Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Andria's avatar

The credentialism is real! I'm a librarian, which is a field that already requires its own masters degree (don't get me started on that), but since I work in higher ed, unless you have a second masters, you probably won't get interviewed or hired anywhere. When the search was open for my boss's position, the position description only required the single masters degree in library science; but my credential-loving library director only interviewed people with PhDs.

After I had been at my current job for a while, I took a minute to read through my actual job description (which wasn't available to me when I actually applied to the job, because it's "proprietary"), and found that because my job was described more as an instructional designer-type job, which has very little to do with my day-to-day work, I was actually graded in a lower salary band because my job didn't actually even require the library science masters! I had been told that a large part of the reason I was hired is because I have two masters.

tl;dr You need a masters (or more) to get the job, but then you're not actually paid as if you have the masters.

Expand full comment
Jordan's avatar

Another aspect of this credentialism is how these programs are staffed by academics who can't get tenure-track positions but are desperate to work in "academia." A number of my fellow PhDs have taken roles as directors and coordinators of these "cash cow" programs and it's a nightmare job. The students are pissed about the quality of the programs and demand more than they're getting (rightfully so, for $50k/year!) -- and they have to be regarded more as customers than students. These programs are just an extension of the academic pyramid scheme and it's really awful.

Expand full comment
206 more comments...

No posts