<p>I'm trying to get an understanding of how I will be looked at when applying for PhD programs after recieving a Master's first. I applied to the Master's program straight out of undergrad. because I really did not feel comfortable enough to apply to PhD programs, I was competitive enough to get in but I figured I wanted to get into a more competitive Master's program to then be able to apply to even more competitive PhD programs. Currently I'll be doing my masters in Child Development at Tufts University and then looking to appy to PhD programs in and around the same field (psychology, child development, developmental psych.).
The problem is I heard that a lot of PhD programs want students fresh out of undergrad and might not look as highly upon those who have a masters from another institution already.
Questions:
Have I put myself in a worse situation???
Will I be considered less competitive of an applicant compared to an undergrad???
Will the undergrads have the upperhand???</p>
<p>From the little that i know about your situation, i think you're fine. Take a look at this (it's about philosophy, but the idea is the same):</p>
<p>Who should consider an M.A. program in philosophy? Three categories of students who ultimately want to get a Ph.D. and pursue an academic career might benefit from such programs: (i) students whose undergraduate major was not philosophy; (ii) students who majored in philosophy at universities with philosophy departments outside the mainstream of the profession; and (iii) students who majored in philosophy, have a solid grounding in the various areas of philosophy, but who studied philosophy at smaller colleges and universities, or at institutions with weak academic reputations (students should consult their departments to find out whether graduates of their schools have been able to gain admittance to Ph.D. programs of their choice). Students in each category may be both qualified and able to get into the Ph.D. programs of their choice; but students who fit into one of these categories may be more likely to have trouble getting into Ph.D. programs and may be good candidates to benefit from M.A. programs.</p>
<p>A good M.A. program will provide many benefits: it will allow a student to get a basic grounding in philosophy or expand the breadth of her existing knowledge; to develop increased familiarity with current debates in philosophy; to prepare and polish written work in philosophy that will be useful in the applications process for Ph.D. programs; and to get to know some established philosophers who can then provide meaningful letters of recommendation for Ph.D. programs.</p>
<p>Among terminal MA programs, the top program in the U.S. (in terms of faculty quality) is clearly Tufts University. (In Canada, the top program is probably the one at the University of Victoria, though there are fewer terminal M.A. programs there [that is, fewer graduate programs that offer only the M.A.], and many Canadian students earn the M.A. en route to the Ph.D.) After Tufts, several other terminal MA programs have very strong faculties: University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Virginia Poytechnic Institute & State University, Northern Illinois University, and University of Missouri at St. Louis. University of Houston and Georgia State University are arguably comparable to the top five as well. Rounding out "the top ten" for terminal MA programs are Western Michigan University and Texas Tech University. Texas A&M University, which now has a PhD program, continues to offer the terminal MA and is worth investigating for that purpose as well. Of these programs, Wisconsin/Milwaukee, Georgia State, Northern Illinois, and Texas A&M all have notable offerings in Continental philosophy as well.</p>
<p>Other M.A. programs not noted here do have particular strengths, e.g., Colorado State University in applied ethics. But the programs ranked here generally have faculties that compare favorably with existing PhD programs. Students should, however, investigate the success of all MA programs in placing their students in top Ph.D. programs. Georgia State has a model site providing this information, and students should ask all MA programs for comparable data: <a href="http://www.gsu.edu/%7Ewwwphl/philosophy.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gsu.edu/%7Ewwwphl/philosophy.html</a> (click on MA program, and then "placement").</p>
<p>Ignore the program titles, too. Also, consider yourself bumped. :)</p>
<p>Thanks DRab that really helps. I think as an undergrad I had a pretty competitive record and I just hoped adding the Master's would make me even more competitive. I also hadn't been able to publish as an undergrad and I wanted to accomplish this during my Master's program.
I was suprised to see that Tufts has a top M.A. program, although I do know Tufts is great for the Social Sciences (and many other fields).</p>
<p>I don't think you have hurt yourself and if you are able to publish and get letters of recommendation from your current profs than it should be a help. Be prepared for the strong possiblity that you will have to retake some coursework and may even have to do another master's thesis. Many doctoral psychology programs do not transfer credits from MA programs.</p>
<p>Thank you mol10e I was hoping you were right and I've started looking at programs to see which will accept transfer credits and you're right their aren't many. </p>
<p>I'm just hoping that the undergraduates who have publications and great Letters of recommedation wont be looked at as being more competitive than I am since they accomplished all of that during undergrad.</p>
<p>I don't think it is a matter of when you were able to do the research as much as that you have done it and that it is of good quality. It will be the rare undergraduate who is first author on a publication where this is more common for someone coming from a MA program and first authorship does matter.</p>