Should I Go to Grad School?

As many of Parkside students are nearing graduation, some troubling questions are coming up: What now? Should I get a job? What kind of job? Should I go to graduate school? Where? For what degree? How do I get in?

Questioning yourself and your place in life after graduation is a natural, common feeling among many graduating students. So let’s talk grad school:

1) Grad school is expensive, at least twice the cost of Parkside tuition (if not more). Some students receive tuition waivers or grants for grad school (which I will discuss at a later point), but others simply must take out thousands upon thousands of dollars in student loans. That takes an incredibly long time to pay off. Not to mention, each application to grad school is at least $60. If you apply to ten schools, that’s $600. Do you have that kind of money available right now?

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A wrap-up of the events at Parkside’s Career & Grad School Fair

On Wed., Feb. 20, the Parkside Ballroom was bustling with activity from 11:00-2:00pm for the Career  & Grad School Fair. Several dozen booths formed a maze of fact sheet handouts, souvenir pens, and candy. Behind these booths were professionals from a multitude of universities and businesses in the Southeastern Wisconsin area. From 11:00-2:00, these individuals discussed with students the various career and educational opportunities that their companies or educational institutions offer. Giving advice and information on everything from resumes to lipstick color (AVON was there with free samples!), the representatives had a lot of knowledge to offer the students who attended. This included advice on how to succeed in management, graduate education, and internships. Much of the more general advice centered on the ability to learn, work hard, and keep an open mind. Many of the businesses that were represented stressed these attributes when asked about what sort of previous experience was necessary when applying for jobs and internships. Walgreens, who offers internships both in their pharmacy departments and in their stores, provides extensive training for all of their internships, which emphasize a classroom environment and require no previous experience.

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