I received my MPA in May 2002! I loved Public Admin courses! I went straight from undergrad to graduate school...one year into grad school I was so burned out I wanted to quit! I thought I was going to be a full time student for the rest of my life! (1996-2000 Bachelor of Arts in Business and Organizational Communications/Public Relations...2000-2002 Masters of Public Administration)

Some words of advice from a postgrad individual...STICK IT OUT- IT WILL FEEL SO GOOD AND REWARDING WHEN YOU ARE DONE!!

dangerously overeducated
 

B.A. in English
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

M.A. in English Literature
University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia

Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

I'll finally get a hooding ceremony on May!!

The Ph.D. has been worth it, but, MAN, has this been tough! Teaching at two universities while trying to get out of ABD hell has been a nightmare. Luckily, I have a great tenure-track job now at Coastal Carolina University. Living near the beach makes a lot of the tough times in the Ph.D.-seeking past worthwhile.

Best of luck to rest of you overachievers, too...

Cheers,
scs

Am 1/4 of my way to an M.A. in Media Communications and I loved my classes this semester ... our last classes were this week (night classes - 2 of them - 4 hours long each) and we went out for beer and pizza/apps for each class.

1 semester down, 3 to go for a Masters of Science in Architecture and Historic Preservation. I did very well, and ended up celebrating quite a few times with drinks and food. Woo hoo!

I eventually want to get my PhD in Architectural History and Theory so I can teach, but I want to work some so I get out of this darned Ivied ivory tower!

SPSS is a ridiculously easy program to understand. We used it in high school even. And being in grad school is awesome...you bag all the undergrad chicks, if you want group sex the grad school chicks are always willing, and most of your schooling is paid for through grants that undergrads don't get.

-Rudey
--Man I wish I was a grad student...bagging chicks and getting paid for it.

?????
 

Rudey,
?????
I am speechless...which is actually amazing in and of itself....
Silver

Re: ?????
 

It really isn't that bad. I mean if you want to play around with a slightly simpler package, look into Stata. I bet "Intercooled" is running off some of your university servers and you would never even have to purchase the program - just log in and run the commands. I'm not exactly sure how much power you need to get with your manipulations but I can't imagine a scenario in which Stata wouldn't be ok for you. P-tests, T-tests, 95% Confidence intervals, and anything basic it handles with ease and for more complex functions you can do command line manipulations.

-Rudey
--Now I'm going back to partypoker.com

???
 

Rudey,

No, no, no....You misunderstand my confusion.

SPSS is no problem. Besides, stata would not handle the stuff that I do. I am a LOT older, and I teach math. When I was in grad school the first time or two, back in the stone age, we actually calculated BY HAND most of the stat tests that you mentioned!;) Now, data sets almost analyze themselves with these lovely stat packages.....

I am just speechless at your ideas of grad school in general?!?! I do not know WHERE you went to grad school, but that kind of experience is NOT typical of any of the three places I have been....even in the stone age! Maybe I have been living under a rock?

Is it waxing poetic, tounge-in-cheek sarcasm that my extremely-overworked mind does not comprehend? I just can't imagine anyone saying that "being in grad school is awesome"!

Silver

I did the exact same things!!!!! I have NO money for christmas cause ever law app costs between $60-75 a pop...and then the LSAD gets you to order the transcipts and stuff for $12. Its ALL a HUGE money scam!!!

Re: ???
 

Oh no :) I was joking that because you get to date undergrads and a lot of your schooling is paid for free that it's gotta be great :) I took a lot of grad level courses while in college but haven't been a part of any grad program just yet :)

-Rudey
--We had to calculate all that stuff by hand for one of my stat classes. I know it sucks but it really helps you understand what's going on as opposed to just plugging in numbers.

:)
 

Rudey, cool. Are you in math, too?
I think that I am just way too grad schooled out! :) Good grief. 8 years of this.... where has my life gone? :)
:)
Silver

^Bump!^

I am in my third month of grad school and all of this is SO true! How is everyone else who is in grad school doing?

I'm not doing as bad as I thought. It's kind of hard having to adjust to THINKING instead of just memorizing the material. I was laughed at when I asked will our final exam be multiple choice, in one of my classes. :o As for work load, it isn't bad at all. It's about the same as undergrad. Of course, I'm taking half the hours though. Social life is pretty much the same too. There are several undergrads who are my age and even a few years older, so I fit in well. I'm not forced to hang around those weird 35 y/o grad students with the roller bookbags.

I think the difficulty depends on the school and program. I'm going to a state school to get a career in student services, not an Ivy League to get a career in Aeronautical Engineering. To me, I feel more like a 6th year senior than a first year grad student. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed of that, lol.

I love this thread... Especially now that I am a few months into my grad program...

Just found out that I'll be stuck in grad hell for another semester. Apparently, there is a rotation schedule for envrionmental classes...that no one mentioned to any of the graduate students, but has been on display for the last five years in the graduate student office. I don't even know where the graduate student office is, but I'm supposed to know the information it contains.

I'm just a bit bitter right now. But only a tiny bit.