Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Recap: Graduate School Seminar

Sarah McLean Cannon led the graduate school seminar, designed to help us decide whether graduate school is the right choice.

Some of the highlights:

  • Find out why you're going:
    • Better parking isn't a good reason, but if you're looking to advance further within the field or if the job you want requires an advanced degree, it's the right choice.
  • Types of graduate programs:
    • Academic
    • Professional
    • Ask about the school which one their program leans toward when you're looking for different programs.
  • Getting into graduate school:
    • Most programs require the GRE, for an MBA program you take the MCAT, for law school it's the LSAT.
    • Most schools have a grade requirement and prerequisite class requirements.
  • Staying in graduate school:
    • Schools don't want you to go in and them drop out, so they'll help you keep your grades up, but if you get anything lower than a B they might make you take the class again.
  • Should you work and then attend graduate school or go straight to graduate school?
    • Working first gives you experience in the field and time to decide if it's what you really want to do, but going straight to graduate school keeps you in the study mindset and gets it over with quickly.
  • What is graduate school like?
    • More reading and discussion than assignments and tests.
    • Attendance is critical - if you miss classes without an excuse they can drop you from the class.
    • Regular class load is nine to 12 hours.
  • The money problem:
    • You won't be making money, most likely you'll be incurring debt.
    • The University of Georgia doesn't give assistantships until your second year.
    • Assistantships waive your tuition, pay you and hourly rate; you can do a teaching assistantship or research internship.
    • At the University of Georgia in-state tuition is around $3,000 per year, out-of-state tuition can be as high as $15,000 per year.

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