Teachers College at Columbia University Rankings by Salary Score

I mention things at interviews I learned in the first semester at TC that the interviewing admins had never heard of. It can definitely make you more knowledgeable of education than those to whom you report, which can cause friction with those who view their employees as objects to mold rather than sources to bring them up to speed. I never heard block scheduling mentioned once while at TC, despite its having such an impact on instruction delivery. I also didn't leave with a lot of content, except from the... Read More chem concepts class. Fortunately I took a few hundred hours of workshops outside of TC that gave me materials to use my first few, struggling years. That saved me, but that wasn't to TC's credit. I would not consider going back to get my EdD from the same department while a particular prof is still there. She (and some students who wanted to keep course rigor low) got my second-favorite prof canned. I had to unlearn... well, improve upon a lot that she taught us. "Controlled chaos" doesn't impress admins who are looking for teachers who can control their classes. And "guide on the side" can lead to admins hearing complaints that you leave the students starving for content and that you must be evading teaching to cover up that you don't know your own subject! I often felt that she prepped us more for fifth graders than high school students. Unfortunately she was the only one teaching three of our required courses. I also wish more distinction were made between what grades and demographics a method would be appropriate. In this sense, there wasn't enough clarification about differentiation of instruction. The rigor is a bit low. If you're in your first year of teaching, the workload can get to you. If you're doing TC full time, it's far too little. I read far more in the literature on my own than they assigned. I wish they'd taught us the distinction between consulting literature and peer-reviewed literature. Admins seem to favor the former, and we should know that to understand some of the politics involved. There's much misinformation in education, and I felt only somewhat equipped to distinguish it and navigate those who buy into it. I also had to take New Jersey's alternate route track, which allowed me to see what sort of training most teachers were getting. The difference is pretty depressing. With all the problems my colleagues and I saw at TC, it was urgent to get our training there. But after you're placed, you'll make another teacher's eyes roll if you say "metacognition," and an interviewer will probably not know what you mean by "constructivism," "post-modernism," "concepts inventory," or "modeling instruction." They might not even be able to define the terms they themselves assess you against, like "engaging" and "inquiry-based." And while you keep improving and innovating each year as a teacher, as TC tells you to do, your boss's simplistic checklist won't improve along with you, and you'll be anchored to methods you have long since found improvements on, because TC gave you the tools and attitude to do so.

This year, I received my master's in clinical psychology from TC. Apart from the impressive faculty and broad course selection, I consider the graduate student network to be the most valuable draw to the program. Let me be frank - there are several master's in psych programs across the country - almost all of which will be cheaper to attend than TC. However, this is the only program that will connect you to a tight-knit group of leaders in psychological research. After the first month or two (when everyone... Read More is competing for the "best" RA and internship positions), people in your cohort will start to lend each other a helping hand. All you have to do is ask, and someone you know will be able to get you a first interview at any leading psych research institute in the city. This is why the tuition is worth every penny. These connections will, if you allow them to, last a lifetime.