I went straight from undergrad to graduate school--historic preservation is one of those fields that you can't advance very far in without an advanced degree; I can't even get licensed as a building conservator without my MS. If I had gone to work right out of undergrad, I would have been making $22K a year--in NY or SF. The decision to wait might have been a good one for you, but some people have a very strong idea about what they want to do and waiting does nothing for them.

Basically, each person has a reason behind why they did what they did. There are people in medicine, law, engineering, architecture, and all sorts of fields who would have been doing themselves more of a disservice (financially as well as professionally) by following your advice than by just going straight through.

Like Rudey said, if you go to a good school for your MBA, the debt will be easy to pay off. I've read in a few places that you shouldn't even have to pay for your MBA, because if the company you work for wants you to have it, they'll pay for it. If you have to take out loans, your advance should be more than enough to pay your debt. It just depends on the quality of your grad program.

I agree with Munchkin. Waiting may work for some people. But it certainly isn't for everyone. For one thing, if you are planning to go all the way to a PhD, which can take upwards of seven years, waiting even one year is a big deal.
Also, if you are a woman and are hoping to have a family eventually, it is oftentimes better to get your grad school education finished and get a few years of continuous work under your belt before you start thinking about a family. If you take a year or two off and then go and get your PhD, you'll be 29 or 30 before you really start working on your career.
I just think there is more to it then I want to experience the "real world" and not get in so much debt. Also, since when did graduate school become easy and not part of the "real world"? A lot of graduate programs are very competitive, and unlike law school and MBA programs, they often require that you do research, teach, and complete classwork. I think that kind of workload pretty much weeds out the uncomitted.

I would've regretted waiting to start law school. In no way would it have been beneficial, especially b/c I had no debt from undergrad. No use delaying school for a year or more so I can have some entry level job in a field i'm not interested in making me miserable. I'm glad to have my education nearly finished, I'm 24 and graduating from law school. I have plenty of time to get my life in order, get a good job, and start a family without feeling rushed. Whereas someone, like my roommate, who took 5 years off and is 29, is going to be a little more rushed.

I just had a looooong talk with one of our new professors about delaying school and I am SO conflicted now. The only people I know in law school who have remotely similiar personalities to me each took a semester off - one wishes he wouldn't have, the other wishes he would have taken more time.

I'm hoping I'll reach some sort of an epiphany on this by April. :)

I got an invitation today to interview at Appalachian State! I'm applying to their Masters program in School Counseling :)

The program I applied to has said I have made it passed their admissions committee... so now it has to just go through the university itself.. which is really a technicality...

Oh and the program is through the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences to get my phd in planetary science.

I am so so excited...

great guide to grad school
 

Best book to read about this ---

Getting What You Came For : The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D. by Robert Peters

It answered a lot of questions.
Is graduate school right for you?
Should you get a master’s or a Ph.D.?
How can you choose the best possible school?


Review - “This is an excellent book. I don’t know how Robert Peters was able to assemble all this highly relevant and valuable information after only one pass through the system known as graduate school, but he has produced a definitive piece of work.” – Dr. Gene Woodruff, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Washington, Seattle, President of the Association of Graduate Schools, Chairman of the GRE Board


This classic guide helps students answer these vital questions and much more. It will also help graduate students finish in less time, for less money, and with less trouble.

Based on interviews with career counselors, graduate students, and professors, Getting What You Came For is packed with real-life experiences. It has all the advice a student will need not only to survive but to thrive in graduate school, including: instructions on applying to school and for financial aid; how to excel on qualifying exams; how to manage academic politics—including hostile professors; and how to write and defend a top-notch thesis. Most important, it shows you how to land a job when you graduate.

Re: great guide to grad school
 

Have you read it?

I read it, and it's definitely geared more towards those going to grad school for a career in academia--not so much for those in professional programs like law, business, education, architecture, public administration, international affairs, and the like.

Re: Re: great guide to grad school
 

Yeah I read it a couple years ago, found it in B&N when considering getting a degree in Higher Ed. Maybe that is why I thought it was good -- instructions on applying to school and for financial aid; how to excel on qualifying exams; how to manage academic politics, and making sure an advanced degree is what you really need --- maybe also because I had been out of school for a few years so it was also a refresher.

Yeah... I'll be 28 or 29 when I grduate from med school and at least 31 before I have a "real job" after residency. It's kind of scary to think about putting all that time into an education. But, it's a journey, not a destination. It should be fun!

I recieved an acceptance today to Appalachian State's School Counseling program :D

Congratulations!! :)

Congrats! :D

Just found out that I need to go back to graduate school for my teaching. I am in gifted education, and will have to get gifted certification, which means a whole new Master's degree. Unfortunately, I don't think any of my other Master's classes could go towards the degree :(


I have 2.5 years to finish a 33 hour minimum program.

I will be taking the MAT soon ( ARRRGGGHHH) and applying for USA's online program.

It stinks when you live in a city that has 5 universities around it, and the only two colleges in the state that offer the classes are 70 miles and 300 miles away.

Online Programs
 

Does anybody know and accredited online programs for Masters in Social Work and Master in Gudiance Counseling Education?

I recommend going straight into grad school. I think if I had taken some time off I would have had a difficult time studying and focusing. I actually completed my requirements for grad school wthin 3 years instead of 4. I needed to shave a year off of the school loans :). I love the fact that I have more expeience than most of my colleagues that are my age and graduated later in life. There are a few people I work with that are in there mid 20's and are just now applying- to vet school-so they won't graduate until they are at least 30. Then if an internship and residency are done they won't be out until there mid 30's.

I do hate the debt but reality is that unless you are wealthy or your parents had a nice college fund for you, a loan is the only way to reach your goal. Out of a class of 120 about 90% of us had to take out loans. You cannot work during vet. school-it is an 8-5 job for 3 years then 4th year it is a 5-6 am to whatever time you finish job depending on your rotation (or you are on call for 24 hrs and then have to go to school all day-yuk!). Many weekends are spent in labs-(anatomy/parasitology/physiology etc...). Most graduate these days with over 100,000$ in debt and vets don't make $hit :(.

I say get it all over with at once-don't wait.

Took my MAT last Monday....score was 68 out of a possible 100..now am waiting for the real paperwork to get in.

I also recently got accepted to the University of Tennessee, and will be interviewing at Clemson!

The latest on my grad school search:

rejected at:
Berkeley
Columbia

wait-listed at:
Stanford

accepted with full funding at:
UNC-Chapel Hill
UT-Austin

So now I am making visits and trying to decide where to go! woo!

My company paid for mine.........:D

And I left a few months after I finished.

MAT results
 

I got my official MAT scores and was pleasantly surprised after seeing "real numbers" and percentiles.

Got 93% and 94% respectively on the percentiles!


Was so excited about that!

Hooray!

I just wanted to let ya'll know that I will be attending ...in the fall for School Counseling! :)

congrats AUDeltaGam! great school!

-marissa

I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin next year!! :) :)

I'm *hopefully* going to Graduate school...but i still have AT LEAST 2 years left til i get my bachelors.

If all goes well, i'll either be attending Michigan State or University of Illinois- Chicago. But i'm prayin for MSU.

I dont think i have to take any tests though, i'm going to be attending the Forensic Science program there...so hopefully i wont have to take any tests.

Grad school-starting next January at FSU, hopefully! I'm taking the GRE right after the summer. I decided to combine both my undergrad degree's (Russian & East European Studies/Latin American and Caribbean Studies) and just do International Affairs.

I got into my grad program! :) I start next month.

I just got into mine too! I start month after next. Whew! I got nervous for a second. Now I just hope that I'm making right decision of not considering other schools.

If you going for an advanced degree, most schools require at least the general GRE. I doubt that MSU would require no testing at all.

You didn't get into a binding contract because of it? Wow. I'm not sure I would even have the guts to do that, but kudos I guess.

If anyone can tell me what type of grad school to go to, I'd appreciate it. I can't decide.

-Rudey

Yay! I was wondering what happened with that. Congratulations! :)

Thanks.

Higher Ed Administration

Also known as SPHE, SDHE, and several other things that I can't remember right now.

Re: Graduate School?
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by XOMichelle
[B]Who out there is going/ wants to apply to graduate school? What program are you interested in?

I'm going to SMU next Fall to work on my MBA in Finance. Anyone out there an SMU Alumni or have any advice?

Ok, change in plans. I'm going to get my Master's in Education in Special Education from Grand Canyon University. Its through an online program, and you can do one class every 8 weeks, and finish in two years (right up my alley). Once I finish this one, then I'll do the TESOL master's through Shenandoah University, because that one is online too.

I have a MS and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics.

My entire 20's was "donated" to graduate school education.

Interestingly, when I look back on it, I probably should have applied to many more schools and taken the MCAT to get into medical school.

Why? Because NIH (all divisions) is giving more grants to MD's than Ph.D. in the biological sciences that studies human diseases. Folks are not interesting in curing, they are interested in profiting off the symptoms of an illness. And most MD's--as noble as their education is--hands are tied to even think of a preventative/curative treatment option... Most of it is "on the battlefield" triage system... And probably a lot of this may have to do with "Big Pharma" and the "biotechs"--easier to make a drug than find a cure.

(off my soapbox)

So, what to do when you grow up and have to find a real job in my field?

Well, either way, at the current school I work at, they are nailing the poor residents and post-residents to the cross. Barely allowing them to branch out on their own--that much. So they are influxing into my field they know little about but can develop skill sets relatively quickly. Then they hate us, the Ph.D.'s--saying our degrees are worthless--like, anyone can get one. Forgetting the fact that a basic notion was wrought forth a whole series on biological understanding by many of combined forces with MD-PhD collaboration...

ONLY one school combined the efforts of post-graduate degreed people. And I was fortunate to work there for 1 year. And the school was a powerhouse, with 5 nobel laureates in medicine or physiology, etc. and several National Academies members. No one person's perspective was disrespected...

It would be nice to get folks to that level at my current location. But I might have to go back to grad school Hell to gain appropriate qualifications. I dayum sho am not taking anymore exams, etc. So, it won't be MD or DDS. But, I can get certificates in other programs...

I am considering "Translational Research"... What do you all think?

Re: Graduate School?
 

Both Kent State (where I go now) and Ohio State have Masters Degree programs in Combined Literature and Writing. Those are the 2 I'm interested in right now.

Woohoo! I just finished writing my MLitt dissertation today. 68 pages long and only 500ish words over the limit, but I can fudge the word count. Barring any major edits by my supervisor, I am done and can finally start working on my PhD. Tomorrow will be a big night in the pub for me to celebrate (plus it's my academic brother's birthday, I'm taking my driving theory test tomorrow, and it's postgrad pub quiz night :) )

Yay for being in school for a billion years. I'm in the process of applying to med schools at the moment. I've been really busy the past few weeks sending in secondary applications. Right now, if I could pick anywhere to go, I would probably choose either the University of Iowa or the University of Chicago. But it's still early in the game for me. Hopefully interviews and acceptances will come as quickly as my secondaries have! One can always dream, right? ;)

Officially been accepted at U of South Alabama for M.ED in Special Ed. Got my advisor's name and have to call him to discuss things. This should be interesting as I've never done a whole degree online before.

NO MORE GRAD SCHOOL FOR ME!