Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Hey guys. So today I realized that I can graduate with my master's this December instead of next May. I've already pretty much decided I don't want to do a thesis (I just... am not passionate). I've also decided that I need to take time away from academia and get a job outside of this realm, so when I graduate I'm not planning on pursuing a PhD.

However, I originally wanted to get a certificate in cognitive science. (Here it is, if you're curious; the requirements are just for Graduate Certificate, not the Human Language Technology one.) If I want to get the certificate, then I definitely have to go to school for the next year; if I don't get the certificate then I don't need to and can graduate sooner.

So, what to do? Is a certificate worth another 5K? Do employers care if I have a few more classes about psychology or neuroscience, even though I'm not doing particular research in that area?

Thanks all. I'm also going to talk to some adviser, but since I just realized these options today I'm not ready to talk to someone yet.

Check out the job postings for the jobs you want. Do they require or desire the certificate? That would be a good sign that you should get it.

Is the certificate something you could do later with online or evening classes? Often an employer will cover the costs of continuing education, so the 5k would be paid by them. You could start earning a regular salary sooner, and have the expense of the certificate covered as a benefit.

I'm jealous that you can graduate without a thesis. :-{

I think the graduate certificate could help you get skills that will be useful in various jobs. How confident are you in your experimental methods/statistics? Also, it seems like you're feeling kinda burntout, but I mostly liked my cognitive science classes (neuroscience was tough though). It could end up being a welcome change from linguistics stuff, or it could just be annoying, I'm not sure.

S.A.M. wrote:Check out the job postings for the jobs you want. Do they require or desire the certificate? That would be a good sign that you should get it.

I second this. If you're not really excited about it (and if it would be expensive or time-consuming) then you need to find out how much it would help you in your future employment

I was afraid the answer would be "it depends." OK, well, guess I have to talk to a career person. I don't know what I want to do, unfortunately, which makes the pre-job search search harder. I guess I should just look at everything!

Whistler, I think you have a good point. I really feel like my strengths lie in researching and experimental design, etc., so more experience certainly wouldn't hurt.

mic0 wrote:Hey guys. So today I realized that I can graduate with my master's this December instead of next May. I've already pretty much decided I don't want to do a thesis (I just... am not passionate). I've also decided that I need to take time away from academia and get a job outside of this realm, so when I graduate I'm not planning on pursuing a PhD.

However, I originally wanted to get a certificate in cognitive science. (Here it is, if you're curious; the requirements are just for Graduate Certificate, not the Human Language Technology one.) If I want to get the certificate, then I definitely have to go to school for the next year; if I don't get the certificate then I don't need to and can graduate sooner.

So, what to do? Is a certificate worth another 5K? Do employers care if I have a few more classes about psychology or neuroscience, even though I'm not doing particular research in that area?

Thanks all. I'm also going to talk to some adviser, but since I just realized these options today I'm not ready to talk to someone yet.

I view it as the graduate equivalent of a minor. No Dice can be a bit brusque at times, but I loved his answer about minors recently.

My employer didn't care about any classes I took, not even the one I took with the same title as my job title. Never even asked.

I know Petra did a very similar thing to what you're contemplating. And now works for a super-obscure, wink wink, social network and loves it (from what I can tell). Katya could give you her contact info, I'm sure. :-)

Portia wrote:And now works for a super-obscure, wink wink, social network

Haha, yes, so obscure! Thanks for the input. Do you mean she took cognitive science classes or graduated a bit early?

mic0 wrote:

Portia wrote:And now works for a super-obscure, wink wink, social network

Haha, yes, so obscure! Thanks for the input. Do you mean she took cognitive science classes or graduated a bit early?

That she was in a linguistics PhD program and took a master's instead, and left academia.

Ooooh that makes it all even better. Cool! That is an inspiring tale.

In case anyone was wondering, since making this thread and talking to my husband and thinking about school for a week I've decided I will try to graduate this semester. I'm scared what the future will hold but I'm feeling good about this academic decision, so I must be on the right track. I'll still be taking 3-4 classes and doing a comprehensive exam, so it won't be the easiest semester, but it should be pretty good. Thanks everyone!