Melanie,
You are getting some really great insight from our colleagues on this and lots of excellent points have been made. From the perspective of someone who has recently been hiring entry-ish level positions, I'll add just a little more food for thought. When reviewing job applications, a certificate does not receive as many points in our matrix as an MA, so I agree with those who have said a certificate does not carry as much wait with potential employers. As for whether an MA in museum studies or another discipline like anthro might serve you better, I think it depends on what you want to do. You didn’t say what type of position you are in now or what type of position within museums you hope to make a career out of (i.e. education, collections, exhibits, development, administration, etc.). But from my perspective when looking at job candidates, those who had discipline specific degrees had more to "prove" to me in terms of their practical, hands-on museum experience. If they could demonstrate they had that experience along with their anthro/history/art history MA, then they would certainly be competitive with those who had MA's in museum studies. But I know that anyone who has gone through an MA in museum studies has decent if not great practical experience in museums just by completing that program, so seeing that on someone's resume may give them a leg up in my mind over an MA in another discipline, which may have been more academically focused. Of course, if you want a career in a more academic setting (and that would include things like college/university museums), that discipline specific degree may be a better option. Further, if you are hoping for a more academically focused career, you may eventually want or need to pursue a PhD, so that's something to be thinking about, too.
Honestly, if I were in your shoes here's what I would do: I would keep my current job and pursue an online degree program. If you decide to go for museum studies, I would second the recommendations for Johns Hopkins and would also suggest the University of Leicester program (they have an MA that's 100% online). It's ridiculously difficult to land a job after completing grad school and I'm afraid that may be the case for a while. I've hired two more or less entry level collections positions in the past year and each time we received literally hundreds of applications from all over the country and all over the world. And although I really love living in Dubuque, Iowa, not everyone sees this as an appealing location so I can't imagine what museums in larger metropolitan areas get when they post open positions! You really are in a fortunate position to be gainfully employed right now, in the field that you love, in a job that you appear to be relatively happy in. And that's not a small thing. Thanks to technology, we live in an age where you may be able to have the best of both worlds - keep your job and get your degree.
Best of luck with your soul searching and reaching a decision.
Cristin J. Waterbury
Curator
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
A Property of the Dubuque County Historical Society
350 East 3rd Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001
Ph: 563-557-9545, ext 204
Fax: 563-583-1241
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.rivermuseum.com
Sep 6, 2012 03:26:12 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
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Hello everyone,
I'm stuck in a sticky situation and I was hoping some of you had some advice. I volunteered/internship/did independent studies at the undergraduate level at the Arizona State Museum (ASM) in Tucson, AZ (as Southwest archaeological museum) for about two to three years and then managed to get a student position in the Repository and held that for a year, graduated with a BA in Anthropology and Creative Writing and I am currently employed full time at ASM working on a major repatriation project as well as working on finishing an article on a research project I did with Southwestern Prehistoric pottery that I hope to get published. Before I got the full-time position I had applied to Arizona State University's Museum Studies Master program and was accepted. I am scheduled to start classes Fall 2013 (I've already postponed enrollment the max amount of time, due to a different situation). My employers already knew about my plan to attend graduate school in a year before they hired me, so that is not a factor.
I am wondering whether it would be better to stay at my full-time position and pursue a Masters later (in other words tell ASU I will not be attending classes in Fall 2013, potentially closing that door permanently) or if I should leave my full-time position to attend classes as originally intended risking not having a job when I graduate.
An idea I had was to get an online Museum Studies Certificate while still working full-time at ASM and possibly do night classes to get an Anthropology MA. But I'm not sure how highly or lowly Museum Studies Certificates are viewed in the museum world.
Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Melanie Deer
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