<p>Are some college seniors heading to grad school next fall--giving up on finding a job? I've heard anecdotal evidence that grad school apps were up this year, but was that just a reflection of demographics/large size of the class of 2009?</p>
<p>It wouldn’t surprise me. A lot of people including me went to grad school in the recession in the early 70’s because we couldn’t find jobs.</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior, and was “layed off” from her internship this summer (the engineering firm has decided not to hire any interns this year). I can certainly see her going to grad school after graduatin if the economy has not turned around by then.</p>
<p>S1 graduates in May and was already planning the grad school route, so he is set. However, the vast majority of grads in his major did not find jobs, nor apply to grad school, and are having to rethink the whole grad school issue.</p>
<p>I used to say S should work for awhile before continuing on to grad school. I guess he knew what he was doing afterall…</p>
<p>If they’re planning to head to grad school next fall, for most programs that provide any sort of financial aid, they would already have to have applied, been accepted, and committed to going.</p>
<p>This isn’t making me happy already as it is! 
I don’t need more competition when I apply to PhD programs for the second time.</p>
<p>Grad schools may seem like an easy way out but it’s not. It’s not easy if you don’t love your topic- you have to be able to breathe it 24/7 (almost anyway). Standards are also very different from undergraduate level. There’s also the money issue especially for MA programs and peopel coming out with some UG debt. And exactly what would grad school accomplish if the student doesn’t really know what they’d like to do AFTER grad school?</p>
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Good luck. Graduate admissions was brutal this year. :(</p>
<p>Application numbers were way up and funding levels were way down…not a good combination. Some places I applied had fewer spots available (Chicago) and some could only offer partial funding for admitted PhD students (Hopkins).</p>
<p>An example: <a href=“http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=26761[/url]”>http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=26761</a></p>
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<p>Absolutely.</p>
<p>This reminds me of the “Oh, you’re an English major, are you going to teach?” cliche. Doesn’t work that way!</p>
<p>attending a state school for UG and then go to a fully funded graduate program in a big name U has been a path well support by many on CC. Well, that was before so many students are applying to graduate schools and the funding has been cut for many programs. </p>
<p>Someone I know has a very bright D who wants to be a surgeon in a special field. She went to a decent LAC for pre-med instead of big name U. Now, the only medical school she is surely accepted is a very low ranking one with a couple of WL. They said the admission rate at better MS such as Duke is about 1% this year. </p>
<p>As such, unless the girl could get lucky and land a great residence, they said, her chance of being a surgeon in the field of dream is very unlikely. </p>
<p>So, going to a lower ranking state U may save you some money now. In the long run, who knows??!!</p>
<p>Most businesses experience a drop in demand when they have a drop in financial resources, so they can cut back on production, cut back on shifts and adjust. A few - morticians, flood restoration companies, etc. - have a constant business regardless of the economy. Public higher education is the only business of which I know that sees a spike in demand when its resources dry up.</p>