Is Graduate School
Right for You?
Graduation evokes a wide range of emotions, from elation "Yay, I'm finally graduating." to apprehension "I can't find a job. What am I going to do?"
Well, graduate school might be the answer.
Depending on the major, a master's degree could give you a higher chance to get into the door for an interview or could even get you a higher salary.
For some students to make progress in their intended fields, they must attend graduate school.
"I can't work without a master's degree." |
"I can't really work without a master's degree." Holly Duong, who is studying communicative disorders, explained."With a bachelor's degree, I could become a speech assistant, but that's all I could do. Eventually I would have to go back to school if I wanted to do other things."
In order to apply to graduate school students need to take the GRE (for most programs) or GMAT (for business programs).
The Sylvan Learning Center offers classes for each test. They also conduct the tests, which are given six days a week. Each exam is about four hours long and are done on computers.
Duong, who took the GRE, advises students to "brush up" on their math skills.
"The test is four hours long." Duong said. "It's almost like the SAT. There's a verbal section, a quantitative section, and a logic section."
"It wasn't that difficult. It just took a really long time to take," Duong continued.
One of the drawbacks of graduate school is that it does cost a lot more than undergraduate programs. In the school year of 2000- 2001, the cost of graduate school is $162.24 per credit whereas undergraduate costs $80 per credit.
Associate Dean Ben Morgan said he realizes how expensive graduate school could be.
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Associate Dean |
He explains: "We offer different financial support. We have assistantships and fellowships on top of regular financial aid, such as grants and loans. Assistantships give students full time jobs as teaching or researching assistants. Most of them require students to have taken at least 18 credit hours in their graduate program. On the other hand, fellowships do not require employment. They are awarded on a merit basis."
Each program has its own deadline. Students can apply on-line or through the Office of Graduate Studies.
The office can answer questions from which graduate program is right for you to where you can find money for tuition.
For furthur questions contact the graduate office.