When I arrived at RPI four years ago as a freshman, I thought that I would just pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science and then leave for the job market. Now as a senior, I am planning to enter into a master’s program in human-computer interaction next fall and have already been accepted to my top choice, Carnegie Mellon.
I know that many professors and administrators have probably already pushed the value of going to graduate school upon you, especially because they want you to attend graduate school here. Therefore, I’m not going to drag on and on about the benefits of attending graduate school, but I do strongly encourage those students out there who have strong GPAs to at least be open-minded about considering the possibility of studying for advanced degrees.
Research and teaching assistantships will often pay for much of the tuition, so do not decide against graduate school only because of financial restrictions.
If you do decide to get a master’s or doctorate, start researching different universities and their academic programs early. If you are planning to apply in the fall—since most graduate departments will only accept students for the fall semester—start looking at schools the summer before. Create a list of potential schools, ranked in order of preference, and note the advantages of each program and the admission deadlines.
Although many graduate programs have admission deadlines for the fall semester in December, January, or February, that does not mean that you should start your application two days before the deadline.
I can tell you from my experiences this past fall that many graduate school applications take much longer to complete than what you would first think when you receive them in the mail or download them online. Additionally, you will also need to gather supporting materials for most applications, including your resume, references, and one or two copies of your transcript. A month before the deadline is a good general guideline to follow. That means that if your application is due in December, use the Thanksgiving break to complete the application and mail it out.
If you do not have the time to visit schools before applying, then take a trip to visit those schools to which you have been accepted in March. Most programs will give you more than a month to make your decision—plenty of time to fly out to see schools.
Graduate school has the potential to provide you with a rewarding experience that you will remember for the rest of your life. It’s certainly worth at least considering.
