<p>I am a current M.A student at USD (Political Science -International Relations) and did my undergrad at UCSD (Political Science - American Politics). I just had a few questions on what I should be doing while getting my M.A.</p>
<p>I always seem to read these profiles of graduate students at schools I am looking at for my Ph.D ( UCI, UCSB,UCR, Claremont Graduate, UCLA). It worries me that they all seem to have cured diseases in some African village and here I am just trying to hold a 3.5(3.5 undergrad, same as a M.A student), get a research assitantship and a campus fellowship. I am just worried that I wont be competitve when I apply for a Ph.D at the listed schools.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone who has gone through this has any advice. I mean am I wrong for focusing on my GPA, Letters of Rec, getting an M.A and getting in some research time with a professor? I figured having an M.A would help when I apply to a Ph.D program as I can firmly define my area of interest and show commitment. I just feel like everyone is doing something better but figure maybe its just this period in life and insecurity, who knows.</p>
<p>Any advice, tips or brutal flames welcome ;)</p>
<p>I was also feeling a little lost in this regard. So I asked a professor. Masters degrees are for study, a little research experience, kissing up, and deciding what you want to do with your life (academically speaking). Doctoral programs are for research, preliminary publishing, and networking. Time off of school is for curing Ebola. I personally have some pretty cool stuff on my record but mostly because I am incredibly flaky and dropped out of college (temporarily) to do them. Obviously, the department is not going to put this up on their webpage if they ever introduce me. So maybe these apparently awesome admitted students are actually just really old or incredibly indecisive. Either way, I wouldn't stress.</p>
<p>I have ever heard is that having your MA and applying for your PhD is both good and bad. It is good because you are more mature and better prepared for graduate school than those who apply straight from their BAs. It is bad because some schools won't transfer your MA credits and want you to start over again, or they make you take their MA exams to prove yourself. In my case, I got my MA at a university with a small program in what I study and therefore I got to learn the profession, the bad and the good, directly from my profs. I also had many opportunities to pad my cv before applying for my PhD. </p>
<p>I think we really can't generalize and say that it is bad or good to have a MA before applying for PhD programs, because it really depends upon the person.</p>
<p>I am really doing my M.A in order to get better letters of rec and some more focused experience. I do not really care about taking an M.A exam or "starting over" on my Ph.D after my M.A. I was just thinking doing a one year M.A and making sure this is what I want to do is better than joining a Ph.D program and deciding I dont want to do it anymore down the road.</p>
<p>I am bassically trying to pad my application with solid letters of rec and research experience as I was a transfer student in my undergrad and it made it diffucult to really get solid letters.</p>