Can you use your Master’s Degree to further your career?

Of course knowledge is its own reward, but if you are a working professional contemplating the pursuit of a Master’s Degree, you might be interested in other rewards the advanced degree can bring you as well. How can you tell if the Master’s Degree in which you’re interested will help you in your career? There are several simple ways, all worth pursuing. First, you might want to set up a meeting with your direct supervisor and find out if the higher education you have in mind will help you get higher up on the corporate ladder you’re trying to climb. You might also talk to people who hold positions within your organization that you might be interested in attaining. Find out if they needed to get a Master’s Degree to get where they are. If they did, talk to them about the type of programs they attended. Some of the most useful information for working professionals thinking about getting a Master’s Degree will come from other working professionals who have had similar goals and aspirations.

If you’re seeking a career change, will your Master’s Degree help you make it?

If you are contemplating getting your Master’s Degree so that you can change your occupation entirely, you should still consult with other working professionals — those who have the job you hope to get. If you don’t know anyone personally who currently holds your dream job, you have several options for talking to such a person, anyway. You might consider contacting the alumni association of your undergraduate school and getting into contact with an alum who can help you sketch a path to your ideal job that includes the appropriate Master’s Degree. You can also contact the institutions to which you are considering submitting applications and ask to be put in touch with alums who have gone through the Master’s program you thinking about. Pick their brains. Talk to them about their experiences in the program, and ask them about their lives afterward. If their stories sound good to you, you’ll know you’re on track.

How much time can you afford to devote to your Master’s Degree? Is now the right time?

If you a working professional considering getting a Master’s Degree, you must not only consider whether the program you have in mind is right for you. Though this is of course the most important consideration, you must also take into account how attending that program is going to affect your working life. Find out how much time you should expect to devote to get the most out of your Master’s Degree program from someone who’s already been through it. Preferably, you should talk to more than one person who’s attended the program you’re interested in because everyone’s experience will be a little bit different, and getting a range of experiences will better help you decide what yours will be like. This educational experience should be a good one for you, so if the program you’re considering is very demanding and now is a very busy time in your work life, you will need to think about making some adjustments so that you can do justice to all of your various commitments.

Elizabeth Saas is a frequent contributor to CareersandEducation.com. Elizabeth Saas is a feature writer that covers topics relating to MBA Programs and online colleges.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_Saas

Rankings can only tell you so much about a school or program. Don’t choose a graduate program based on how high the program that you’re considering appears on a published list. Use your own criteria to judge whether or not a grad school is right for you.

Do some research. Ask questions. Talk to professors, current students and alumni. Know what you are getting into ahead of time. Grad school is a serious investment that isn’t to be taken lightly. It’s a decision that goes beyond national rankings.

If you want a general reference, though, grad school rankings can help you get your bearings. The following rankings have all been taken from the 2007 version of US News and World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools (although some rankings are based on assessments completed in pervious years). Use these rankings as a guide, but don’t base your final grad school decision on a rankings list.

Law
The top five graduate programs in law are Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia and New York University.

Medicine
The top five graduate programs in medical research are Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California-San Francisco and Washington University in St. Louis. The top five graduate programs in primary care are the University of Washington, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Oregon Health and Science University, Michigan State University-College of Osteopathic Medicine and the University of Massachusetts-Worcester.

Business
The top five graduate programs in business are Harvard, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania-Wharton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Sloan and Northwestern University-Kellogg.

Engineering
The top five graduate programs in engineering are MIT, Stanford, University of California-Berkeley, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

Education
The top five graduate programs in education are Harvard, Teachers college at Columbia University, UCLA, Stand ford and Vanderbilt.

Social Sciences

English
The top three graduate programs in English are Harvard UC Berkeley and Yale.

Economics
The top five graduate programs in economics are MIT, University of Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and UC Berkeley.

Psychology
The top three graduate programs in psychology are Stanford, UC Berkeley and Michigan.

History
The top three graduate programs in history are Yale, Princeton and UC Berkeley.

Political Science
The top three graduate programs in political science are Harvard, Stanford and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Use these rankings as a starting point for further investigation. Know which schools are strong in the areas that you want to study. Shop around for a grad school that will suit your individual educational and professional goals. Investigate your options so that you know what to expect. Make campus visits. Ask about funding and research opportunities. Find out as much as you can before you get you enroll in any graduate program.

Chris Stout is a frequent contributor to CareersandEducation.com. Chris Stout is a feature writer that covers topics relating to MBA Programs and online colleges.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Stout

Twtter is the biggest all in one Twitter application directory. People here can subscribe to whole lots of apps and get benefits- of all the applications free of cost. Twitter is not just a place where you Tweet, it is more than that where people can share and help each other out. So, twtter has been making application that makes user ease their twitter.

Well for a marketer, a twitter multi account manager is a great application indeed. You can access to multiple accounts once you approve for a particular twitter account. You just need one time login and one time approval for an account. You can have lots of benefits such as Easy tweet, multi RSS subscription, mass following and more.

While every individual has their own reason or reasons for choosing to attend graduate school, there are two main reasons that usually come into play. The two most beneficial reasons for choosing to attend graduate school are:

1. To pursue careers in law, medicine, and university teaching an advanced degree is a requirement.

2. Professionals who wish to advance their careers receive in-depth training and acquire advanced skills in their area of study. Sometimes the purpose of gaining this knowledge is for personal growth and development and sometimes it is for career advancement and development.

So ask yourself these burning questions. The “why” you should attend graduate school just may appear while you are going through this little self-quiz. The answers to the questions will help you to analyze your own reasons for considering earning an advanced degree.

What kind of career do I want to pursue? Does this career choice require a graduate degree?

Certain career paths do require graduate degrees. If you want to be a doctor then there is no way around it. You will have to go to graduate school. Maybe you do not know what career you wish to pursue in the long run. That’s ok. Many graduates with bachelor degrees enter the workforce to gain experience to help them figure out what they truly want to do with their lives. After a few years (or sometimes more) these professionals may go back to school to earn their graduate degree for one of the two main reasons listed above.

Am I interested and motivated by the area of specialty that I would be pursuing?

While undergraduate school requires you to choose a major, the course of study offered to you is the broad and the basic knowledge of that study area. The focus of study in a graduate program is much more narrow on a specialty or specific area of interest. If you have no desire to further explore this area of study, then graduate school may not be the place for you. If you feel motivated and excited by delving into the depths of the specialty, then graduate is an option for you.

What types of job positions are advanced degree candidates in my area of interest currently involved in?

Do a little research and find out what graduates of your area of study are doing now. What type of achievements have they made? Where are they currently working? What do their jobs entail? Many colleges and universities publish this information about their graduates. You can also find companies that have positions that you are interested in pursuing and read biographies of their officers and directors, owners, and employees. This biographical information usually lists the degrees that they hold. You may even be able to contact school alumni or professionals to ask them questions about attending graduate school with relation to their current job position, etc.

Graduate school is not a place for everyone. You have to have the desire, motivation, and willingness to learn and take on new experiences. There are benefits to attending graduate school, but it is important to make sure that they are actual benefits to your personal situation.

Review more industry related articles by Kristie Lorette at CareersandEducation.com Kristie Lorette is a CareersandEducation.com feature writer that often covers topics relating to Campus and Online Degree Programs and Career Planning.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristie_Lorette