CSULB
education doctorate degrees require time,
planning
By
Taryn Geselowitz
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Studying for a career in education is not a foreign concept to Cal State Long
Beach. But when considering a career in education students have to know which
level of teaching they wish to do and which level of teaching they have the
drive and ambition to achieve.
Teresa Wright, an associate professor and graduate coordinator at CSULB’s
political science department, described the steps she took to obtaining a Ph.D.
“
It’s not just a little more studying,” she said, comparing her
doctorate work with her undergraduate studies.
Wright was always interested in pursuing a career in education.
“
When I was a little kid, I wanted to teach little kids,” she said. “When
I was in high school I wanted to teach high school, and when I went to college,
I wanted to become a professor.”
After graduating high school, Wright attended Santa Clara University, a small
private college in California. As an undergraduate she studied Chinese politics,
but Santa Clara was known for its business and law programs and there were
no Ph.D. programs in the social sciences so Wright moved into a doctorate program
at UC Berkeley.
When Wright started in the master’s program at UCB, there were 15 people
in her class. In the end only eight finished.
“
The people who dropped out were by no means lazy,” Wright said. “They
were people who had other interests.”
Careers in education are different to other occupations because academic jobs
work on a seasonal cycle. When looking for a teaching position, applicants
must be hired for the job before fall in order to have a position at the start
of the next school year.
“
The main thing is to think very seriously before you get into a Ph.D. program,” Wright
said.
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