Graduate School

[SororgrlADPi]

Sisters.....

It has been a long while since I have posted (my life has been extremely crazy these past months). Anyway, my friend (who is also a sister) and I have decided that we are both applying to Grad School. This is such a huge decision for me. I have so much to do (GRE, Application, Recs., etc.). Please, if anyone has any wisdom or advice it would be much appreciated!

Thanks~Sororgrl

[suwhitestl]

Stay in school as long as possible! (You will have the rest of your life to work!)

Get your thesis/dissertation done before leaving school. Don't let it hang out there waiting for you to finish it.

Have fun and good luck!

Oh yes -- and GO TO CLASS!

[ASUADPi]

I agree, stay in school as long as you can

For me, it's "stay in school" or "pay off school loans". I chose to stay in school and defer those nasty school loans (although once I'm done with graduate school I'll be another 17 grand in debt)

[ADPiAkron]

I guess I will be the downer post!!

IMHO you should only attend graduate school for 3 reasons:

1. You are required to attain a master's (ex: teacher)
2. There are no jobs-- and you get a graduate assistantship and go for free (no reason to take out more loans if you do not need a master's to continue your line of work)
3. You do not want to do anything related to your undergraduate degree (my friend received a degree in communications and later on decided he wanted to be a teacher-- he is working on his master's in education right now)

I went to graduate school because of #2. After I graduated I was in the same boat....there were no jobs! When I went to apply they did not care if I had a masters or not...they wanted professional experience and I had none since I had been in school for the last 6 years (undergraduate and graduate). So I guess it just depends on your reasoning to attend!!

Just my .02!!

[TN-TX ADPi]

I think there are many, many reasons to go to graduate school. Make sure you make the right decision for YOU, not what anyone else tells you.

Personally, I know I would regret not going to grad school. I am in my second full semester and am without a doubt gaining more knowledge, insight, and life experience than in undergrad.

For starters, class is WAY more interesting now, because they are classes I want to take and they will be useful to my future career.

Also, if the opportunity is available to go to a different school than you did your undergrad, I would highly advise it. Just for the different perspective on things and the opportunity to grow as a person. I have learned more about myself and my abilities just by being out of my "comfort" zone.

It is important to go where you can get funding- it helps! Some schools may still require you to pay tuition, but you will get a monthly stipend that should cover that and living expenses- that's the situation I'm in, and it is totally worth it.

So enough of that! If you have any questions PM me.

As far as preparing:
-take the GRE early;
-if you haven't already done so, start contacting professors that you would be interested in working with;
-visit the campuses and faculty you are interested in to make sure you like the "feel" of things.
-email or call other grad students in your area of interest at the university you are interested in. This info is generally avaiable on the departmental website. Just getting input from current students helps and they may be able to give you some "inside" info or advice.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your "quest for knowledge"!

[ASUADPi]

[hijack]

Andrea, isn't it so sad that we go to school to get our bachelors degree and then we go into the "big bad world" and we aren't "qualified" enough. So we go to graduate school, spend two to three more years getting "qualified" and then we are told that we don't have enough "professional work experience". Grr!!! It's like a never ending cycle.

[end hijack]

[ADPiAkron]

Well coming from myself (and not trying to make decisions for anyone)-- YES IT IS A SHAME!

But don't worry-- as we get older we will get more experience!! Just make sure when you are in graduate school you work/intern in an area that has something to do with your future degree-- it will only be a positive on your resume after graduation!!

About the GRE-- a co-worker at work is getting ready to take it and he has books on it and make sure you look over the gre.org website!! I did horrible on the GRE, but luckily it was a smallllll part of the application process at my school.

Best wishes Sororgrl!! Let us know how it turns out!!

ETA: Write and re-write your essay until you are absolutely confident with it!! Overall, take your time in the application process and apply for assistantships/fellowships!!

[SororgrlADPi]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I truly appreciate them.

Today, there was an addition to the story....another close friend of ours (also a sister) has also decided to apply to grad school, so there will now be 3 of us applying to the same school! (The school we are applying to is not where we went to undergrad together.) We are sooooo excited!

The irony about all of this is that we have all individually been contemplating this next step and we finally had the chance to talk to each other and we are all going to start the application process. I just can't believe all of this......

Again, thanks to you all! I think that we are going to need many prayers since we have much to do before the first of the year.

[PennyCarter]

Good luck with it all! I'm about to finish grad school and I'm super excited to be finished with my masters (in Dec). The advice about the Grad Assistantship is a good one! There are so many available (in my field at least) and if you apply early you are more likely to get one. I would say it would be almost worth waiting a year if it meant paying all costs and having a GA, but that's up to you to decide. I went to a private undergrad and had a lot of loans from there and now I have doubled that b/c I didn't have a GA (I ended up getting one for 1 semester, but I definitely could have used it all 3). Other than that, I agree with the other things, you have you decide if its worth it for you. For me, I wish I'd worked a couple of years then gotten my masters, but its nice to be 23 and pretty much done too! And of course, you never know what will happen...falling in love, good job, kids, etc.

[ADPiAkron]

Originally posted by PennyCarter
For me, I wish I'd worked a couple of years then gotten my masters, but its nice to be 23 and pretty much done too! And of course, you never know what will happen...falling in love, good job, kids, etc.

That is definitely a bonus! I was 23 with a master's also!! It is an awesome feeling!! You feel so accomplished!

[texas*princess]

best of luck in your grad school process!!!!

personally, i've been going nuts to get out of school with my bachelors... there's no way i'm sticking around for a masters... at least not yet.

i want to wait till i get a job with a great company that has a fantastic tuition reimbursement program... then i'll think about it