Why Did You Decide To Pursue A Master's Degree? How Did You Manage Both Going To School And Working?

I decided to get a master's degree because I was considering a career in medicine and thought a master's would help my chances of getting into a good medical school in Canada. I received my master's degree from the University of Toronto and did my thesis research at, and for, the Department of National Defense. During my master's work, I saw clients from 6:00 to 8:00 am, went to school from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm, saw clients from 4:00 to 8:00 pm and trained myself at 8:30 pm. Every third weekend I traveled as a spokesperson for a large company and presented at conferences and trade shows. I almost had a nervous breakdown! Why did I ultimately decide not to go to med school? I love training. I can wear whatever I want, work whenever I want, choose who I work with and learn all the aspects of fitness rather than just focusing on one specific part of medicine. I have two offices in Toronto, one in Los Angeles (where I am most of the time) and a mobile gym in Vancouver. My business caters to the film industry, and we specialize in getting actors in top shape for film and TV projects.

I received my bachelor's degree in exercise physiology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990. At this point it wasn't clear where exercise physiology was headed. I had tried to find a position in a nearby hospital's cardiac rehab department, but, at the time, this was still a position only for RNs. Then I searched for a position in exercise and ended up as a personal trainer in the summer of 1990 at Sports Connection in Costa Mesa, California. At this time the field of personal training was very young. However, as I worked more closely with program design and implementation I was fascinated by the capability of the human machine. I wanted a more in-depth understanding of how and why the body works the way it does. I entered my master's program in 1992 and continued to conduct about 20-24 training sessions per week. I attended school part-time and took classes in the evening. On weekends I did my research. In 1994 I had to take a year off due to a serious injury. This break only made my studies more important. I realized that if I could not depend on my body, I wanted to further my knowledge about the workings of the human machine in order to share that knowledge with more people, whether as a trainer or a teacher. With diligent rehab and the use of a personal trainer, I discovered that the body truly wants to work the way it is supposed to. Having a more in-depth understanding of the body helped me fully recover, and I could better share information with clients and trainers. The personal training industry was taking off around this time. When I was about to complete my degree in 1998, I considered the possibility of teaching at a university. However, during my oral exams a professor asked what I was thinking of doing next. When I told him what I did currently and how much I made, he said, "Wow, that's about what we make." At that point I realized that personal training was becoming a viable career. I had worked for myself for over 7 years and wanted to pursue more opportunities in training. My business continued to flourish to a $100,000 career, at which point I decided to open my own facility (with a partner). Pursuing my master's degree and staying current with continuing education keeps my passion alive and has helped me retain clients for 10 to 14 years.

I decided to pursue my master's degree in exercise physiology because, at the time, I was working as an independent fitness instructor. Knowing I wanted to continue with a career in fitness, I realized I would need more knowledge and experience (other than teaching fitness classes) in order to work in a variety of settings. While I was not certain where I would apply my education, I knew an advanced degree would open far more doors and give me the academic grounding and credentials I could leverage for years to come. I continued to work as a part-time fitness instructor while in graduate school. Much of my time was spent in the exercise physiology lab getting practical experience, as well as in the library doing research and writing papers. When I graduated with my master's from the University of Southern California in 1986, employment opportunities centered on corporate fitness, cardiac rehabilitation or research-related positions. At the time, I had no intention of becoming a personal trainer; the industry was not as defined as it is today. My first job out of graduate school was program director for the Pritikin program. I managed the program's nutrition, exercise and medical aspects. Since then I have enjoyed a variety of employment opportunities. For example I owned and operated a fitness consulting business, conducting fitness testing, cholesterol testing, lectures and seminars in many corporate and civic settings. My most recent position as an employee was as a clinical exercise physiologist for the Pasadena Rehabilitation Institute. I gained valuable clinical experience working with physical therapists, physicians and psychologists in an outpatient rehabilitation setting. However, my years as an independent contractor made me long for a position with a flexible schedule. After taking a few years off, I re- entered the workforce to find that the personal training industry had grown significantly. Fortunately, I found a position where I can use my knowledge and expertise with my client base while maintaining a flexible work schedule.

I knew early on that I wanted to get my master's. My theory was that the fitness industry was quickly evolving to a point wherein an advanced degree would be a requirement to advance in your career. I also wanted to gain as much knowledge in exercise physiology as possible and I thought the master's could give me that opportunity. I knew that I wanted to work with a variety of clients, from athletes to those with chronic diseases, so I wanted to learn as much as possible about these populations under professional guidance. During my master's work, I scheduled work around school. I went straight from undergraduate to graduate school without a break. I was also fortunate enough to get a graduate assistantship, which paid for school and helped me gain experience teaching groups and testing individuals while I still trained.

I was hungry to learn more about my industry. I also recognized that education give you a measure of freeness of speech. It also give you access resources that one may not readily be aware of. One of the other reasons I decided to pursue my masters is because of a former English professor at my junior college. We had to write a sample essay on a random topic so that she could assess our writing ability and make sure that the papers we handed in were indeed ours. After I received my essay back she said to me, "You will go on to earn your masters degree, I am sure of it." I don't know whether I would have pursued it if she didn't say that, however, I never forgot her statement. When I earned my Masters degree, I went back to my junior college and told her that she was right.

As far as how did I manage to work and go to school and be a mom and wife: being very organized and having great cooperation from my family.

I think higher education is so important in so many different fields especially since the Bachelors Degree is more popular than ever! It gives you an extra edge and ups your credibility. I was able to work full time and get my Masters Degree in Psychology because I completed a "Distance Learning" program at Saybrook Graduate School. This was nice because I did most of my school work from home and attended the conferences every few months in the form of 1 week intensives.

Best of luck to you!