Thoughts on a Graduate Certificate in HLS

Some of you might know after racking my brain the last few couple of weeks that I'll be more than likely pursuing a MPA at AMU pretty soon. However, I was thinking about pursuing a Home Land Security Graduate Certificate at TESC in my last semester of undergrad as well. It's only 4 classes(12 credits). 2 of those classes can be counted toward my BA requirements and AMU has told me they would accept 2 of those classes for transfer into their MPA program as well. I have a couple of questions that I thought some of you could answer.

1) Is a Graduate Certificate worth anything in the real world? Does it even look favorably to employers?

2) Should I just focus my efforts on finishing my undergrad with AMU MPA graduate courses instead and forget about the Graduate Certificate? If I go the Graduate Certificate route I would have to take 2 extra classes, not sure if it's worth it or not?

I would appreciate your thoughts since many of you have advanced degrees already. Thank you in advance.

 

I say go for # 2 if AMU is going to be your destinaton anyway. You would be assured that they will in fact transfer toward your graduate degree. You would get to try out AMU before you committed to the program. The offerings at AMU for HLS, emergency managment, etc. are much more extensive than at TESC.

 

Thanks again truckie for your thoughts. Just for clarification the 2 plans are.

1) TESC BA, TESC Graduate Certificate, and AMU MPA (I would have to take two more classes or 12 more weeks at TESC in this plan)

2) TESC BA and AMU MPA

Do they look pretty much the same on a resume? If they do I'll probably go with Plan 1.

 

Oops! I meant I probably go with Plan 2 if they look the same on a resume.

 

I say go for Plan 1. The TESC Grad Certificate gives you something to put on your resume before the AMU MPA and, moreover, as you point out, it's no additional work as two of the TESC Grad Certificate courses can be applied to the TESC BA and two of the TESC Grad Certificate courses can be applied to the AMU MPA.

 

I agree, plan 1 as it will also show a diverse background. I would label it:
TESC BA, TESC Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security, and AMU MPA

Grad certificates are looked at favorability (from my experience) and I look at them favorability when review resumes. Which, by the way, I am happy to say the company I work for has opened up a few positions that have been on hold for a year - a sign of improvement

 

I agree with Randell and Ted as well, Plan 1 makes the most sense for diversity of background, and since the 4 classes can be "Double-dipped" in 2 programs, why not?

Shawn

 

I’m going to differ with Ted on this one. I consider the potential problem for an applicant with a certificate is that it is not as well defined to most onlookers. Although a resume that lists a BA /BS and/or Masters degree from School X is universal in meaning; on the other hand a certificate is perhaps a little more obscure to most and will more than likely not be too much of a benefit (in terms of impressing an employer) to its recipient. My view is that certificates may have some worth to an organization if the certificate holder is already a member of said organization. In some similarity I would compare graduate certificate appeal vs. Masters in similarity to the Ed.S. vs. Ed.D. /Ph.D. For example in Texas no public or private universities even offer the Ed.S; possibly a significance issue (?).

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. My decision would be so much simpler if AMU just took all 12 credits instead of 6 credits for transfer. According to their website, they take up to 15 transfer credits but not sure why they can't take 2 more classes? Oh well, based on the split of opinions so far it sounds like a win win either way. I know 3 months of classes doesn't seem like a long time but when you add it with 1 year or more of a Masters program it seems extremely long to me now. I think I'll call AMU tomorrow to double check to see if they can somehow take all 12 credits. Thanks again.

 

Why not see if you can take the classes at AMU and then transfer them back to TESC? You would address your credits for the BA at TESC, not lose any credits in transfer to AMU, get to try out AMU before enrolling, and be that much close to your degree at AMU when you eventually enroll.

 

truckie, thanks that's actually what I would do if I decide to just go for the Masters at AMU. TESC would allow up to 9 graduate courses to apply to my BA.

However, this is my Plan B. Currrently, when this term ends for me at the end of January I'll have 18 credits left. However, I want to get it down to 12 credits through CLEPS exams. If I were to just have 12 credits left maybe I can take all 4 of the Graduate classes for the HLS certificate in my final semester at TESC? I've heard of people taking 3 in a term, and yes I know it's difficult but I don't plan on working my last semester. And I would be willing to live, breathe, sleep school for 3 months if I could get a graduate certificate and a BA at the same time. And then enroll at AMU and work. I could be saying this now because I'm sleep deprived. But maybe after some sleep I'll think more coherently.