This is a brief journal talking about my experience in picking my Grad school. I started looking into grad school on the tail end of my second year in teaching English language. I already knew which country I wanted to go, so the only questions I had were "which program, " and "where?" I started going to the websites of every program I was remotely interested in, applied for additional reading material, and I tried talking to everyone who had any affiliation to my chosen major. Professors, professionals, advisors, and to the schools themselves. Eventually, I narrowed down my choices in schools from approximately 200 to 12.
Probably the best place to start, once you decide on the major/program that you're interested in pursuing, is brainstorming a list of questions. I'm not sure what considerations matter most to you, but just for the sake of example here, here are the type of questions I was asking myself when I was looking into Grad school: 1) Do I want just an MA, or a Ph.D afterwards? (Some programs are better suited for different academic/career ambitions) 2) What type of job placement success does this program have? 3) Does the program offer financial aid? (e.g. grants, loans, teaching/research assistantship, etc.) 4) Are there faculty on this program that have research interests similar to my own?
To make a long story short, just be honest in what you want, and ask as many questions (to as many people) as possible. When you start getting a lot of overlap in the answers you're receiving, you can develop a consensus that makes the decision-making part a little easier. This is my story in picking my beloved GSE at the University of Pennsylvania.
Probably the best place to start, once you decide on the major/program that you're interested in pursuing, is brainstorming a list of questions. I'm not sure what considerations matter most to you, but just for the sake of example here, here are the type of questions I was asking myself when I was looking into Grad school: 1) Do I want just an MA, or a Ph.D afterwards? (Some programs are better suited for different academic/career ambitions) 2) What type of job placement success does this program have? 3) Does the program offer financial aid? (e.g. grants, loans, teaching/research assistantship, etc.) 4) Are there faculty on this program that have research interests similar to my own?
To make a long story short, just be honest in what you want, and ask as many questions (to as many people) as possible. When you start getting a lot of overlap in the answers you're receiving, you can develop a consensus that makes the decision-making part a little easier. This is my story in picking my beloved GSE at the University of Pennsylvania.
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