<p>went to grad school because you couldn't find a job? How many of you are still searching for a job? Don't know if I should keep looking or start preparing for grad school</p>
<p>But how many people have the option of going to Grad school because they couldn’t find a job? </p>
<p>It’s not as many people as you think unless 1) you want an MBA or 2) you want to teach. Over 50% of UCLA students probably aren’t going to Grad school and don’t come close to qualifying.</p>
<p>This depends on your major. In engineering, anyone can make it to grad school, it just depends which one accepts you. Graduate admission back to UCLA (M.S program) is not too difficult. Some other schools will admit you as long as you have the B.S and the money. Speaking of the graduating Mechanical Engineering class, about 20% have full time offers, 50% have been accepted to a graduate program, 20% don’t know what they are doing after, and 10% will be working for their family’s business.</p>
<p>Students attend graduate school not just with the goal to be a professor. There are actually a lot of terminal M.S students who will go into industry right after graduation. PhD candidates don’t all become professors either; some become post doc-researchers, some go into industry, some into high level consulting, etc. </p>
<p>By the way, it is extremely rare to find anyone who aims for a MBA straight out of undergrad. Even at HBS 2+2, you will need two years or work experience before you can join the MBA program. </p>
<p>The best decision in this economic crisis is to apply for everything available. Apply for graduate school while actively searching for jobs. That way you don’t get stuck doing nothing after graduation if you don’t land a job.</p>
<p>Many people make the mistake of not planning ahead. Remember right now you are applying for next year’s graduate program. There are exams to take in advance (GRE, GMAT, LSAT depending on your program), letters of recommendation requests to send out, and statement of purposes to draft. Don’t fall behind or you will be stuck doing nothing.</p>
<p>Boelterhall and sentiment: thx for the replies…one thing I don’t want to do is use going back to grad school as an excuse for not being able to get a job…plus I don’t want the added pressure of mounting debts, etc.
I’ve wanted to gain some industry experience (engineering) before going back to grad school b/c I have zero, zilch internships but looking at the current job market, I guess I have to study for GRE’s and EIT. </p>
<p>If I do go to grad school, will USC be significantly better in terms of networking, job opportunities, etc than UCLA (for engineering)? USC also accepts grad students two terms (fall and winter). Does UCLA have something similar?</p>
<p>
But aren’t you guys graded on a curve? How can 50% of you get into grad school? Nearly every university requires at least a 3.0 GPA to even apply and I would be surprised if you told me the median GPA was much higher than that… I guess that leaves the other half of the 50% but not every one of them are applying to grad school; and, even if they were, most universities I researched expect insane GPAs (granted that most of them are referring to the GPAs they expect from their own undergrad students).</p>
<p>I’m almost 100% sure I’m going to graduate school. What else am I going to do with a BA in History? It’s either law school for me or masters in public policy/public administration. I’m gonna attempt law first, you know take the LSATs and all, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll apply for an MPP/MPA, hence why I am also taking econ, stats, and the public affairs minor and getting some undergrad work experience in public service. Just in case the whole lawyer thing doesn’t work out =</p>
<p>notasnguy:</p>
<p>I am also thinking of minoring in public affairs. Are the classes tough? How is it?</p>
<p>More and more people are aiming for grad school because they think they cant get a job. that means grad schools are going to be more selective and more and more people cant get into grad school. vicious, i say</p>