Graduate School

Posted by Sarah Roche on February 6, 2012

When I returned to school my main priority was finishing my Bachelor’s degree. To finally have completed a four-year degree was a point of pride. I had done well in my career, up to a point, but without a Bachelor’s I wasn’t getting interviews for the positions I wanted, and the interviews I was getting all asked why I hadn’t completed my education. It certainly wasn’t that I had been resting on my laurels. I had many accomplishments in my twenties; I had owned my own business. Without that degree on the bottom of my resume, though, I was lacking. Not only to employers, but to myself. So when I was accepted to Binghamton University, I wasn’t thinking further ahead than the degree I was focused on. I’m amazed by how much that has changed.

It only took until my second semester at Binghamton University before I was wondering whether graduate school was a possibility. At first I started to talk myself out of it. I felt like I was being selfish considering the idea of taking more time out of my working years to earn another degree. I wondered if my motives were wrong; was I just enjoying school so much that I didn’t want to see it end? Thankfully, my advisors woke me up to the fact that it was something I should look into. I was already in school, so now would be the best time to move on to graduate school if I was considering it.

But then came the applications. The essays. The personal statements. Researching programs. School visits. The GMAT. Recommendations. All while a full-time student and working, to boot. Sometimes the application process is enough to make me feel defeated.

What do you say, fellow non-trads? Are you considering graduate school? Do you have any tips on weathering the storm that is the application process? For those of you in graduate school at Binghamton University, do you have any tips for us? Let me know in the comments below.