Hey y’all! I’m currently a freshman, IT major. I know, “a freshman thinking about his masters? Why so early?” Well the reason I made this forum is because i met with my professor today, and talked to him about finals and all that, and somewhere in the convo he brung up how i should consider graduate school. I have super high B’s in a few classes and the rest are A’s. So let’s consider a situation where I’m a senior and I’m thinking about pursuing a Masters in like CS, Cyber Security, or something in the technology field. How much harder is it? And he said that every masters program for every graduate school is different. Is he right?
It’s nice that he brought up grad school, but did he say why you should consider it? Is it necessary for the field you want?
You can compare grad programs by checking school websites. If your college offers one look it up to see what their requirements are. Then pick a couple more (in state and out of state) and see what they require (admission requirements, graduation requirements, and cost). You’ll quickly get a feel for how the programs differ.
@austinmshauri thank you so much! & yea he asked how I’m doing in other classes and i said the grades stated in the forum and how I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get an A and he told me that there should be more students like me :). The conversation kinda based around my commitment so I’m guessing that’s why he thinks I should consider it
@austinmshauri and also, he said getting a MS in CS or cyber security would be beneficial, and stated how well his son is doing who also has a masters in CS (I think he said masters, either that or working towards PhD).
It sounds like you’re a really good student. It’s pretty common for professors to broach the topic of graduate school, no matter how early, with their best students. Most professors have gone to graduate school for a long time and most have only ever worked in academia, so in their mind, smart people → graduate school.
The thing is…just because your professor mentioned graduate school or encouraged you to go to graduate school doesn’t mean you should go to graduate school. And just because you work hard and are smart doesn’t mean you need to go to graduate school, either. It’s totally fine and a good sign if you do want to go or you want a career that requires it! But many careers don’t require graduate school, or don’t really need you to go straight out of undergrad. In fact, in some fields, working for a few years after you graduate is really the best way to go about things, even if you plan a master’s later.
If you decide now or later that you do want to go, though…how much harder it is than undergrad really depends on you, the foundation you lay in undergrad, your work ethic, and other factors. In my experience, the work itself and the content wasn’t too much harder than undergrad; it was the volume of work and the competing priorities, plus the independent management thereof expected of you, that made it difficult. And yes, he is right in that every master’s program is different. Within the same field they will have some commonalities, but they are all different.