Hi parents, just in need some opinions. At SUNY universities (Binghamton, Stony Brook, Albany, Buffalo) you can get a under grad and masters degree in teaching in 5 years. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with these programs/how to get into them/ are they worth it or would I be better off going to a 4 year school and then going onto grad school? Pretty much any knowledge that can be offered would be appreciated thank you!
I’ve posted this on another thread, but I would like to suggest STRONLY against getting your Master’s before you have any real teaching experience.
It’s a great deal for the colleges, since they know that they can count on your tuition staying where it is for grad school. But for the potential teachers, it’s not a good idea.
Teaching salaries are based in most cases on a pay scale. Salaries increase vertically with every year of experience, and horizontally with every increment of graduate credits you have.
But simply having certification does NOT guarantee that you’ll be a decent teacher. There’s no way to predict which teachers will find success and which won’t-- only experience can tell that. (We’ve all had teachers who knew the material and couldn’t explain it, or who knew the material but couldn’t control the class. )
So experienced teachers-- and there are thousands of them out of work at the moment-- bring the knowledge that they can be successful in the classroom to a job interview. What new teachers bring to that interview is a lower price tag. Unless, of course, they have a Master’s Degree. Then they’re a very expensive unknown quantity.
I’m also a New Yorker, and am well aware that teachers in NY eventually need that Master’s. Every single teacher I know-- all those I work with, all those my husband works with, all my friends in other schools-- have all gone to Grad School at night while teaching.
But we’ve done it AFTER getting that first job.
thank you so much!
You’re so welcome!
Usually MAT programs are one year programs for people who have a college degree in another area and decide that they want to become teachers. Read through the degree programs and try to figure out how this 5 year option is organized. Does the undergrad program on its own fulfill the course requirements for preliminary teacher certification? If so, then you don’t need an MAT. Does the undergrad program concentrate on subject area knowledge, but skip all of the education courses until the MAT part? In that case, you probably would need an MAT.
In either case, the sooner you can get yourself into real live classrooms to start figuring out whether or not you really want to be a teacher, the better.
In order to teach in NY state, you have to get your Master’s Degree within 5 years. Since the OP mentioned only SUNY schools, I imagine she’s a NY State resident. I think that’s why the SUNY schools sell the idea of the 5 year program; it seems to wrap everything up in a nice tidy bundle.
yes I’m a resident
We are in California, so things might be different. But my daughter got her BA (in math) and then got her teaching credential/MAT. The teaching credential was one year, and the MAT added on the summer before and the summer after. She is so busy as a new teacher, that I am glad that she already has her masters. We had heard the “wait because they won’t hire you because you are too expensive” story before, but the school assured us that the difference isn’t substantial and their students didn’t have any problem finding jobs. In her case, all the math teachers easily got jobs. The social science teachers had a little more problem, but all eventually got jobs, but that was more due to lack of jobs than the fact that they had their masters.
My D is a second year teacher and she got her master’s first, albeit in adolescent special education, which can only be done at the master’s level. Everyone she knows who got teaching jobs in other subjects/fields here in NYC did the master’s after.
so would it be better to major in adolescent education focus in social studies or study history and get the teaching certification?
You can’t get a degree in adolescent education in New York. You must get a degree in history in a program that includes certification. Just remember, that it is next to impossible to get a social studies teaching job in this area. You could end up subbing or serving coffee for years to come.
Exactly, Teaching positions in everything but Physics, Chem and Secondary math are incredibly competitive in NY. Social Studies is brutal.
So find things that you bring to the table that others-- like experience coaching Speech and Debate or Model UN>
And keep in mind: colleges will ALL tell you that their students find jobs. I’m sure they do… eventually. But you’re looking for a job in your field, and as a tull time teacher (as opposed to a long term sub or a permanent sub.) Talk to your own teachers. Ask them how they broke into teaching.
Honestly, if you’re not cut out for the subjects I mentioned, I think the best way of making your resume stand out (aside form a killer cover letter, but we’ll talk about that in 4 years 
) is through coaching/activities. I mentioned Speech and Debate and Model UN, you can add in Mock Trial. Anything that’s very time intensive can help make your eventual application stand out.
Speak to the Assistant Principal and the Social Studies chairman in your high school. (In my school at least, they do the preliminary scanning of the applications.) Ask them what would make a new college graduate stand out from the crowd.
I commend you for thinking of this now.