<p>I'm 19yo in my second year of college. Mostly because of college courses I took in high school (as well as APs) I'm eligible to graduate next fall (I'll be 19 going on 20) with a ~3.5 in Asian American Studies. I'm familiar with the imprudence of going to graduate school without a concrete interest in any kind of subject, but I'm very taken with the idea of doing research projects, studying in a personalized and intensely focused way, and generally exploring my interests at a deeper level than just undergrad.</p>
<p>Anyway, my question is: should I take another two years and try to get a second major while boosting my GPA? The downside of this is that I've essentially already had 60+ credit hours of upper division undergraduate work and I feel motivated and ready to dive into more advanced stuff. The upside is that my GPA has been on a significant upward curve (considering I had a cumulative 2.5 my first two quarters after taking only upper division classes) and I would have more time to bring it up to something like a 3.7-3.8. While I've done a lot of reading on the boards and have familiarized myself with the idea that graduate school admissions do not necessarily emphasize GPA, I feel like this would increase my options in terms of top tier graduate school programs in fields like sociology or history.</p>
<p>My other option would be to apply to graduate school for the year after I graduate. The downside is that I'm not sure if my age and inexperience negatively impact my chances at the programs I'm interested in, which include the ethnic studies MAs at UCLA and UCB and the China Studies program at UWash. Also, my GPA is a little low (independent of mitigating circumstances, like the one listed above). The upside is that I've been working closely with four different professors (who received their MAs in cognate fields from Berk, LA, and Stanford) and their research assistants in graduate level settings who have offered to write me glowing letters of rec, and that, should I get into an MA program, I would have a graduate degree by the time I would "normally" be finishing college.</p>
<p>Unless staying in undergrad is financially untenable, there’s not much point in graduating so early. You can use the remaining time to raise your GPA further, get more research experience, take more advanced classes (maybe grad-level ones), and/or take electives in areas that will be helpful to your grad study (e.g. writing, statistics).</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily think it’s worth it to stay in undergrad just for the sake of staying in undergrad. If you feel you’re ready for the next step, I think you should apply to grad programs and see what they think. Not sure if Asian American Studies programs emphasize ‘life’ experiences or philosophical insights or ECs the way med schools do - if they do, then age might be a disadvantage, otherwise it shouldn’t really matter (except as an advantage). I do know engineering or biological sciences programs don’t care about ‘life’ experiences or ECs at all, basically, but I can’t speak for humanities programs.</p>
<p>You should also talk to your profs and see what they feel. Staying in undergrad does have the advantage of helping you raise your GPA further and perhaps further refine your research interests. But again, I wouldn’t necessarily just recommend staying in undergrad just for the sake of staying in undergrad. Hope this helps. Best of luck!</p>
<p>What if the person who will graduate at 19 with a BA has 3.85-4.0 and spent 4 years in college (2 yrs comm college and 2 at an LAC) is age then a factor if there are 4 years of university marks?</p>
<p>Are you saying don’t graduate early, as in don’t rush through or don’t finish young?</p>
<p>My concern would be maturity. What you want out of life will likely be different and 19-20 than at 22-25 and beyond. </p>
<p>From an academic standpoint, I would think more exposure to coursework, plus time, would allow to really find what one wants to study for the rest of their life.</p>
<p>I think that’s a bit of a logical fallacy. There are 19-20 year olds who are more mature than other 22-25 year olds. It’s possible to be 19 and not mature enough for grad school. It’s also entirely possible to be 25 and still not mature enough for grad school. Only each individual can decide whether he or she is ready for grad school.</p>
<p>From an academic standpoint, the OP will be graduating with a baccalaureate degree, which is generally the prerequisite for going to grad school. Would the OP benefit from more exposure to coursework? Yes, but so would anyone else. Just because everyone would benefit from taking more and more courses indefinitely doesn’t mean this is the right thing to do. At some point you have to set a standard to determine when you know ‘enough’ to move on. The standard that is generally used is the possession of a baccalaureate degree, which the OP will have met.</p>
<p>Age will occasionally be an issue, like anything else - just like gender, race, and your position on the inherent inferiority of the New York Yankees. The valid question behind the age issue is “what have you traded or lost in order to get here so young?”</p>
<p>The answer may be “nothing” but do not be surprised to see that come up. The perception of unusually young graduates is colored by the image of the failed prodigy - the kid who races through college but then goes nowhere. Think of it like you are a home builder, and they just came along as a buyer - they do not really care how long it took to build, they care about the quality of the product, and if you tell them you built it in half the time, don’t be surprised if they order a few extra inspections…</p>
<p>College is supposed to be ‘somewhat’ fun! If you have a scholarship or sufficient support, staying in college wouldn’t be a bad idea (boost your credential with undergraduate research experience, relevant extra-curricular, etc). Of course, there are other ways to improve your chance to get into grad schools (work, study abroad). </p>
<p>The average applicants for grad school are somewhere between 22-24 (I don’t remember where I saw/heard this. Can anyone confirm?). You may be wiser than some / most of them, but I am not so certain if you would be left out from the “grad students clicks” (i.e. when they go out to a bar or something), which may / may not be a big deal for you.</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re only spending two years of college? What about study abroad? It would be pretty imperative for your major, wouldn’t it? If you can afford another year of schooling, exchange it for some time in China (might a bit cheaper even!). The experience and actual exposure will really, really put a new perspective on your studies. Grad schools, especially in ethnic studies areas, really like when people spend time abroad in their relevant fields because your voice adds to the class’ dynamic.</p>
<p>It’s amazing to me… how little people spend time and making most of it while abroad in countries relevant to my field. I tend to shift the discourse a bit with my comparative perspective and it makes it all for even more interesting thoughts in the class :)</p>
<p>I would say the average age of graduate school student is mid-to-late 20s. Keep in mind there are seasoned folks (40+) who are returning back to school for a career change.</p>
<p>The average age of an incoming PhD applicant is late-20s/early 30s.</p>
<p>There are a lot of great insights here-- I really appreciate them all.</p>
<p>I’ve spent a lot of time in Asia and I love it there-- my language is decent, I’m fluent speaking but I would have to run the gauntlet of language classes to get the writing back. That said, I’ve already taken ~24 units of college level Chinese (which I’ve heard helps out in admissions to certain programs).</p>
<p>I do realize and heavily espouse the idea that what I want at 22-24 for the rest of my life will probably make more sense than what I want right now. What I’m thinking, however, is that, with one route, I could be making that decision with a BA and an MA, and with another route, I would be making that decision with two BAs. I’m not going to lie-- the MA is very enticing to me.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the need to graduate early unless you’re hurting financially. If you have the scholarships, why would you give up free funding and the opportunity to learn more? What I did was take fewer credits each semester and then do research / projects on my own. Once you graduate, you have a nice portfolio of work that demonstrates your motivation and ability to think independently, which is what graduate research is all about. </p>
<p>Talk with professors and try to help them on their projects, or come up with some stuff of your own. Getting passable grades in courses only shows you have enough motivation to absorb knowledge fed to your on a platter. Creating knowledge requires effort too, but genuine passion and creativity are more important. If you can spend your free time learning about a subject, it’s a good indication you’re headed in the right direction.</p>
<p>If you are decided on what you want to do - go for the masters. It advances you better in your field and gives you a better idea how your chosen profession will work.</p>
<p>If you are still up in the air, do a double major in a field that will (1) reinforce your first and (2) provide you with additional opportunities. For example, I knew a guy who did a double in Math and Electrical Engineering - the Math certainly helped the EE, but also allowed the chance to go into areas like Finance.</p>
<p>I don’t know what other people are saying, but I’m saying don’t rush through (unless you need to for financial reasons), rather than don’t finish young. And I’m saying that not for “life experience” reasons, as Aceflyer put it, but for academic experience reasons.</p>
<p>I got my B.S. at 19 and am getting my M.S. at 20. I applied to Ph.D. programs this year and was accepted into twelve out of thirteen. As long as you know what you want to do, can demonstrate you’re focused, write a killer personal statement and have great recs (all of which seems to be true already) you’ll have no problem.</p>
<p>First, as a 30 year old veteran who feels my military experience was the best time of my life , I am very biased towards the military and feel it is the cure for whatever ails you. I think you should graduate early, apply to OCS(officer candidate school), go fly jets( something I always wanted to do but can’t for medical reasons), let the military pay for graduate school–or get out after a couple of years and pay yourself, and re-evaluate life at that time. Just a suggestion; GO ARMY.</p>