Graduate school

[patlajan]

OK who's in graduate school? If so how do you manage to cling to your sanity? I want to persue a masters a year or so from now, but I don't know if I should quit my job or not, what school to go to, how the whole thing works, and other important questions I should be asking myself but don't have the experience to...

I have no one to ask for advice on this, so anything real world experience somebody here wants to share is appreciated.

[Siggie]

Whether you can handle working while you're in graduate school depends on the program. Judging from previous comments about how grossly underpaid psych majors are and how it's among the worst majors in that regard, I'm highly doubtful that you'd be in that field. I don't know how valuable my opinion would be to you then.

I've worked between 30-40 hrs a week while in grad school. It's doable. Some programs employ you and you work 20 hrs for them and that's it. When I start a new program in the fall, that will be the case. I have to sign a paper saying that I will not work more than the 20 hrs they employ me for as a condition of my tuition remission and employment.

As far as what school to go to, find out what the better programs are (which won't necessarily be big name universities) and start gathering information early. What specialties they have, how many faculty, what are the publishing histories of the faculty, what are the graduates doing, what are their admissions standards like, what standardized tests do you have to take, when is their application deadline, what application materials will you need, etc. You'll need 3 letters of reference usually and these should be really strong, so if you're not in good with any faculty at your current institution you need to get on that. It's not enough to say, so and so was in my class, he got an A.

Aren't you in CS or telecommunications or something?

The whole process is a xxxxx and I hated it, but it's necessary and it requires quite a bit of organized research, so it's good that you're looking into it now. That's a step in the right direction. It was pretty frustrating for me and from what I hear it is for most people because it's not something people really discuss. So, until you look into the process, you don't know what you'll need and once you do, it's often too late to get what you need to be competative. I can't stress enough how important it is to start thinking about it early.

[patlajan]

As far as what school to go to, find out what the better programs are (which won't necessarily be big name universities) and start gathering information early. What specialties they have, how many faculty, what are the publishing histories of the faculty, what are the graduates doing, what are their admissions standards like, what standardized tests do you have to take, when is their application deadline, what application materials will you need, etc. You'll need 3 letters of reference usually and these should be really strong, so if you're not in good with any faculty at your current institution you need to get on that. It's not enough to say, so and so was in my class, he got an A.

Aren't you in CS or telecommunications or something?




I'll be persuing an MBA in finance or information technology, I don't know which yet. I've been out of school for a year and have grown addicted to paychecks. I dread the thought of living like a bum for an extra 2 years, but I'm pretty sure I can't work 40 hours while in graduate school.

How do I get information about different MBA programs?

[Siggie]

I'll be persuing an MBA in finance or information technology, I don't know which yet. I've been out of school for a year and have grown addicted to paychecks. I dread the thought of living like a bum for an extra 2 years, but I'm pretty sure I can't work 40 hours while in graduate school.

How do I get information about different MBA programs?

If you know of MBA programs you'd like to go to then just check the websites and they should have a graduate link on the department sites with application and program information. If you don't know of ones, then you can either check websites of universities in your general area or see if you can find a listing online. You should also ask any professionals in the area you might know what programs are good. You'll want to ideally go to one that has a good reputation among companies you'd be interested in working for.

[VanillaNinja]

Whether you can handle working while you're in graduate school depends on the program. Judging from previous comments about how grossly underpaid psych majors are and how it's among the worst majors in that regard, I'm highly doubtful that you'd be in that field. I don't know how valuable my opinion would be to you then.



Siggie are you a psych major? I just finished my BS in Pyschology and will be looking into a masters program and different schools. How do you like it and where do you go?

[asian]

You definitely want to reduce your work hours drastically (ideally 0 hrs) your 1st semester, because you don't want to risk messing up & getting probation. Wouldn't it be great to start off with a gpa of 4.0? It's only 2 years out of your entire life, do your best! You'll be happier & probably make much more $ than now. Find your best potential by not working your 1st semester, & you'll have a good feel of how you can do in school. Remember, classes tend to get harder, so start of with the highest gpa possible. Anyways, you're gonna study what you love, right? Then, you'll be happy!

[Siggie]

I think most people are talking about 4+ years.

In my case... it's been 7 so far.

It is good to be cautious at first though. Unfortunately it's not always an option.

[skhara]

I'm looking into graduate school info -- although I have a full time job and looking at some online distance learning programs.

The thing is I worry that I may not be motivated enough outside of the college environment.

Also, sometimes my job requires me to travel for weeks at a time with long work hours and I have no idea how to deal with that.

[Siggie]

Be upfront. Call the programs you are interested in and explain the need for travel and ask if they can work with you.

[Sip]

What is your area (aka "major")? In some cases and with certain schools you can do that and in other cases you can't so that's why I ask. But it is almost always better to take some time away from work and really focus on the school and get it done. Otherwise, it'll just drag on forever (and it gets harder as time goes on).

[Siggie]

That's good advice.
I was in a hurry last night when I replied, so let me address your entire post now...

I don't know a lot about online distance programs, but from what I have heard about LaVerne, Phoenix sorts of programs that are supposed to be geared toward the nontraditional students is that they are lax and therefore the quality of education suffers greatly (they're also expensive). If you are planning on staying where you are employed and they would just like you to get some more education, they're paying, and don't care much where, then that might not matter.

If you can cut down the work or take time off to go back to school it would make it easier, but it's not absolutely necessary for everyone.
As far as motivation and time go, what you need to do is make the decision that you're going to do this and stick to it. It sounds really simplistic, but if you're already questioning whether you can do it, you're facing the wrong direction. ;) It's definitely doable, but you need to expect to and be willing to work hard.

I've done 16-19 unit semesters as an undergrad working between 30-50 hpw (19units and 50 hpw for a couple months) and it can be done. Right now I'm in a joint program where I'm getting a 2nd masters and PhD. It's kicking my @ss to be sure, but I'm doing it. I have to work about 20hrs a week (on avg) for my assistantship, keep up with my research, and I'm taking 12 units (Tons of reading!). Just to put the units into perspective most programs consider 8 units equivalent to the fulltime undergrad 12 units. All this happens at school, so I get there at about 8-8:30 am and I go home between 10-12am. On the weekends I sleep 14hrs a night to make up my sleep debt, take saturday off or easy, and study/work on sunday for about 5-6hrs (typically 3-9pm).

Having established that I'm speaking from experience and gotten to complain a little, let me assure you that it can definitely be done. At the most stressful points you may feel like you're teetering at the brink of insanity, but just talk yourself down from that ledge. Take a 30mins or an hour off, call it an early night and get a little more sleep to tackle it in the morning, and press on. Above all what helps is to have people who can relate, understand, or will just listen when you need to rant AND to be able to laugh about it. Sometimes I feel like that's all that keeps me sane. :p If you don't have that elsewhere, you do have that here. Lots of students and overworked people here.

Hope that was more reassuring than scary.

[skhara]

It's in egineering. Actually UW Plattville has an online MS Engineering program and from I read of it its pretty good.

on staying where you are employed and they would just like you to get some more education, they're paying, and don't care much where, then that might not matter.

The further education has to be ones own initiative but the manager has to agree -- meaning it has to be in line with making you more valuable to the company. Also, they wouldn't give me money to get D's and F's :).


What was your job Sig? I had the luxury of working at the library during my undergrad years where I could do my schoolwork. :)

[Siggie]

I sold mobile phones and service 1st & 2nd years and worked at a bank as a teller my 3rd. I couldn't study at work for either.