   Grad School
  I''ve been considering going to grad school, getting a master''s degree, and generally making myself more marketable as a computer scientist (I still have a year left for my bachelor''s, so no big rush here).The thing is, I''m not sure I can pull it off. As it is, I''m already thousands of dollars in debt, and when I graduate I''m going to have to repay all of that. I don''t know if they will hold off on collection if I start grad work, but I kind of doubt it.So, I''m kind of torn. Graduate and get a job that might not pay that great, and pay of a medium amount of loans, or work towards my M.S. and THEN get a job, maybe paying a little better, but with a lot more loans (because the schools that are on the top of my head are very expensive compared to my current school).I don''t even know what grad school is like. What does one do? Is it still going to class and studying? Isn''t there other work you have to do, like a research project, and aiding professors? How does one get into grad school? I understand you have to take the GRE. If I graduate as a member of an honors society, will that better my chances of getting accepted? Any suggestions as to good grad schools (I''ve been thinking Virginia Tech)> 
  I'm unable to answer any of your other questions, but if you're looking for information on Tech, you can talk to Mulligan--he's a CS major, who's currently going to Tech--or you can look here.I hope you're living in Virginia. $15,000 a year for tuition? Ouch.Edit: By the way, if you become a Native American, you can pretty much get a free ride through college. Just trying to be helpful.  "Next time a terrorist gets freed after ten months of red tape, I’ll be sure to thank [the democrats]. I guarantee you that if someone is put in prison with the Patriot Act, even in the rare chance they are not a terrorist or have connections to terrorism, they are sure as hell guilty of something." -- A True Die-Hard American Patriot[edited by - Mscgamer on February 16, 2004 1:52:26 AM];quote:Original post by Mscgamer  I''m unable to answer any of your other questions, but if you''re looking for information on Tech, you can talk to Mulligan--he''s a CS major, who''s currently going to Tech--or you can look here.I hope you''re living in Virginia. $15,000 a year for tuition? Ouch.Edit: By the way, if you become a Native American, you can pretty much get a free ride through college. Just trying to be helpful.  yeah, 15,000 is why I''m asking for other schools.BTW, I live in PA, currently working on my B.S of Comp Sci at Shippensburg University. Their undergrad compsci program is great, but their master''s program are teh suxor.;  Look around when you get your degree. I think you''ll find that if you talk to the right people, you can get a company to pay for your grad school.  Best of both worlds, your working and you get your Masters.  ;  I'm just a grad student at my local university (University of Toledo), but here's my thoughts.  Requirements for grad school vary from school to school. Sometimes, if you attended as an udergraduate, all you have to is apply. Other times, you may have to take a GRE, and possibly a computer science test (computer science GRE? - I don't remember).   Sometimes, if you are admitted, you will be offered a scholarship/assistantship of some kind. This usually involves working as a T.A. or doing research. This will usually cover the cost of tuition and a stipend. The stipend amount will vary by the school and what type of scholarship you are offered. It may or may not be enough to scrape by on without getting loans.  The amount of work involved really varies. It will depend on the school and who you have to work for. This is worth investigating. I've seen some schools have a max of 15 hours per week. On the other hand, there are schools like mine that expect a minimum of 20 hours per week (not that it was usually this much, but I couldn't complain if I got slammed with 30 hours of work in one week). I researched this a little bit - the amount of work expected is not a function of the quality or reputation of the school, so doing work investigating this may be worth it.  Besides the work you'll also go to classes- about a year's worth at full time. As a grad student, all of your classes will be in your major, unless some outside class is required for your focus area. You'll also have to work on a thesis or a project. I'm not sure if all schools offer the project option, but many do (at least in computer science, I don't believe most majors have this option).  As a grad student, you may or may not do original research. You're not necessarily expected to (although a Ph.D. candidate would be expected to). You're expected to pick an area of focus though. Some of your classes will cover your focus area, and then you'll be expected to do some of your own research when it comes time to do the thesis or project. This may just be researching what already exists or investigating new areas.  At my school, I found the difficulty of grad classes comparable to undergrad. I did find there was more homework however. The additonal class work load is, in itself, not so bad. It can become bad when you add the additional work you have to do for a assitantship. For example, consider this scenario: It's finals week, you have a couple professors give you students' projects to grade (yes, they should have gotten to you earlier-but it happens). Additionally, you have to grade exams for those professors (plus 1 additional) as the exams get completed that week. Also, you have to study for and take your exams. Lastly, you may still have a couple last-minute projects yourself to work on. Most weeks aren't like that, but you should be prepared for something like that.   As for suggestions, you should just research grad schools. You want a school that is strong in the area you want to focus in, if possible. Graduate schools that may not be generally well known, may be well known for certain specialties.edit:formatting [edited by - CrazyMike on February 16, 2004 8:01:12 AM];  Thanks CrazyMike.So the TA work is only necessary if you take graduate assistance? So, if by some strange quirk of events I can come up with enough money so that I don''t have to take the graduate assistance, then I don''t have to grade papers? ;quote:Original post by Mscgamer  I''m unable to answer any of your other questions, but if you''re looking for information on Tech, you can talk to Mulligan--he''s a CS major, who''s currently going to Tech--or you can look here.I hope you''re living in Virginia. $15,000 a year for tuition? Ouch.Edit: By the way, if you become a Native American, you can pretty much get a free ride through college. Just trying to be helpful.  [edited by - Mscgamer on February 16, 2004 1:52:26 AM]Hah, I went to state school here in NJ, and it was like $16,000 per year IN STATE!  Now that i''m going to law school, I get these flyers from all of these weird out of state schools in the middle of the country boasting of in-state costs of like 6-8k, and then they offer scholarships on top of that!Of course, though, I want to stay in the area, so that means I applied to the only 4 law schools around here (which are all pretty good), Seton Hall U, Rutgers U (camden), Rutgers U (Newark), and Temple U.  I should get into all of them, maybe get a couple of good scholarships. ;quote:Original post by capn_midnight  Thanks CrazyMike.So the TA work is only necessary if you take graduate assistance? So, if by some strange quirk of events I can come up with enough money so that I don''t have to take the graduate assistance, then I don''t have to grade papers?   I''ve been strongly considering grad school recently myself.  At my school, at least, you aren''t required to be a TA or grader or anything like that unless you want the money.  It really is a pretty good deal, though, so you should at least consider it.  If I can''t get a spot as a TA or research assistant, then I probably won''t go. Too expensive.CM ;  Yes, if you pay your own way, you don''t have to grade or teach. Also consider that some jobs will pay for your graduate school. You should also check on your current loans. Some loans don''t begin their repayment period until you are out of school-including grad school. There is also some deals with branches of the miltary that will pay for grad school. The military deal will involve a commitment involving computer science (or whatever you majored in) that may involve actual miltary time or civilian service. They usually have much better stipends.Check out you department''s office. They should have some material posted for different grad schools. Most of the research will have to be gathered yourself. Most school''s web pages are fairly informative, at least to get started out.Just out of curiousity, do you have an idea yet what you might want to focus on?    ;  I was thinking about continueing my education recently when I had an 'epiphany' (look that up, it'll be good prep for the gre).  I'm a money making machine right now.  I have no bills, my monthly expenses are  dirt cheap and I'm making a really decent salary.  A masters degree isn't going to help me at my company, the guy in the cube next to me has a phD in chemistry, and we are nearly the same salary and I only have a bs.  I was taking night classes going for a second degree, then I said screw it.  I quit taking night classes and got a part time job.  My goal?  To save $100,000 in 5 years.  I'm such a cheap bastard I just might be able to pull it off.Fire up your spread sheet and key in the function for 'accumulating interest'.  The stock market, even with the recent bear market has returned on average 13% a year for the past 30 years.  Hell, the last quarter of last year it returned somthing like 30%.  At a 13% annual interest for something like 17 years my $100,000 will grow to $1 million.  This does not factor in taxes or fees required for simply investing - but these profit eating factors can be mitigated by choosing wise investments ie no load mutual funds.My point is; if you have the discipline to live a frugal lifestyle then I would forget about more education beyond a bs.  Start saving and building your investments as soon as you can.  This stuff really adds up.   [edited by - sagwagon on February 16, 2004 5:43:12 PM]