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wintersweet
Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 345
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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 Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:45 pm Post subject: Didn't finish grad school--leave off resume? |
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Hi--
My logic tells me that I should leave my stint in graduate school off my resume. I was in the East Asian Studies MA program at Stanford; I completed all of the coursework for the MA, but didn't write the thesis. I plan to finish it someday, but not soon. By my reasoning this looks worse than never having attempted grad school. However, it occurs to me that my logic and a potential Japanese employer's logic are probably not the same thing, so I wanted to double-check with you guys. Am I right to leave it off?
Thanks! |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:50 pm Post subject: Re: Didn't finish grad school--leave off resume? |
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| wintersweet wrote: |
Hi--
My logic tells me that I should leave my stint in graduate school off my resume. I was in the East Asian Studies MA program at Stanford; I completed all of the coursework for the MA, but didn't write the thesis. I plan to finish it someday, but not soon. By my reasoning this looks worse than never having attempted grad school. However, it occurs to me that my logic and a potential Japanese employer's logic are probably not the same thing, so I wanted to double-check with you guys. Am I right to leave it off?
Thanks! |
Officially you dont want to give the impression you have graduated, so it would be OK to put it on but make a note ABD (All But Dissertation). That will let them know that you are not a Masters graduate. Or even simply make a note of when you entered the program.
FWIW it wont really matter much to employers at conversation schools as all they need is a Bachelors degree for the visa. Some universities may take an ABD into account but may give you the opportunity to 'finish' it at a later date. I know several people who have got university jobs without actually having a Masters yet.
Last edited by PAULH on Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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wintersweet
Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 345
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 3:57 am Post subject: Re: Didn't finish grad school--leave off resume? |
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| PAULH wrote: |
| I know several people who have got university jobs without actually having a Masters yet. |
Ooo. Wouldn't that be nice...
(Thanks!) |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:54 am Post subject: Re: Didn't finish grad school--leave off resume? |
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| wintersweet wrote: |
| PAULH wrote: |
| I know several people who have got university jobs without actually having a Masters yet. |
Ooo. Wouldn't that be nice...
(Thanks!) |
I might qualify that by saying they are working on one by distance education. I got my first part time job before I entered the M.Ed program at Temple (TUJ) and subsequently completed it while working. You usually need to be in a program or starting one, but have completed it if you want to have a shot at most full-time positions. |
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wintersweet
Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 345
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 6:08 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm in a bit of a quandary over my Master's. It'll be at least $3000 to finish it at Stanford and I'll have to have my Japanese or Chinese skills at a level where I can read academic research in one of those languages in order to write the thesis paper. I've thought of trying to get the MA from somewhere else where I could get credit for my courses and either take comps or do a less rigorous thesis paper, but a) I don't know where I could do that and b) "throwing away a Stanford degree"=trouble with family and possibly self.  At this point I'd rather have a degree in hand, even from a "lesser" school, but the state schools around here don't have Asian Studies MA programs.
Anyway. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 7:36 am Post subject: |
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| wintersweet wrote: |
Yeah, I'm in a bit of a quandary over my Master's. It'll be at least $3000 to finish it at Stanford and I'll have to have my Japanese or Chinese skills at a level where I can read academic research in one of those languages in order to write the thesis paper. I've thought of trying to get the MA from somewhere else where I could get credit for my courses and either take comps or do a less rigorous thesis paper, but a) I don't know where I could do that and b) "throwing away a Stanford degree"=trouble with family and possibly self. At this point I'd rather have a degree in hand, even from a "lesser" school, but the state schools around here don't have Asian Studies MA programs.
Anyway. |
A couple of suggestions:
University of Sheffield and University of Birmingham in the UK both offer MAs by distance in Japan and it may be possible to pick up the credits you need to finish your degree. Sheffield offers a Masters in Japanese studies and Birmingham (where I am) offers an MA in TESOL. For the full degree you can do residency in Japan but you will only need to pick up a couple of papers.
http://www.davidenglishhouse.com/distancelearning.html
Temple University Japan and Columbia offer fully fledged Masters degrees (TUJ has an MEd) but I think only Columbia has an MA at its campus in Tokyo. Normally they let you transfer up to 9 credits towards another degree.
Sophia University, a Japanese university in Tokyo (Jochi University) offers a Masters degree in Comparative culture with a major in Asian Studies. May be possible to do a semester at Jochi and transfer your credits
http://133.12.40.44/Bulletin/AsianStudies.html
There are other schools that offer Masters degrees by distance based in Australia and the US but it may pay to check those out first. |
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wintersweet
Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 345
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks! I'll check them out. |
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