created this one instead. Here is a link to the one I'm piggybacking on --> http://forums.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/34448-student-loans-based-emotion.html

That article has me thinking about a few things, and I now have several questions. I've had my heart set on the Penn State AgBio Masters in Homeland Security for a while now because I truly believe it's a top tier program. Everyone I've spoken to at the school has been warm and the professors I've researched are top notch.

It wasn't until this article popped up that I began to question the cost vs. payback situation. My wife is finishing up her masters this fall so we will have to start paying back those loans. While I know that I want a masters degree and will benefit from one, I now wonder at what point does the cost start to become a negative factor.

In this field would a general homeland security masters be as beneficial as a specialized one (like the AgBio)? If the answer is yes there are many options out there.

Does name recognition make someone stand out among potential applicants? This question can be asked for any degree really, but if you look at my current degrees (all from TESC) I feel like I need to stand out. I'm very proud of my degrees but I feel like I need that big push from a well known school just in case TESC is ever questioned.

Is the cost really worth the potential job opportunities?
Since this field is fairly new and growing pretty quickly I'm wondering what the return will be in the form of increased pay, potential promotions, etc. I really have no idea where I would find this information.


All in all I feel that because this is such a young, growing field there are no hard answers. I just want to be able to get the best masters I can without bankrupting my family in the process.

 

That's a question only you can answer since we don't know what your financial pain level is. As you said, the field is pretty new but do you have any experience in it or are you starting from square one? Do you have any other emergency management/homeland security experience? I liked Penn State, I went there from 1992-1996 but unfortunately I wasn't mature enough then to graduate. I liked it so much, however, I finished up two more classes years later simply to get an AA degree that I really didn't need except for the name on my resume. If you can afford it, I'd go for it, especially if Penn State is one of the top schools in the AgBio field. You'll have that degree on your resume FOREVER.

After I finish my degree from AMU, if I go for another masters, I'll pick one with more name recognition to balance out the two I have that aren't well known. If that's important to you as well, this might be the school to do it with.

 

I think it depends on what your plans are regarding the degree. If you plan on competing with others for a job, and where the degree comes from could be the tie-breaker, then by all means go with what you can afford and have name recognition. Personally, I'm looking at MBA paths and realizing that I should probably go with OK state (since I'm military), but a huge part of me says I should go with William and Mary because of the supposed higher quality of the program. Then there's a third part that tells me to go to St. Josephs for their MBI because it has behavior specialization in it and that's what I truly want to do I think.

What's funny is I have all these options available because I joined the military, and cost is still a top priority to me. Let companies start firing people for mismanagement of their finances, and we'll see how fast people learn how to do a budget.

 

My financial situation is not bad and I am capable of paying back loans without any issues but the question I need to answer is do I want to take on more debt since my wife's masters has racked up $20,000 already. I just don't know now.

I have many years of experience in emergency preparedness because of the high volume of hurricanes and other natural disasters I deal with on a regular basis (as a supervisor). I really like Penn State because you not only graduate with a masters in general homeland security , but it also incorporates a specialized concentration of your choice. This is why I feel like it's a great choice.

I don't know of any other programs in HLS that do this. Most of them are just general HLS degrees (not that this is a bad thing).

 

I have a friend who has her Masters degree in Social Work from Columbia. Wow, I said, a hardcore Ivy League grad degree! Don't get too excited, she said. In that field the MSW program at NYU is considered to be better than Columbia. Even the Fordam program is considered to be better. So, the moral of the story is that, on a grad level, name recognition does not always mean "better."

 

Thanks for that point Kizmet. That is absolutely true which makes this a bit confusing. We've been seeing programs in HLS pop up for years now but I'm not sure if any have established themsleves as standing out or better. Penn State appears to be highly regarded by everyone I've spoken to but at $730/hour I need to make sure.

I saw this program --
http://bioterrorism.slu.edu/education/programs/fourprogramsibs.html
through St. Louis University and it looks very interesting but it charges a whopping $930/hour. Maybe Penn State isn't so bad after all. This brings up another question. What is the average rane of cost per credit hour for master's programs? I never expected them to be cheap but some of them are ridiculously expensive.

Maybe I should consider a grad cert instead to save costs but I feel like I'm just cheating myself out of the full potential the degree would serve.

 

There was a thread about expensive master's programs. I think Duke came near the top with its ~ $100k MBA. I would provide that the degree's benefit should be commensurate with any potential (immediate or future) career benefits that you might consider. How soon and how much will it impact your career and promotion prospects?
That's what I'd be looking into.

 

I'm definitely concerned about this. The problem I'm facing is that HLS is a field that is still fairly new, but also very broad. That's why Penn State offers the different specializations along with the general HLS title. Promotion from within simply isn't happening. I've reached a plateau at my current place of employment so i would need to be forward thinking about other businesses.

I did find this program --> Graduate Emergency Services Management - University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies through The University of Richmond which is respectable at $455/hour but I have no idea of their reputation. I also believe Penn State stands out more as far as the name is concerned but like Kizmet brought up the question is "which is the better program?".

 

Wow...I just found one using Japhy's google search tips thread that I had no idea about. It's also within spitting distance (just an expression ) of me so i wouldn't have to explain why I had a degree from a school many miles from where I work.

Here's a breakdown of the costs as well--> Tuition/Program Cost

Program description here--> Disaster Management Masters Program - Tulane University, Distance Education- School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

I just can't see paying this much except for the fact that it's Tulane which is highly regarded here. The total cost would be $114,450! That is simply insane unless I was guaranteed a high paying job afterward and there is simply no way of knowing that. This makes Penn State's program look cheap at around $25,000.

 

The University of Richmond is a fantastic liberal arts school (it's also the third most expensive school in the country for undergraduate education). The majority of their students (60%+ come from New England) so it has a very strong reputation along the Atlantic seaboard.

For what it is worth, it is also probably the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen and they won the FBS (1-AA) National Championship a few years ago, though that probably doesn't mean much when choosing a graduate program.

 

Well for $455/hour it comes in at the best deal so far which is odd if they are an expensive undergrad school. I like the looks of the curriculum as well. They may warrant a second look for sure.

I did find this interesting tidbit while searching. CalPoly apparently is trying to get together an MPS in Disaster Management but I'm not sure how far along they are. The webpag --> Master of Professional Studies - Disaster Management & Homeland Security - Degrees & Certificates - Continuing Education & University Outreach - Cal Poly says they are shooting for Fall 2010 but I would imagine that if that were true they would already have an application system set up. Great school name for sure...

 

I worked with a lady who got a Masters in Critical Infrastructure from the Univeristy of Washington (it was through distance learning) and she had a specialization (not annotated) in Food and Agricultural issues. She really enjoyed the program.

My CO in my Guard unit also has his Masters from UW but he focused on Communications. I'll ask them about it, not sure about the price.

 

Ahhhh. It looks like they are no longer taking applications.

Here is the website anyway: Masters Critical Infrastructure

 

I saw that one when I was searching. It looked pretty good. I really wish Tulane was cheaper because it would be a no brainer since it's close to me and a great school.

The University of Richmond program looks good but "Master of Disaster" Science kind of looks odd for some reason. It also looks like a general HLS degree according to the curriculum. Penn State is still winning the battle but the sticker shock is still there.

 

I have to make a correction. I royally screwed up the Math somewhere on this post. The Tulane program costs $38,150 which is expensive but nowhere near as mind numbing as before.

 

From my perspective and opinion as an EM practitioner and faculty, the return on your investment for the Penn State program makes the additional cost not worth it. If you are looking at getting into EM in the public sector, the name on your degree is not going to be a significant deciding factor.

For most emergency manager jobs, you will be competing with people who primarily hold BA degrees but have a ton of experience.

I faced the same decision several years ago (I was headed to the UW program) and decided to pursue a less expensive degree and devote more time to increasing my professional portfolio and experience.

If possible, you will want to pick a school that has a high profile in the IAEM student section as the professional and networking opportunities afforded through this venue eclipse anything the name on a degree is going to offer.

Just my .02

 

Thanks Truckie I appreciate the opinion...I'm already in the public sector right now and have already attained a professional cert and I'm working toward a few more. I also plan on getting the IAEM cert once I get the others under my belt. If I make a move it will be out of the public sector and see what the private sector has to offer. In my area there are plenty of private companies needing people with EM experience but requiring only a Bachelor's degree. I'm doing this partially for personal reasons. This is why I've considered other major/concentrations besides EM/HLS. Maybe I'm putting all my eggs in one basket (I hate that phrase).

I have many years in the field including my time as a first responder plus I've worked major incidents starting with Hurricane Georges in 1998 up to this current one in the GoM. If I don't choose EM/HLS or CJ I really don't know what else would compliment what I already have. I'm certainly open to ideas though. I still have some time to finish up apps for the fall.

 

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and opinions about these programs. Truckie got me thinking last night with his opinions that I might be putting everything into the same field when maybe I would fair better by finding a master's program that compliments what I already have (which is a BS in HLS/EP). I thought that the Penn State AgBio/HLS degree would accomplish this but maybe I should reach even further beyond HLS degrees.

I thought about degrees that focus on Physical Security, Environemental Science, and Meteorology but I don't think I have the Science background needed for two of them.

Other than these I'm drawing a blank and would like to see if you had any other suggestions as to what would compliment my B.S. I know the question is going to be asked as to what I want to do with it but if you've read any of my postings here you'll see that I'm interested in just about everything out there. That's why I'm always beating my head agianst a wall trying to narrow things down. I still think Penn State AgBio would be an awesome degree and fun as well. Tulane (even though it's $38,150) is still lingering around too because of the program and how close it is to me physically.

I hate that I make decisions only to second guess myself a million times. Do the rest of you do this as well? I look through my posts here and feel like I can never make a decision and stick with it (even though I made it through my AAS and BS). As always thanks for your help and suggestions!

 

I am right there with you with trying to decide what I want to get my Masters in. When I started this journey it was because I wanted to do Social work. No I am about 6-7 months away from my BA and im planning now for my masters, only prob is I cannot decide what I want to get it in. With social work it was easy, an MSW but now that I have decided I want to teach community college not so much..

So my point with all this is? Im right there with ya It is a tough decision to make when you feel like you would enjoy multiple things!

 

It's good to see someone in a similar situation. If you read my posts back from 2004-2005 you'll see I wanted to focus on Engineering. Obviously this didn't happen. I still would love to work in the theme park industry in some capacity but to do that I would need to utilize what I've already accomplished so far. I've been in this career field for almost 15 years so switching gears at this point would be crazy.

I don't think there are any master's degrees out there dealing with "managing physical security in theme parks" but HLS/EM/EP covers topics like this. That's why I believe it's still the best option for me if that's what I'm wanting to continue doing. It also transfers to non theme park businesses since large companies have assets/resources to protect.

All of this is why I also have probles figuring out which Penn State path to choose. They all look like fun...\

If Tulane wasn't so ridiculously expensive I would apply because of it being a very short drive from work. This is why I always enlist the help of the community members here. They always keep me in line and have never failed me yet. Without them I would not have managed to complete my AAS or BS and I am forever grateful for that.