What were (are) your greatest challenges when attending graduate school?

[Blackbird]

Thanks, MM, for the inspiration.

So I Finally got my B.A. (Second B.A. as my mother will say) and I'm thinking of going back for my Graduate degree. Here are the questions:

Why did you pick your particular major?

What was (is) the most challenging thing about getting it?

How have you benefited from having that degree?

Thanks.

[Brad Barker]

well, so far, it's been finding housing!

[Blackbird]

Originally Posted by Brad Barker

well, so far, it's been finding housing!

I'm in SF. I totally hear you!

[Armueller2001]

Waking up before 11am is pretty challenging these days...

[Toasted]

Putting the Scotch down and turning Family Guy off.

[tycobb73]

I got 2 of them, an MBA and an MSA. I liked numbers, looked around and saw all lthose businesses and figured they all have managers and accountants, its can't miss. I found my masters easier than my undergrad. Less work.

[mrpackerguy]

For me it was holding down a full time job and keeping a wife and two young children happy.

[Eric Perry]

I have two Masters. One in School Counseling, and one in Family Therapy. As has been mentioned already, my graduate degrees were easier than my undergrad. More busy-work, but easier overall.

The biggest issues for me were juggling work, school, and gigging. For each degree, it required a 6 month full-time internship. Luckily, my employer was willing to work with me. He let me drop down to meager hours so I could fulfill internship requirements. I would imagine many people wouldn't be as lucky, however.

Monetarily, the degrees have not been worth much, thus far. Any raises have been essentially offset by student loan bills. In the long run, it will be well worth it. I do plan on returning for my Ph.D. in the future.

For the most part, I got those degrees for me, because I wanted to accomplish it.

[kasanovakarl]

My biggest challenge/obstacle is time.

I'm working on my MBA while working full time. I work 10 hrs a day, plus a one hour commute to and from work. Right there half of every weekday is shot. Keep in mind I still need to eat, sleep, do things around the house, spend some time with the wife, band practice/gigs, go to class, study/homework, etc. It becomes a challenge juggling everything. My work is partially flexible, but they told me that work comes first. Keeping in mind they are paying for it (provided I stay here 3 years) so what they say goes.

The reason I did it was more for personal growth than any other reason. I'm hoping it will pay off at the end, because right now there is no pay off.

[peterbright]

Scheduling full time work, full time school & a 5 hour commute 4 days a week was a killer for me and a couple of cars.

[MAJOR METAL]

Howdy Will

Many Congrats on getting your BA ! So far in my grad work the amount of writting felt overwhelming at times as well as the instructors critiques of it. Other then that the chest pains whille I was going through the admissions process was pretty challenging.

[LiquidMidnight]

Right now, I'm searching for residency. My biggest worry about grad school is the department politics. I've heard a lot of stories of grad students getting engulfed into the politics of their departments. I'm doing an assistanceship, so I'm going to be workly pretty closely with the faculty. I just hope that they're all cool.

I'm also planning on doing both an internship and a thesis. My program lets you take things in both an applied direction or a research-oriented direction. Being the overachiever that I am, I'm planning on doing both.

[bwv1013]

Originally Posted by tycobb73

I found my masters easier than my undergrad. Less work.

i had a similar experience. grad school seemed easier because it was a class or two at a time, much easier to focus on the work.

now to answer your questions:

1. picking the major: i was at a point where i knew that i wanted to develop as a musician, regardless of potential career outcomes. i was a part-time music teacher at the time, i figured why not own it and actually develop my craft. something in my gut just told me "dude, you're a musician, go study music and get better." sometimes it pays to listen to those gut feelings.

2. the most challenging part of the whole bit was getting started. having less money (i quit a decent paying job) was probably the biggest adjustment. once i got in the groove it was almost autopilot.

3. as for how i benefited, i think one of the best things about grad school is the networking. i was surrounded by other people doing more or less what i do, and it led to opportunities i would have never encountered otherwise. there is no way i had anything like this planned when i started school, but because i took the leap some pretty cool stuff came together.

all i can say is if you've finished your B.A. and something is telling you to get some more school, you owe it to yourself to go for it. best of luck with your decision, keep us posted!

[von buck]

Originally Posted by Blackbird

Here are the questions:

Why did you pick your particular major?

I got my Masters in Library Science because well I like libraries and it's one of those jobs that are pretty easy physically

What was (is) the most challenging thing about getting it?

Research and writing papers while being on the road

How have you benefited from having that degree?

Thanks.

Well outside of learning new skills and being prepared for a whole different professional life, not yet.
Still trying to find a job. When I started there was going to be a lot of librarians retiring, the "greying of the profession". Turns out, most can't afford to retire or don't want to (it's a job you can really keep doing forever), so I'm looking. I still have plenty of gigs to get me through.

Andy