Back to School?
I’ve worked at Mercer for well over 3 years now, but I’ve only taken advantage of the tuition waiver benefit by taking two classes. I thoroughly enjoyed the two photography courses, but I’m wondering if I’m wasting my time by not pursuing another degree while I’m here. It is hard to pass up a free degree.
If I go back to school, I want something that would complement my current education and experience. I’ve narrowed it down to three options:
- A second bachelors degree, this time in some aspect of engineering.
- A second master’s degree. The particular one I’m considering is a Master of Science in Software Systems (basically a lot of open source Java and C++).
- A Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration.
The bachelor’s degree is at the bottom of my list. It would take the longest, and I’m not sure I want to start all over. Having a Ph.D. would be nice, but I would probably never be able to get a job outside of higher education again with a Ph.D. in that field. I know first hand that seeing a Ph.D. on an applicant’s resume makes you cringe. Going for the Ph.D. would also require taking the GRE, which is not on my list of things I would like to do. The program is also not covered by tuition waiver, so I would have to get one of the two Mercer staff scholarships offered annually. For now, the master’s degree seems like the best fit. The open source stuff would complement my current skill-set and according to the website, physical attendance is somewhat optional. That would take the least amount of time from my family and other obligations.
This weekend, I plan to apply for the master’s program. I guess if the Ph.D. thing started falling into place, I could always drop the master’s program and jump over to the Ph.D. I’m still not 100% sure about going back, but classes wouldn’t start until January anyway.
