Grad Degrees

Tigger

Tigger

Dodges Pucks
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I started my Masters in Public Administration this week. All online through a state school and I get a bit of tuition reimbursement from the FD.

Do you have a grad degree or interest in pursuing ones? Do your managers/chiefs/supervisors? Culturally, is there any emphasis on graduate degrees where you work?

The FD I work at is starting to care about higher education, but we are starting in the basement. It only recently became a requirement for battalion chief's to hold and Associates. Our chief is very pro outside education and I hope he and the union can successfully expand tuition reimbursement. He has an organizational leadership degree as does one of the deputies. No one else seems very interested aside from myself in pursuing anything besides a BA in emergency services, which I am very happy is now offered in our area.

I realize you do not need a degree to be a sucessful leader. But time and time again I fall back to the quality of communication from our fire chief compared to other office staff that got their Associates's kicking in screaming. His emails are so much more thoughtful and actually make sense to read on the first attempt.
 
I have a M.Ed. and a BS in EMS administration. I'm considering an MBA in Healthcare Management. I find that there were doors I could not open without a graduate degree and if you want to sit at the table, the post-nominals make a difference.
 
I just recently went back for my undergrad. My service seems to be very pro-education and higher learning, definitely much more than my previous employer.

I’m thinking about grad school after this, but I don’t know to be honest. Gotta get through this program first and see where it lands me. I don’t know how big of a gap in degrees I’d really want though.

What I do know is that if I want options outside of the flight line, a degree cannot hurt. Sadly, i feel most of my paramedic peers at least around my parts don’t share the same sentiment. Damn shame.
 
Kinda torn on MBA vs MPH vs MSN
 
I am at the same service as VentMonkey and they are very pro education. Our senior VP of clinical services has her DNP. A lot of our executive management have masters. A fair amount of our clinical directors and clinical educators have their masters. Even for entry level employees a BS is preferred.
 
I have an MPA. Had I known then what I know now, I would have chosen a masters in something more specific, like a masters of public health. The MPA is a little too generic.
 
Tigger said:
I started my Masters in Public Administration this week. All online through a state school and I get a bit of tuition reimbursement from the FD.

Do you have a grad degree or interest in pursuing ones? Do your managers/chiefs/supervisors? Culturally, is there any emphasis on graduate degrees where you work?

The FD I work at is starting to care about higher education, but we are starting in the basement. It only recently became a requirement for battalion chief's to hold and Associates. Our chief is very pro outside education and I hope he and the union can successfully expand tuition reimbursement. He has an organizational leadership degree as does one of the deputies. No one else seems very interested aside from myself in pursuing anything besides a BA in emergency services, which I am very happy is now offered in our area.

I realize you do not need a degree to be a sucessful leader. But time and time again I fall back to the quality of communication from our fire chief compared to other office staff that got their Associates's kicking in screaming. His emails are so much more thoughtful and actually make sense to read on the first attempt.
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I’m currently working on my second bachelors which is my RN to BSN and it is irritatingly stupid. The entire program is a series of 6 week classes with different names, but so far all of them have been exactly the same. We’re going to write a paper and submit it in chunks over the 6 week class. The topic of the paper doesn’t really matter, the content doesn’t really matter, just make sure it’s APA formatted and have the correct number of “scholarly references”. Let me tell you what, I can write a paper with my eyes closed now..

Up until about 3 months ago, my plan was to go direct into the ACNP program and retire the second I was eligible from FD to go work in an ICU, but I got a new FD job and my entire outlook has changed (maybe).

Either way, my current plan is to stop nursing school after BSN (at least temporarily), and work on the executive fire officer program put on in my state. It used to be run through the national fire academy, but I’m told they don’t do it anymore. This program runs 2.5 years, from the curriculum sounds like it’ll be almost no energy on my part thanks to the school i’ve done up until now, but the big advantage is that it is supposed to be a HUGE networking opportunity. It’s a program where each cohort starts and ends together, there’s multiple meetups throughout, and the chiefs i know who’ve been through it stay in touch with their cohort for the rest of their career.

Depending on whether you’re staying in the FD or moving on to something else soon, and whether or not your state has anything, executive fire officer may be a good option..
 
FiremanMike said:
Up until about 3 months ago, my plan was to go direct into the ACNP program and retire the second I was eligible from FD to go work in an ICU, but I got a new FD job and my entire outlook has changed (maybe).
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Now job? 3 bugles and your own car with flashing lights?

Honestly, I'm starting my M.S. next month, and I'm still not sure how beneficial it will be. I look at senior leadership, and I don't see many with masters degrees. But my job is paying for 80% of it, so it's worth it.

In the fire service, there are still plenty of officers and chief officers who barely have bachelors. EMS supervisors rarely have masters (many of the local non-ambulance riding people only have a HS education and experience within the system, or they have an unrelated bachelors degree) and there are more people with masters who are still on the truck, but I have seen Grad degrees popping up more in Chief or director level job postings, particularly ones who are looking for outside applicants.
 
DrParasite said:
Now job? 3 bugles and your own car with flashing lights?
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I had stepped back from my coordinator position to line firefighter at my last department. Drama kept happening and a local job posting for a shift captain position that would also be responsible for ems coordination (QI, protocol, medical director liaison, etc). I applied and got it and have found the new department to be notably less toxic and open to ideas..
 
I’m getting the sense that a bachelors is carrying less and less wait when compared to grad school with career-focused individuals. Mostly it’s a personal choice that pays off for those who endure while others can’t seem to figure out why they might struggle to get ahead. Nothing new really I suppose.
Summit said:
Kinda torn on MBA vs MPH vs MSN
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I always assumed you were an MSN that was a hop, skip, and step away from a mid-level.
 
VentMonkey said:
I’m getting the sense that a bachelors is carrying less and less wait when compared to grad school with career-focused individuals. Mostly it’s a personal choice that pays off for those who endure while others can’t seem to figure out why they might struggle to get ahead. Nothing new really I suppose.

I always assumed you were an MSN that was a hop, skip, and step away from a mid-level.
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You can thank our public school systems who PUSH college on our kids and the weakening of college coursework.
 
FiremanMike said:
You can thank our public school systems who PUSH college on our kids and the weakening of college coursework.
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Bruh (I think I used that right, lol). I agree with your assessment, and i am certain that this opening up a whole nother conversation. I don’t think that it’s all necessarily a bad thing, but definitely thought the coursework would be more challenging.

Then again, I am older, have decades of life experience, and I do believe institutions are seeing added value in this for the “older freshmen”.
 
FiremanMike said:
I’m currently working on my second bachelors which is my RN to BSN and it is irritatingly stupid. The entire program is a series of 6 week classes with different names, but so far all of them have been exactly the same. We’re going to write a paper and submit it in chunks over the 6 week class. The topic of the paper doesn’t really matter, the content doesn’t really matter, just make sure it’s APA formatted and have the correct number of “scholarly references”. Let me tell you what, I can write a paper with my eyes closed now..
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When you have already completed a first BS degree, you'd think they'd have figured you know how to write BS papers at the drop of a hat... all of which are properly APA formatted with appropriate scholarly references.

:oops:
 
Akulahawk said:
When you have already completed a first BS degree, you'd think they'd have figured you know how to write BS papers at the drop of a hat... all of which are properly APA formatted with appropriate scholarly references.

:oops:
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cmon man, you know how nursing educators are..

Honestly, I am growing a strong dislike for the nursing education machine the longer this goes on. There is so much self-stroking nonsense that they pass off as “necessary” and I’m just sick of it. Mindless papers and endless discussion board posts that contribute literally NOTHING to clinical practice.

I’m actually in a program that allows me to take a few of the MSN gen ed courses at the BSN rate to prep me for ACNP.. Guess what, those MSN courses are just as ridiculous.
 
VentMonkey said:
Bruh (I think I used that right, lol). I agree with your assessment, and i am certain that this opening up a whole nother conversation. I don’t think that it’s all necessarily a bad thing, but definitely thought the coursework would be more challenging.

Then again, I am older, have decades of life experience, and I do believe institutions are seeing added value in this for the “older freshmen”.
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Being older definitely contributes because you have time management skills and drive that you’ve developed over the course of your life. I can’t speak to the difficulty of college in the old days, as my first college class was 10 years into my career in 2008, but other than my associates in nursing, none of it has been particularly challenging.
 
I don't have much to add than what has already been said, but if I were to be getting a degree to check a box in EMS I'd be looking at Western Governors University.

They have a MBA in Healthcare Management and Master of Healthcare Administration.
 
WGU is excellent. I did my M.Ed there and am planning on the Healthcare MBA program this spring.
 
MMiz said:
I don't have much to add than what has already been said, but if I were to be getting a degree to check a box in EMS I'd be looking at Western Governors University.

They have a MBA in Healthcare Management and Master of Healthcare Administration.
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That's where I'm getting mine; MBA might be my next step, after my MS.
 
I am using Colorado State University online. The brick and mortar program is pretty well known locally so that was a small appeal.

There are students from all over which is cool. In state tuition is 1500 bucks a class, not sure how that compares.
 
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