Diversifying One's Resume by Going to Different Schools

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by AlK11, May 21, 2018.

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  1. AlK11

    AlK11 Active Member

    Is there any benefit to getting degrees from different schools even if the ranking or prestige of the schools are the same? Below are some examples to help explain what I'm thinking. Basically if schools 1 and 2 are even, does it matter if both degrees are from school 1 or would it be better if you have one degree from each? Let me know if I still need to clarify cause I'm not sure I made my question clear enough.

    BA Middle of Nowhere State
    MA Middle of the East Coast State
    or
    BA Middle of Nowhere State
    MA Middle of Nowhere State

    or something like this

    BA Rutgers
    MA Oregon
    or
    BA Rutgers
    MA Rutgers

    or possibly even something like this

    BA Princeton
    MA Dartmouth
    or
    BA Princeton
    MA Princeton
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    This is a good question. It's been discussed before but not for a long time. My own view is that you should try to move up, if possible. If you can't move up then it probably is a good thing to diversify if you can do it without spending too much more money. One exception is that your BA school might have a well-regarded grad program in your discipline. In that case it's probably best to stay put. Those are my thoughts anyway. Others will surely have their own.
     
  3. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    That looks right but which schools you can claim might matter more when job hunting than when seeking promotion in an established job. Or for bragging rights.
     
  4. AlK11

    AlK11 Active Member

    My thought on this is that it is best to diversify except if the second school is not well known in your area. For example, I'm working on an MS from Fort Hays State. While I'm sure it is a well known school in Kansas, being 1500 miles away I've had only one person here know of the school when I mentioned it. I earned my BA from Kean University, a local state school with what I believe to be a similar reputation as FHSU (very well known locally, not known nationally). If it was possible for me to earn this degree locally, I think that would be a better option. Now if I went to the flag ship state school locally for my BA (Rutgers) and then Kansas University for my MA, I don't think it would make much of a difference.
     
  5. Helpful2013

    Helpful2013 Active Member

    This is usually presented as a broad concern about a student not obtaining a wide enough perspective, but it really kicks in regarding getting hired as faculty. I think the danger of taking all your degrees from the same place is primarily a problem when a university is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as an elitist 'hothouse'. If your resume reads, BA, MSc, DPhil, Oxford University, then some readers of your c.v. may assume that you couldn't function outside of the equivalent of an educational gated community. I imagine that if your degrees are all from a good state university, people will be less concerned about your not being exposed to different perspectives. In other words, if you have three degrees from UC San Diego, I think it unlikely that people will fuss that you didn't get a different perspective by deliberately taking your MA from UC Santa Cruz. This isn't always fair, as sometimes people get into a good university because they're talented, and they stay because the university recognizes that talent and keeps offering them funded education. Something to keep in mind is that despite all of the fuss, plenty of graduates who stayed at the same university get hired.

    In practice, I've found that most people just ask where you did your highest degree and render judgment based on that, another bit of reductionist thinking that I don't endorse, but there you have it.
     
  6. perrymk

    perrymk Member

    When I was an undergrad (brick and mortar, chemistry) I was actually told to pursue a graduate degree at a different school for the added perspectives. I ended up going to two big name state schools (mostly due to nationally ranked football teams but they still had respectable chemistry departments) so name recognition was not an issue for me.

    Something I noticed about some students who went to one school only, especially a smaller school. They became friends with the professors so their grades were sometimes inflated. Not always, but often enough. Attending larger, separate institutions effectively removes this consideration should someone else have made the same observations.
     

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