Need Advice

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello all I'm new to this site but was doing some research on grad school last night and realized I have no idea what I'm doing. I was hoping to attend grad school next spring (spring 2011) after graduating in the fall (my AP classes from high school carried over so I get to graduate a semester early). However...</p>

<p>1)I can't decide which type of grad school I want. I'm a double major in Math and American Studies with a journalism minor. I finally decided that I will apply to both math (specifically stats) and journalism grad schools and see which ones I get into. My plan was to apply for math schools for the spring, go for a semester, apply to journ schools while I am there for the fall 2011 semester, and if I don't like math grad school attend journ school in the fall- is that at all plausible?</p>

<p>2) But my main issue is I now fear I may not get into grad school at all since I don't have any research experience or even a journalism internship. I have to do an independent study next year for journalism since I can't find internships at all, and I just realized last night that grad schools for math want actual research in the field and not just a college course in the topic (which is currently all I have with regards to stats, plus the AP Stats class from high school). I'm thinking maybe I could take a semester off and apply to both math and journ grad schools for fall 2011 but I don't even know where to find stats research to do since my school just has that one class and the places online that I looked were mostly internships for grad students. Also I wasn't planning on taking any math in the fall semester, which would mean a whole year without math for me by the time I got into grad school (if I took a semester off). With this plus no real analysis (which I've heard math grad schools want, though I'm not sure if it's needed for stats) I fear no math grad school will accept me.</p>

<p>3)Also kind of a random question- how important is the GRE Math for stats grad school? I did really badly on a practice regular GRE in the math section (I didn't study that much beforehand but I think I'm so used to going to office hours for math hw problems I don't know how to do that when not told directly how to approach a hard problem I get stuck). Anyway I looked online for a practice GRE Math and it looked even harder. None of the schools I was planning to apply to (though after reading this site I think I need more, as I only had two plus a safety in mind) require the subject test for masters, but is it something that most schools recommend or should I not even bother?</p>

2

<p>Take time off. Decide which area you would enjoy more. What do you want to get out of grad school? Which area would you enjoy discussing non-stop?</p>

<p>Get some journalism experience to see if you really, really like it enough to stand very cut-throat admissions to journalism.</p>

3

<p>So both journalism AND math have tough admissions standards? So basically either way I’m screwed haha. Seriously though my issue is I feel if I can’t find an internship or experience now while in undergrad the longer I’m away from school the harder it will be to find something.</p>

<p>Also I feel my first choice would be to go to grad school for stats, get a job in math, and maybe do some blogging on the side (since I like writing, but not so much interviewing). But I fear math grad school is a) too competitive for me to get into (i.e. most schools don’t accept below 700 on GRE and I got 530 on a practice exam) and b) stressful since I have trouble doing my math hw now without going to the professor’s office hours and I fear they may not be so helpful in grad school and the work will be harder. Hence I thought I had a better shot to get into journalism school since I’ve always been told I’m a good writer- but without any internship experience I may not get into any of these either.</p>