[bryanc]

So, I'll just dump in my 2 cents and leave the thread alone.

The mentality that university is a place to get "credentialed" as a means to a job is deteriorating the entire intellectual development of university students everywhere. And while universities have also contributed to this mentality in the undergraduate sense (i.e. tailoring their programs to be more content-driven by industry as opposed to knowledge and process transference), in the Master's sense, it is completely baffling; and exists only because _some_ industries require a Master's or a encourage a higher degree for gainful employment.

So, my short answer to people who are interested in an S+C Master's is, "You don't need it. Don't do it."

A Master's degree is not an industry degree. In some cases, it's an opportunity to explore the areas that are not given enough depth in your undergrad and a chance to gain almost-expert knowledge (i.e. the course-based Masters). In other cases, a Master's is an introductory research degree where you'll spend half of your time gaining another, more advanced base of knowledge, to prepare you to produce another piece of (hopefully) new knowledge. In either case, the exercise is in developing a thinking process--not on developing skills. In some programs you will have the opportunity to learn the principles of program design, and you will also have the opportunity to put them to use. However, you also have to be prepared for the fact that you will also have to put time to learn about all the other issues put in front of you, which may include a research thesis (that involves data collection).

So, if your goal is solely to get a Masters for the purpose of possibly gaining access to an elite athletic population, i.e. a college, or national team, (and I would contend that every prospective masters student ask themselves why they want to pursue a Masters), then I would say that there are definitely other ways to achieve that goal. The path to a Masters is not always an easy one and the energy you put into it may not yield the result you want, since generally, someone has to step out of a training role on a team before you step in. For instance, if you wanted Dos' job, Dos would generally need to vacate that spot before you could step into it, since it's unlikely you'd oust him from it.

If you're interested in pursuing _further_ education in kinesiology as a field (which includes S+C, but also health and wellness issues and biomechanics and ex. phys etc etc), then a Masters might be for you.

In terms of programs, I would look carefully at what their graduates are doing and if you're in an academic centre that houses a national team.

Calgary, for instance, houses the national ski teams (downhill, jumping, cross-country), speed skating, bobsled, luge, and some bits of the national swimming team. It also houses the university football, rugby, soccer, hockey, swim, volleyball, basketball teams (I'm sure I'm missing a sport in there); and a Junior A hockey team and an NHL hockey team and a CFL football team. As well as a semi-professional soccer team, and professional lacrosse team. Because of the Olympic legacy from the 1988 winter games, much of the training, while it doesn't take place at the University, goes through University consults. I do know three people who graduated with Masters degrees from the U of C who are now the S+C coaches for the national ski team and the national swim team; and likely hold your dream job.

Does an MSc or MKin from U of Calgary guarantee you an S+C spot? Absolutely not. Not even close. But it probably puts you in a pretty good position for one. Maybe.

If U of C is something you want to pursue as an S+C avenue, I would also discourage anyone from applying generally to the programs. a) It's not how things are done around here and b) you need to position yourself from the pre-application phase to get to where you want to go. I would suggest talking to the grads who are doing what you want to do to see how they got there, which, should be available through the program administrator.