Looking to go into grad school, want advice

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am new to these forums so if I am posting in the wrong forum please inform me .</p>

<p>First off; I am a student who lives in Michigan.</p>

<p>I will be completing my Undergraduate Degree in 5 years(Because I switched my major 3 different times...which will be a constant problem you might have as an Undergraduate student fresh into College).</p>

<p>I wasn't a very serious student in high school so I didn't have much of a chance of getting into a competitive college with a 3.1 GPA and a 24 ACT score.</p>

<p>My first year of College I went to a Party School(Central Michigan University) but I didn't party and I don't drink; so I got a 3.9 GPA and transferred out.</p>

<p>Next I went to a better school; but after two failed admissions I finally made it as a transfer student into University of Michigan Ann Arbor. I spent all my time studying but it didn't matter because I have a pathetic digestive system(I was born premature) and so I ended up losing 34 pounds in one semester and I had to transfer out and re-attend the okay/mediocre school.</p>

<p>Now,</p>

<p>I have around a 3.35 GPA at the school. My major is in Economics but I don't want to go into Economics in graduate school. The reason I studied Economics is because I found it interesting as a Freshman in College and then later on I realized that I am much better at working with computers.</p>

<p>I have looked at the Admission Requirements into graduate schools:</p>

<p>At U of Michigan, in the School of Information:</p>

<p>The Average Undergraduate GPA is 3.5, 680 analytical and 590 verbal on the GRE.</p>

<p>I have taken some pratice GRE tests and gotten around a 680 on the analytical section(Which I might be able to improve, to say 720 points or higher) but my verbal score was 430. Which makes me a little bit depressed.</p>

<p>Other Schools I am looking at:</p>

<p>Syracuse University(New York)
Purdue University(Indiana)
Ohio State University
Michigan State University
Emory</p>

<p>And many others. I have also been looking at safety schools in which I would apply and most likely get in but I know that the prestige of graduate schools is often very important in obtaining jobs.</p>

<p>Right know I have had one Internship in IT for 3 months and am likely to start a 2nd internship this Summer. I have enjoyed the work I have been doing in the internship.</p>

<p>Maybe I should be asking for advice- What would be the best thing for me to do?</p>

<p>Should I go straight out of College and work in entry level and then go into graduate school?</p>

<p>Should I try to get into graduate school and go straight into the program from Undergraduate study?</p>

<p>I honestly don't know how I would look up the Graduate school which would be right for me; my parents went to College but their parents before them did not. One is a pharmacist and the other is a controller but they are absolutely clueless in terms of helping me and they say that I should be getting all the information by myself(Which I believe is partly true).</p>

<p>I would like to move out of Michigan because I want to see more of the world and the States........</p>

2

<p>Questions to ask:</p>

<p>Why do you want to go to graduate school?
Specifically, what are you interested in (working with computers is very vague)?</p>

<p>Grad School is not a must like mandatory elementary education, so it’s very important to clearly see if the graduate degree is going to make a difference in your life.</p>

<p>Sometimes it’s very useful to also see the reality, sacrifices and eventual limitations in terms of job scope if one has a graduate degree. It may make a difference in your decision.</p>

3

<p>This is so unfocused! Do you want a Master’s or a PhD? Like above said, what is your goal to attend grad school? How much CS coursework do you have?</p>

<p>CS programs are pretty competitive, in my experience. What CS area? What did you do in your internship? Was that CS, IT or ‘business’?</p>

4

<p>Thank you for the Replies:</p>

<p>Why do you want to go to graduate school?</p>

<p>Answer: So I can make a decent salary. That is pretty honest answer. Yes; I would like to learn more but the bigger motivator is the increase in pay(My parents both make six figures and I don’t want to be stuck making $40,000 a year with an Undergraduate Degree for the rest of my life).</p>

<p>Of course; I want to learn. I like attending class and I like most of the information I have learned in any Information Systems/Information Technology classes I have taken. To me, CS is actually quite boring so I don’t want to go into CS but I will have to know basic programming to succeed in the job market.</p>

<p>Specifically, what are you interested in (working with computers is very vague)?</p>

<p>That is a good question to ask myself. I have had a personal computer since the age of nine and I like being on the computer. I am interested in working in any of the sectors in computing besides programming. Information Technology or Information Systems look the most interesting. </p>

<p>I still have 1 year left of Undergraduate Education and you are correct in the fact that I do not have to go to Graduate School. Although if I have the grades, maturity, finances, and motivation I see no reason why I wouldn’t consider going to graduate school. Even if this meant working for 2 or so years before I attended,</p>

<p>This is so unfocused! Do you want a Master’s or a PhD? Like above said, what is your goal to attend grad school? How much CS coursework do you have?</p>

<p>You are correct. A lot of people in the higher ranked schools have their life planned out since the age of 15. </p>

<p>I am not one of these people. I am 21 and my life and goals have been changing for the past 6 years. I don’t know exactly what I will be doing in 10 years but all I can do is put in a lot of effort into school, work, and such areas so that I will have a future. But I do not know with 100% certainty what I want to do. </p>

<p>To answer the question- I want a Master’s. Unless I love the Graduate school I don’t see myself getting a PHD. </p>

<p>Goal= Get better educated=Get a Job. This seems to be standard among most of the people I have met in College who want a future.</p>

<p>CS programs are pretty competitive, in my experience. What CS area? What did you do in your internship? Was that CS, IT or ‘business’?</p>

<p>I don’t want to go into Computer Science.</p>

<p>The Internship was in IT; I worked directly under a Network Administrator for 3 months. Obviously I still need more experience but it is a start.</p>

5

<p>Brian, a few comments:</p>

<p>First, if you want to make $$$ I would not recommend IT. The pay is decent but relatively flat - there is not a lot of upward mobility, so by the time you are making $100k it will not be worth $100k anymore.</p>

<p>Second, a masters in IT is not a good investment - working those 2-3 years will put you at the same level as the guy with the masters, and you will have been making money during that time instead of paying tuition. If it is a passion, get the masters, otherwise get it part-time WHILE YOU WORK - your employer may even pay for it.</p>

<p>Third, very very few people have their life planned out at 15, but it is also uncommon to be so far in without at least a tentative plan. Your initial post was very vague, your second a little better. As you stated, you do not know what you want to do - a bad place to be when you are looking at grad school.</p>

<p>So…</p>

<p>Given that you do not want to continue in Finance (which is a much bigger-money field than IT, even now!), I would recommend trying to switch to IT or IS as an undergrad, or at least get a minor. Then get a job and do the masters part-time. If you MUST do the masters full time, apply to lots of places because a finance degree is not great prep for IT. And make finishing fast a priority.</p>

<p>If your goal really is to make money, and if you do not mind paying for a masters, I would recommend an MBA - much better money for the effort.</p>

6

<p>Thank you for the Reply CosmicFish,</p>

<p>I am not necessarily looking to make $120,000 a year. $70,000-$80,000 would be satisfying enough to me.</p>

<p>Although my opinion might change as I get older.</p>

<p>I have been looking at data online and some of the salaries are along that range(Although I can’t be 100% sure of this as I have not looked at all the data).</p>

<p>When I say my main motivation is money- I mean that usually people don’t go very far with just an Undergraduate degree. Or at least that is what I have observed, I can very well be misinformed.</p>

<p>I think the best advice would be to work for 2-5 years and then go to Graduate school. As you have stated; some employers will pay for your graduate school and you can attend school at night and work during the day(Although this would be a difficult time schedule but well worth the investment of course).</p>

<p>I don’t think the planning of my life is THAT bad. I had originally decided to go into Economics when I started College and after about 3 years in I decided I would be much better at computers. I enjoy being on the computer.</p>

<p>So; I really have three options:</p>

<p>A. Finish my degree in Economics. Go on to get a job in a similar/related field or go to graduate school in Economics/Finance or a similar field. Maybe make a good salary but end up working a job that I am not intuitively interested in.</p>

<p>B. Finish my degree in Economics. Work to get experience in IT or in a similar field to put me in a position to go into graduate school. Get the graduate degree; and hopefully have an employer pay for it.</p>

<p>C. Change my degree in Economics to IT. (But I am already spending 4.5 years in Undergraduate Studies due to all the transferring). So this would make me wind up spending I don’t know… 6 to 7 years in Undergraduate study? Maybe even 8? No thanks.</p>

<p>And then there is also the last option:</p>

<p>D. I don’t get into graduate school because my 3.3 GPA(Not counting the 3.9 I had Freshman Year) is not good enough to get into graduate school. I end up working as a desktop repair technician making around $15-$20 per hour for the rest of my life and wonder what exactly went wrong.</p>

<p>I’m not even sure getting a minor in IT would work right now because that would mean an extra year of schooling as well. And do I really want to spend 5.5 years in Undergraduate studies?</p>

<p>I apologize if I am being a little too blunt/vulgar in this post(Which is my personality) but I just would like advice about what to do. </p>

<p>I’m still 21, and I wouldn’t say I am a full-pledged adult just yet but I am getting relatively close.</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>I like this one.</p>

8

<p>Brian,</p>

<p>It is true that as you climb higher in the food chain, the higher percentage will have advanced degrees. In IT, however, a progressively higher percentage of those advanced degrees will be in management, rather than technical fields. In short, a masters will help, but is by no means required - many of the top guys have experience instead of post-grad degrees.</p>

<p>$70-80k is reasonable after about 5 years, 3 if you are really good. Top without going into management would probably be in the $110k range, but there are few openings at that level. Entry is down near $45-60k (average is $55k for PSU IT grads). All of that is assuming you have a degree in IT - which you do not. You are in a quandry, and I think you will spend a few years working lesser jobs before landing a position at this entry level.</p>

<p>Your options (from your post):</p>

<p>A: You would be unhappy but well paid. Not a great option.</p>

<p>B: You will have a hard time finding a real IT job in this market with a degree in finance, hence my suggestion about prolonging your undergrad. Harder still will be finding an IT job that offers career advancement and tuition reimbursement without the degree. If you CAN find it, this is the best option, but its a longshot.</p>

<p>C: I would check on the time to change majors, or get the minor - if this is really what you want, 2-3 semesters might be a good idea and may be possible. I certainly would not go beyond 3 semesters, however, because at that point you may as well go for the masters.</p>

<p>D: A 3.3 gpa is enough to get into grad school, but probably not a top choice. Thinking about it you may have an easier time selling yourself to a graduate IT program than a company - your internship and interest would count more, I think.</p>

<p>I would again recommend investigating option B, but assuming you cannot/will not go that route you should plan to apply both for IT jobs and masters programs - options B and D simultaneously. Both would seem to me to be dicey, so work on your academic and professional resumes.</p>

<p>One last thing - at 21, going into either grad school or industry, it is time to be an adult.</p>

9

<p>Thank You for the Replies,</p>

<p>Cosmicfish- You make a very valid point. I most likely will not find an entry level position in IT with a Finance degree(It is an Economics Degree). The only way I might get lucky is with an Internship that would lead to an entry level position but the possibilities are still extremely low.</p>

<p>I don’t know exactly how the higher end of the IT industry works since no one in my family/friends works in IT or related fields. So(Aside from research I can do on the Internet) how exactly would I find out more about earnings and salaries? </p>

<p>Are you speaking from personal experience when you say that all the advanced degrees are in management? Is this from direct work experience? I don’t know how I would find more about this through the Internet.</p>

<p>I am already looking at the program book right know to see how much time a minor in IT would take- It is 20 credit hours. So it would be worth the time. I just need to plan out my school schedule accordingly.</p>

<p>Most of the people I know around my age(21-22, Senior in College) had their parents pay for everything. So I would say that most of the people I have met in College and are under 24 years old have not fully grown up. College is sort of like a safety net for the kids to put off adult responsibilities until the day that they graduate and have to find a job.</p>

<p>Again; Thank you for the Replies(If I do not respond to your next post it is because I am at the Cottage for the weekend and do not have internet access…)</p>

10

<p>I am familiar with IT - in my capacity as an engineer I am often called upon to do IT work when we are offsite. I know several of our IT team, as I did at my last employer.</p>

<p>I would recommend salary.com to check salaries, but you need to know the precise job and preferably the geographic area for it to be worthwhile. Ultimately, and I DO speak from personal experience here, the salary should matter little - any of the science/technology jobs will pay at least passing well, and you had better like it enough that salary does not matter or else you are just walking a slow road to misery.</p>