"a wonderful experience"

I am in school because I crave higher education. I enjoy the learning process, and even when I am awake at 2:00 AM finishing a term paper or studying for a major exam, I usually find myself smiling. My ultimate goal is to teach at the college level. I realize that I could probably have the opportunity to continue learning and researching the way I want to. That is why I'm in the grad school and precisely in the 5^th top university in the United States “University of Pennsylvania”.

I'm near the end of my masters. I've completed most of the course work, had my thesis proposal meeting and identified my data. I still have to complete two courses and the thesis to write. Of course, more than half of the text of my thesis should be a direct carry over from previous lit reviews, the proposal, and of course the fieldwork which I really enjoyed.

As a TESOL major, one of the main things I'll be doing after graduation is writing (be it articles or books). Writing in graduate school is not a test on “What you Know” but, “Do you know what you know” There is a big difference. When you arrive at a point that you can convince a colleague or a professor that you do know the subject, and in you own written voice, not repeating others, you are contributing on the graduate level.

And not only does writing show what you know and how you know the subject, it allows you to develop a perspective - a unique view, a voice - which is critical to shaping future occupational and educational direction. Also, the professors get a chance to *see* what you think, rather than just making circles on a bunch of multiple-choice questions. When you write well, you tend to read more critically, which is very important generally. I found that after I was required to support my ideas logically, I was able to detect fallacies more easily.

In addition to the writing experience, one of the things I really experienced in the grad school is direct oral discussions. Class discussions are a good time to build argumentative skills and to test my knowledge against others, and I think it’s helpful to have to go toe to toe with a professor more often. It seems to me that anybody out there with a Masters or Doctorate should be better spoken then when they started their program...something you can't necessarily develop by writing.