fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2012-03-13 09:09 am
some_stars) wrote2012-03-13 09:09 am
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okay so, given that this working regular jobs thing is not going so great, I have a renewed momentum to get to work on grad school. This is now definitely a thing I want to do, hopefully next year, but I am super anxious and kind of flailing around because there is SO MUCH to do and I don't even know where to start. Obviously I will have to do more research than just asking the internet people for help, but...I don't really know where to start with that either. Soooooo, does anyone know any good websites or even books, if they're newish, about the whole...process? Because I keep freezing up every time I think about it because there is SO MUCH.
The intended degree is a masters in early childhood education, or development, or something like that where I can work with kids in some capacity paying more than $30,000 a year. If this were a completely different country in a different world, I'd just become a K-12 teacher, which is actually what I would most of all love to do in theory, but there is no fucking way I will ever be capable of engaging with the American public school system in its current 100% broken state. I would burn out in three months.
Anyway my current "plan," such as it is, is to reduce my temp availability to 25 hours a week, get started volunteering at the science museum for kid-related experience, and spend the rest of the year doing grad school...stuff. Whatever that might be. I understand there are tests, and you have to write things in an application and prove that reputable people like you. My top school criteria are that it be a basically okay program, someplace I want to live, and also money. I am super incredibly lucky that my parents can and will help pay my way so I can avoid taking on debt, but I would like to minimize what they have to contribute.
so: websites? books? personal experience? all is welcome, lay it on me.
The intended degree is a masters in early childhood education, or development, or something like that where I can work with kids in some capacity paying more than $30,000 a year. If this were a completely different country in a different world, I'd just become a K-12 teacher, which is actually what I would most of all love to do in theory, but there is no fucking way I will ever be capable of engaging with the American public school system in its current 100% broken state. I would burn out in three months.
Anyway my current "plan," such as it is, is to reduce my temp availability to 25 hours a week, get started volunteering at the science museum for kid-related experience, and spend the rest of the year doing grad school...stuff. Whatever that might be. I understand there are tests, and you have to write things in an application and prove that reputable people like you. My top school criteria are that it be a basically okay program, someplace I want to live, and also money. I am super incredibly lucky that my parents can and will help pay my way so I can avoid taking on debt, but I would like to minimize what they have to contribute.
so: websites? books? personal experience? all is welcome, lay it on me.
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B) Well, yeah, but it's hard to know whether you really Like doing something till you've done it.
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The test you're looking for is the GRE. It's like the SAT, kind of, only it's been muc longer since you've had to do that kind of math. There are lots of good prep books/programs for it.
They'll probably want a personal statement (basically, why do you want to go to grad school/what do you hope to get out of it?) and a general application/transcripts/etc, plus letters of rec.
In order to get money, you'll probably have to be a teaching assistant, helping professors with undergrad classes and/or teaching a section of them yourself.
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Personal statement is in the bag, and I have one reliable rec letter. I'm hoping to pick up another through volunteering.
I...don't know if masters programs do the TA thing? It's not like I'm going into academia proper; I'd be much less confused and nervous about navigating that world since I grew up in it.
edit: this is very negative, sorry. honestly i think what i need is a reputable website that will just lay out a detailed timeline for me with detailed instructions on how to find schools, which i can tailor to my exact needs. i am not comfortable with ambiguity when it comes to rules and processes.
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