I think during undergrad you build a nice foundation and you learn how to learn I think you become a better student with every year that passes but you might not have mastered anything and graduate school gives you the opportunity to apply what you’re learning in a more practical or professional way I think that it’s not something that you can decide you know your senior year I’m gonna go the Graduate College now it’s something that you spend a couple years preparing for a lot of it is figuring out where in the country you want to go to for me I really like West Coast medicine I like but it’s more relaxed I liked the thought of coming home to Tucson knowing that I wanted to practice here at left news connections here in town that were really valuable I liked the thought of going to my state school because it’s a lot more affordable I put a lot of value in not racking up a ton of student debt graduate programs can vary a lot even if they’re in the same sort of field are the same major so my advice for someone looking at a graduate degree or a graduate program is to really look at what it’s emphasizing like within that entire university system what are the
Faculty’s research interests what are faculty and students involved in and the community and does that line up with what you want to get out of your program thinking really in a results-oriented way about what are you going to get out of it and where are you gonna be at the end of it that it’s gonna help you learn something or help you be around people that are gonna inspire you or help connect you to something that you want to do for me personally I had to look at what really attracted me to wanting to even get another you know a further degree the drive for me was I had an interest in learning more so the passion for learning even in education and lots of other areas an advanced degree has almost become a requirement for career advancement because I had no prior experience in education I felt it important to get some credentials in education and so I went back to school I felt I needed it I would have to do it anyway for certification I think now within the market you really don’t have a choice your undergraduate experience is just really laying the foundation I think pursuing a master’s degree perhaps a PhD is ultimately what you have to do in order to be able to contribute to the field whether it be research or designing programs there are certain professions where a graduate degree or an advanced degree are required you need a JD to practice law you need an MD to practice medicine I think it’s just an opportunity to expand and stretch yourself you’re kind of open to pursue different avenues of interests it’s helped me think about being really prepared but also really flexible kind of being open minded and seeking all different types of paths and opportunities but looking for those key experiences for me I sort of run the course of working on political campaigns I couldn’t see myself doing it for the rest of my life so the best way I knew how to recharge and open up additional opportunities was to go to grad school so when I think about my own personal experience my career path wasn’t set in stone I wasn’t thinking about going to graduate school it wasn’t till I was in my first true professional experience that I realized and started hearing from colleagues all you have to go to a graduate program to get a master’s degree because you need to expand your scholarship within the field and so I think oftentimes there
are students still out there like myself who aren’t really thinking about going to graduate school and so it really helps to have colleagues around you who are interested and moving forward in that capacity because that’s a great influence upon you I think graduate school really necessitates curiosity you have to ask better questions and not just take what you read and take what you consume but ask why and why not I feel like the best graduate students have a lot of questions about the field and they’re gonna spend two plus years really delving into getting those answers it may not be right after your undergraduate program but it’s something that you probably need to lay out for yourself professionally and think about okay how do I want to grow and do I want to stay in this position do I want to stay in this field and if I do how do I allow myself to grow and stretch I think gap ears are pretty important oftentimes you’re coming out of your undergraduate years and you may be still very young and still defining and developing your motivation your gap year allows you to do some additional clinical research it allows you to do some type of volunteer experience that allows you to really develop your decisions and grow some and mature some because going to medical school or or to grad school takes a large amount of dedication it’s always there for you to go back if you want to do that and a lot depends on you know being realistic about your options so you know if you have a reasonably good GPA and maybe you take one of the entry exams you take an LSAT you did okay on it my advice would be take some time get some work experience get some life experience go back in a few years and try again there is a certain formula for getting into graduate school and if you don’t think you’re quite there yet take a break do you think about your timeline right if you go right from undergrad into a doctorate you know you’re gonna do your PhD if you don’t have professional experience if you don’t have practical experience your degree isn’t going to match your level of professional experience so you’re gonna come out you know 25 years old twenty-eight years old with a PhD in no work experience and unless you’re going on the faculty track you’re not gonna be a desirable candidate for most professional areas for most practical areas so that’s why it’s really important to have a sense of the direction you want to go and why you would pursue graduate school at this time.
