Two Master's Degrees at Once?

[bjcheung77]

Oh, Criminology is nice. I liked the course when I took it along with Psychology, Sociology, and a few other social science courses I had at StraighterLine! It's great you're wanting to continue with a Masters in this field, Criminology or Criminal Justice is a great field to go into if you decide on changing gears later... I still would recommend taking 1 at a time. Life is full of learning, for me, I'll continue taking courses (affordably) until I retire... then the Doctorate/PhD will be much more affordable then for me to slowly "finish".

[Maniac Craniac]

In general, I don't recommend doing things that make you miserable for years on end. That's one thing to consider. Your happiness is important.

On the other hand, the HAU deal is unlikely to continue forever, so it's a good idea to get 'em while their hot. Instead of doing two degrees at once, would you feel up to throwing all your energy into completing one of them quickly before moving non to the next? It will still be the same amount of work, and can be done in the same amount of time. So, instead of doing two degrees simultaneously in two years, do one degree per year and still finish in two.

One last thing to note- some HAU classes have a moderate amount of work to them, and taking multiple of those courses per semester would be quite doable. However, that's not true for all of the courses. My last course and my current course have absolutely buried us with assignments and papers and I wouldn't at all have been able to survive two of them at a time. They're accelerated courses, and they don't truncate the content at all. You have to do an entire semester worth of reading, assessment and writing in all of 7 weeks.

The HAU is doable in a year? It showed two and I didn't think you could accelerate or do them any quicker, hmmm, that does make a serious difference if that is possible.

If you get course waivers (most of us have) and did two courses per term, you'd finish in a year. The possible roadblocks would be course availability and your own time and energy.

[TINASAM]

Ok. One final question from me: what will your criminology degree cost you? If you would share the school you will be attending, that would be good, but I totally understand if you don’t want to publicize that.

The Criminology degree would be a little under $15k. Honestly if I do the HAU one first, I don't have motivation to the the Criminology one because $15k to just take more classes when I could put that toward a doctorate later. The HAU MBA in Stress Health Management seems the lesser of all the evils of MBA, lol, so I may inquire about that.

I just need to decide because I only have a couple of classes left to finish up and would like to breeze seamless into the master's program.

[Rev]

I completed two MA degrees at two different universities simultaneously. It's actually more common than you might think.

[asianphd]

I enrolled in two programs simultaneously at two different universities. But it is one PGDip + MSc and another BSc.

[caledonia]

While it may be possible to pursue 2 grad degrees at the same time, I wouldn't recommend it.

Not only would it be a major time commitment during that period of time, but I'd be worried about life happening and disrupting my studies. Finishing--or almost finishing--1 degree is better than being halfway through 2 degrees. And grad programs tend to have a ticking clock attached to them, as in "must finish degree within X years." When you do 2 grad programs at the same time, both clocks start at the same time. Just the thought stresses me out.

You may feel differently, of course, but thought it might be worth a mention. Good luck with your decision!

[ss20ts]

I think I'd lose my mind completing 2 master's degrees at the same time. I'm already a full time grad student and the amount of work some weeks is pretty up there. I have 3 papers due on Sunday. I have to read an entire book and then take some assessment before i can even write 1 of the papers. I can't imagine doing this for 2 degrees at the same time.

Since you're interested in Criminal Justice and an MBA have you looked for program that combines the 2? I know there are some schools that offer an MBA and a Communications MA, for example, at the same time. This might be worth looking into because you'd complete both at the same time, but not have to complete 60+ credits. There's usually some credits counted in the electives so it's not like you're completing 2 master's degrees.

[caledonia]

One last thing to note- some HAU classes have a moderate amount of work to them, and taking multiple of those courses per semester would be quite doable. However, that's not true for all of the courses. My last course and my current course have absolutely buried us with assignments and papers and I wouldn't at all have been able to survive two of them at a time. They're accelerated courses, and they don't truncate the content at all. You have to do an entire semester worth of reading, assessment and writing in all of 7 weeks.

At the risk of derailing the thread, would you mind listing which HAU courses had the heavier course loads?

I'm strongly considering HAU's MBA program and have been in communications with Dean Martin. I think I can manage the synchronous aspect of some courses, but I haven't seen a lot of info shared about the frequency of assignments, paper length, etc. about specific courses.  My job tends to have busy periods, including travel, and some slower periods. If I could schedule the heavier courses during my slower periods, then I'd feel a lot more confident enrolling at HAU.

Any info you feel comfortable sharing would be greatly appreciated.

[Popestt]

I'm currently doing a second masters at one school while completing a doctorate at a different school, but the masters is CBE and gives me a lot of flexibility. Also, it's an MPH and DHSc, so the coursework overlaps some and follows the same theme, which also helps.