I know there have been threads on here discussing the pros and cons of holding multiple degrees, so I apologize if the question I ask has already been answered, but I would appreciate some feedback. I'll have a BS in Philosophy and Psychology Spring 2016. My plan is to go to grad school for a Masters in Public Administration and maybe get another masters concurrently; then, I would like to pursue a Ph.D. in a field such as Philosophy, Political Science, or Psychology (Quantitative, for instance). My professors have told me this plan might hurt my chances at landing a job and this has been rather discouraging and distressing because I can't decide on just one program; I see many people on here who hold multiple degrees. My interests are rather broad and diverse, hence my plan for (at least) a few degrees. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Hi and welcome to Degreeinfo. Having several degrees in several different disciplines can make you seem like you lack direction. The key is to tailor your resume accordingly to the job you are applying to. Take me as an example. I hold a BA in Public Admisnistration, a graduate certificate, an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in Professional Writing and am currently pursuing an MA in Theology ( for pleasure). Now do I list all of these degrees on a resume? Absolutely not. My current employer wanted a political writer/PR/communications consultant, therefore when I applied I only listed my BA and my professional writing degree, all other academic certifications were left out. Neuhaus is an HR executive and I'm sure he will give you, assuming he sees this post, a better direction as to what the HR world thinks of several unrelated degrees. My advice is to stick with degrees that will give you the skills needed for gainful employment. Once you are fully employed then you could seek degrees in your desired field or degrees that interest you. Once you start gaining working experience your degrees matter less and your work experience becomes the focus of your CV. Hope this helps and good luck.
You might have an omission problem which may have similar consequences to commission issue. On a slightly different note, I read on this board I think that a student lost a scholarship at a prestigious university for omitting a few courses at a community college.
I think that Kool's advice is solid and so I'd lie to rephrase it a bit. I think you should work backwards. Think of the job you want and then design a program that will get you there. You will probably find that one of those degrees is not actually necessary. I would also add that you can have interests and can continue to learn without accumulating degrees.
When you apply for an academic program you are typically required to provide all transcripts for all courses at all institutions you've attended. PhdTobe, I believe, is referencing a young woman at Cornell who was disciplined for cheating and, in the course of the cheating investigation, it was discovered that she failed to disclose a course at a community college (from which she withdrew but still had a transcript) which caused CU to send her a bill for the full amount of the financial aid she received. So, yeah, when you apply for a degree program you absolutely must disclose prior courses of study and basically do whatever the school tells you that you need to do in order to apply to the program. That, however, has nothing to do with simply not including a degree on your resume. People do it all the time when they have second or third degrees that were earned for pleasure rather than to enhance job marketability. I've also seen people with impeccable workplace credentials omit unaccredited religious degrees from their resume but who absolutely "use" or "claim" those degrees in their respective religious circles. At issue is, what are your plans for employment? If you want to become a professor then your professors may have some useful insight as to what is a turnoff for a hiring committee. If you intend to do anything other than become a professor then, generally speaking, a philosophy,professor isn't going to know jack about what looks good and what doesn't to another employer. The degree mix you propose sounds like you'd be received well if you decided to become, say, a staff member (as opposed to faculty) at a university. My colleagues (HR) in the higher ed space tell me they have PhDs answering the phone as administrative assistants and there are a good number of people on campus who want to hire people with a PhD in anything because they feel it makes their department "look smart." But that's also a lot of educational legwork to get a $35-40k clerical job. An MPA isn't a terrible degree to pair with a doctorate. it has appeal to higher Ed, non-profits and the government. But it really depends upon your goals and what sort of job you want to pursue after you graduate. But, yes, if you are going for teaching jobs and that MPA is going to hinder you, you can simply leave it off of your resume and put it back later. But, then why are earning that MPA in the first place? What career objective are you hoping it will meet?
Here's my thought on this subject. A resume is a document designed to get you an interview. It's not uncommon for people to have several versions of their resume, each designed to highlight a particular aspect of their experience. This is contrasted with a job application which will, commonly, ask specifically for a list of all the applicants credentials and then, at the end, require a signature indicating that all the information is true and accurate. This is where people sometimes get themselves in trouble for lies of omission or commission.
One certainly has the prerogative to not divulge all degrees on a résumé—yet here’s the potential trapping: There will be employment applications that will require the disclosure of all degrees (just as do college /university admissions applications requiring issued transcripts from all institutions ever attended). A decision to not list is as Phdtobe has already brought up … an intentional omission, therefore a deception issue. Discrepancy between the CV /résumé and employment application is an additional area of concern in my view, e.g., such could likely be considered by the employing organization as dishonest practice by an applicant ... whether discovered before or after the fact.
Talking about job applications specifically - if there are something not relevant to my future position, I leave it off of my resume. IF there is some HR nightmare which demands all and exact details of courses taken, I would complete all and exact details to the best of my abilities. I venture to write that most of HR form data goes into a black hole (and pops out at some scammers desk), and actual hiring individuals rarely look at the detail, but more if the "box is checked".
I agree completely, on all my academic applications I have always listed my academic education. On job applications I've always tailored my resume to the job at hand. I earned my MA in Professional Wrtitng while on active duty in the Army. And I've only have had one job (my current employer) after leaving active duty, and even though I tailored my resume to the job at hand I brought up the fact that I was pursuing an MFA with the HR rep. She said it was not necessary to list it and just brushed it off. However, I do see the potential pitfalls for not listing all degrees. I have spoken to several recruiters and I was always told to tailor the resume to the job at hand but again with everything in life YMMV.
I've never encountered a private sector employer who made such a demand. If I'm hiring accountants, I care that you earned the required degree in accounting. I care that the degree you claim was, in fact, earned and was awarded at the times you say it was. I do not care that you earned an Associate of Arts prior to your B.S. in Accounting. Because the associates to bachelors leap is one of the most obvious situations where people simply don't mention one of the degrees. And I cannot ever imagine penalizing a candidate for saying: "B.S. from Syracuse University" (if such is true) because they earned an A.S. first and transferred all of the credits in and simply didn't mention the associates. So, can you provide an example of an employer who makes such a demand?
The resume is not a chronicle of everything you've ever done in your life. It's the reason why I hate receiving 5+ page resumes from people who defensively say things like "I've been working for 30+ years, I can't fit all of that onto one page!" Right, you can't. And you're not supposed to. Give me the most relevant bits for the job you're applying for and put the rest on the application (our application only requires a 10 year work history, anyway). If you're an engineer, I don't care about your MFA. It is immaterial to the position you are applying for. Applying for a job in marketing? Hey, it might not hurt. But failing to include it there isn't going to result in anything "bad" happening to you. Catering your resume to the job you are applying for (as long as you don't make things up) is not a deception issue.
Study whatever you like. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's easy enough to explain why you have degrees in two fields. People recognize the need for personal interests. It would be a shame to abandon a goal because of what a future interviewer might say.
Good to know. As I said, I've only done hiring for private employers. So, further proof that your goals kind of matter a bit in determining your best course of action.
Neuhaus is the HR guru. Anyway, do you see any issue with a candidate dumbing down his/her resume just to get his foot into the door, then bringing out the big guns when applying for internal postings? HR/organization may have some trust issues with this person.
Thank you everyone for your feedback! I would like a job in academia, as a professor, but I mention the Public Administration degree because I've also considered a job in government. Comparing the two, I think I would prefer being a professor more than a job in government if I had to choose between the two. It's also hard to decide what program to apply to, since some programs I'm interested in, I doubt I would get in, because of the pre-requisites the program requires. For instance, I considered a Masters in Statistics then going for a Ph.D. in something like philosophy with an emphasis on mathematics, and even though I tutor statistics, the programs I've looked at require taking advanced math courses as an undergraduate and some advanced probability courses (which my University doesn't offer)
