One of the most common questions I receive from medical students and residents is about the value of obtaining a Master of Education. As education becomes a more common and visible pathway in academic surgery, the interest in attaining an advanced degree in education has increased. Trainees are curious about whether it would be worth taking an extra year during medical school or devoting a portion of their professional development years to obtaining a formal education degree. In this AAS Blog post, I describe a framework that I share with individuals who ask me about pursuing a Master of Education.
A decision framework when considering a Master of Education
In general, I suggest that trainees who are weighing whether to pursue a Master of Education 1) identify their motivation/purpose for obtaining this advanced degree 2) map the specific benefits of a given degree program and 3) enumerate all the costs of pursuing the degree.
There are many excellent reasons to consider pursuing a Master of Education. Some of the most common reasons that I have heard include developing a foundation in educational theory, improving one’s teaching skills, gaining educational research skills, joining a community of educators, demonstrating one’s commitment to education, and establishing credibility as an expert in education to improve one’s competitiveness for future jobs or leadership roles. Occasionally a trainee will indicate more vague or generic reasons for being interested in an education degree program, such as “I like teaching” or “I am interested in education.” When I hear these types of statements, I challenge trainees to be more specific about their motivation for pursuing a formal degree program so that they can better understand if the degree program will meet their expectations and satisfy their objectives. The better someone can articulate their interests and needs, the easier it is to determine if the benefits of a degree program justify the costs.
The second step that I typically recommend is to map the benefits of the specific degree program that the trainee is considering. There exists a wide range of education degrees. Some institutions offer general education degrees that are relevant to individuals regardless of career trajectory including early education, K-12, higher education administration, special education and more. Other degree programs are specific to medicine and related fields and are designated as a Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) or a Master of Medical Education. Each program has specific course requirements that can span educational theory, research methods, educational technology, or educational practice. I recommend that trainees evaluate whether the specific coursework of a program supports their personal goals and objectives for obtaining an education degree. For example, if an individual is more interested in developing their teaching skills, then a degree program in which the majority of courses are focused on research methods and research projects may not be a good match. Additionally, many trainees are interested in programs that are focused on medicine. Others may actually seek out opportunities to learn from educators across domains and relish the opportunity to be the only medical professional in their education classes. An encouraging sign that a degree program is a good match for a trainee is if they identify more classes than they would be able to take that would help them achieve their degree goals. If only one or two components of a degree program support an individual’s objectives, then it may be worth exploring other degree programs or alternative, less formal methods of gaining the desired education skills and experiences. For example, there are free online statistics courses and the Association for Surgical Education offers the Surgical Education Research Fellowship for a smaller fee than the cost of a typical master’s degree.
Finally, I encourage trainees to enumerate the costs of obtaining a Master of Education. The most commonly considered cost is the tuition and fees associated with the degree. There may also be application fees, and some degree programs require standardized test scores such as a GRE that medical students and residents may not already have. It is easy to quantify the additional student loan debt that a master’s degree may entail, but I think it is equally important to consider the time and opportunity costs of the degree. It is likely that to fulfill degree requirements, an individual may need to take a class or two (or more!) that they would not otherwise be interested in or does not serve their goals well. This is time that could be spent on other professional activities such as writing research papers or working on a surgical society committee. I also point out that completing even relevant coursework including homework, essays, and studying for final exams, is time that an individual is not spending on conducting original research or drafting manuscripts. Medical students may not want to delay beginning residency by a year, and surgical residents may have to consider whether the time required for a degree is compatible with what is available during their professional development time. Attending surgeons may want to reflect on whether coursework is immediately applicable to their professional goals, or if the degree coursework would be more useful to them at a different phase of their career. Trainees may want to explore all the possible ways that the costs of the degree could be mitigated. There may be special scholarships available to medical students and surgical residents, such as the Zuckerman Fellowship (https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cpl/for-students/fellowships/zuckerman-fellowship). Depending on the specific coursework pursued, projects completed for the degree might be able to be converted to publishable, peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the decision to pursue a Master of Education is highly personal and depends on the details of an individual’s goals, available resources, and specific degree program characteristics. For me, the benefits clearly outweighed the costs, and I gained more than I expected from my year as an education student. Yet I also acknowledge that for some, a Master of Education is not the right decision. Overall, it is exciting that so many students and residents are joining the growing community of surgical educators.
Sophia K. McKinley MD, EdM
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