The journey from start to finish of our senior year of college. From beginning to end, August 31 through May 14, 257 days remain in our college careers.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Graduate School: Keeping My Options Open

I’m applying to graduate school. There, I said it. And now it’s out in cyberspace for everyone (or at least everyone that reads this blog) to read. There’s no going back.

Unlike Andrea, I have not been at all certain about applying to graduate school. I didn’t want to, then I thought about it, then I sort of did, and now I’ve fully committed myself to the project. What changed? I realized how many great schools in New England offer the program I’m interested in—Higher Education Administration. As I said in my introduction post, I want to pursue a career in student affairs i.e. admissions counseling or academic advising. This program prepares you for these roles. After realizing that I have choices in terms of where to attend I was sold on the idea.

 Just because I’m sold on the idea of applying to graduate school does not mean I’m necessarily sold on the idea of actually attending graduate school right away. Of course I wouldn’t bother applying if I didn’t want to go but my decision is more based on keeping my options open. As of May, 2011 I will not longer be a college student and that’s a very scary thought for me. I need to figure out what I’m going to do with my life and make a plan. Applying to graduate schools is a part of my plan. 


 My thinking is centered on the idea that you’re more likely to make the best possible choice if presented with the most options. If I apply to graduate school I have the option of going to school full-time, getting a full-time job, and working out a part-time school, full-time work arrangement. Without applying to school, my only option (at least initially) would be to look for a full-time job and personally I’m terrified I won’t be able to find a job, at least not anytime soon. We all know the job market has not been at its best for a long time and I do not want to be unemployed for six months or a year after graduation. Also, if the whole going to grad school full-time thing did work out it would be a lot easier to get it done in a couple years than to drag it out for five or six years going part-time.

As you can probably tell, I’m a planner. I like knowing what’s coming next, where I’ll be, and what I’ll be doing. I don’t like unknowns and surprises. And I don’t like waiting for those unknowns and maybes to become for sures and definites. That’s part of the reason I’m so nervous about graduating college and why I want to apply to graduate school. Trying to plan out as many avenues I can go down as possible after graduation helps me feel better about the future. Also, getting a Master’s Degree is important to me and it’s something I know I want to do in my life. I always thought I’d get one some day after working for a few years but now I’m reconsidering going full-time.

Now for the specifics, as in where I want to apply. Even with limiting my search based on region (New England) and my desired program I found quite a few potential schools. As of now my list looks like this: Boston College, Boston University, Suffolk University, Salem State University, UMass Amherst, University of Connecticut, and…Harvard University. 


I know, I know the last one seems like a bit of a stretch. But it has my program and after knowing that how can I not apply? Even if I am swiftly rejected I can at least say I tried. And hey, maybe I’ll be accepted in which case I will frame that letter and mount it on my living room wall for all to admire.

The easy part is deciding you want to apply; the hard part is actually applying. On top of all my other school work I now need to spend time working on online applications, working extra hours to pay for $70 application fees, writing “statements of purpose,” and asking for letters of recommendation. Not to mention take GRE (basically the SAT for grad school) which is a whole different story. Let’s just say I didn’t exactly ace the SAT. I’ve already started studying a bit for it (something I definitely didn’t do for the SAT) and hopefully that will help. 



I will definitely keep you all updated on where I am in the application process, my acception/rejection status, and everything else that goes on in my life during this hectic fall.

Alesia

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