I'm having difficulty deciding as what to take for my next Master's degree. I'm a BSN-RN and MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) graduate,currently working as a Lecturer in the college of health sciences. my previous Master's was Non-thesis, so now I decided to take a new Master's with thesis. I'm choosing between MPH (Master of Public Health) and MAEd (Master of Arts in Education) major in Educational management. What do you think is the best option to take. by the way I'm also planning to take a PhD degree in the future.. any info's. would be of great help. Thanks in advance.:redface:
I'm going out on a limb here and saying that if you're sure that you'll someday shoot for a PhD then you should lean toward the MPH because it's more research oriented and will better prepare you for your doctoral research.
There are plenty of graduate cetificates in education and in particular, nursing or healthcare education that would supplement your MSN nicely. If my plans were for a doctorate I'd avoid the second masters all together and just hop into the terminal degree. For maximum flexibility, you'd probably do well with a DPH. Otherwise there are DHSc degree's out there with higher education emphasis, etc. Look around, and whatever you do, make sure your degree makes you more flexible academically if you plan on teaching.
I might be way off base here with this comment, but most educational management degrees that I have seen are for aspiring school (K-12) administrators - so it may not fit in well with what you might want to use it for... On the other hand, the MPH will mesh nicely with your MSN for senior level exective positions in health care. You might also look at doctoral programs in organizational leadership (PhD, EdD, DPA, or other hybrid)... your MSN should get you in the door there... and you won't have to waste time on a second grad degree.
Thank you for the response. I appreciate your efforts in helping me to decide. Actually, MPH is my first option, so i think i would go for it. @ BruceP i really want to take a doctoral course since I'm already finished with my master's but the scenario here is i don't have a masters thesis i took MSN (non-thesis option). I'm thinking it would be hard for me to be admitted in any doctoral program since i don't possess any research qualifications.
What doctoral program are you looking at? Perhaps you should consider applying before working on another masters degree and see what the outcome is.
There are different kinds of doctoral programs. There are academic-oriented (that ususally require or at least prefer a thesis) and there are practitioner-oriented (who usually don't require a thesis). If you look around at the universities in your community you might be surprised at what is offered. Should that search pan out to not finding anything of substance, you could consider cohort-type, intensive class-type, or distance learning-type degree programs. With the intensive programs your geographic boundaries for possible programs could reasonably increase.
I'm interested in any program related to health sciences. I'm in the academe and the competition is very tight. Working in a position as a Lecturer won't give my any bright opportunities in the future so right now my ultimate goal is to finish a PhD degree in 5-6 years time from now.
Actually, I've tried searching for some Doctoral courses and what you've said is true, there are practitioner-oriented degree which doesn't require a thesis. But in my case I really want to pursue a research doctoral since most of my colleagues in the academe are pursuing this kind of program and at the same time in my opinion a research oriented PhD is still marketable and competitive in the academic industry.
