Are you ready for graduate school?

Congratulations. You’ve got your bachelor’s degree in hand along with a sudden bonanza of free time. Perhaps, though, since you are still in the zone, you are considering a graduate degree. You want to keep going along the higher education trail. Great idea and I am all for it. But before you dive in, there are some questions you should probably ask of yourself. This is a bigger decision than you may realize.

Much like your first year of college is not like the 13th grade of high school graduate study is not two more years of undergraduate work. It’s entirely different. As a graduate student, you learn to become a scholar, a deep thinker and a researcher.

Not to be discouraging in any way, I just want you to have clear eyes about what will be required of you if decide to go higher. So, here is a short, completely unscientific quiz to see if you have the right mindset to continue. Ready?

1. Are you prepared to be an independent scholar and figure things out on your own?
2. Do you have a clear sense of the area of concentration you would like to study?
3. If so, do you absolutely love it enough to spend two years dedicated to it?
4. How about: Do you have as much, if not more, time to devote to your studies as you did for undergraduate work?)
5. This implies the undergrad didn’t do this. How about “Are you ready to challenge your personal thought paradigms even further than you did in undergraduate studies?”)
6. Are you prepared to justify your work to your professors?
7. Is your writing sound, free of grammatical errors and flawed arguments?
8. Are you familiar with, and able to use, the standard citation systems of the American Psychological Association and the Multiple Language Association?
9. Are you going to graduate school as a refuge from real life or to elevate yourself to the next level of personal development or in your career?
10. Is there a plan in place to pay for it?

Scoring: I’ll make this easy. If you answered “no” to at least two of these questions, you should give serious thought to whether you are ready. A little time away from higher education is not always a bad thing. If you miss it, that is a good sign. Either way, call me. I am happy to help you decide.