Thursday, August 30, 2007
Location: dorm room
Mood: My cup of stress overfloweth
What I'm Reading Now: Anything that will help me study for the GRE.
It's hard to believe, but classes only gegan a few days ago, and I already feel stressed out. Luckily (or perhaps unfortunately), none of this has anything to do with homework. Let me explain.
Luckily, I don't absolutely have to take this class. While I do need to take one more 4-credit writing class to fulfill my writing electives, there are several other options. Instead, I'd rather take scriptwriting, which was offered at the exact same time that tech writing was and fills the same requirements.
Unfortunately, said scriptwriting class is currently filled, and the professor won't give me an override to get in. So my next move was to take an independent study class called "Problems in Mass Communications" for three credits. I need to take another three-credit mass communications elective before I graduate, and this class would fulfill that. Since scriptwriting is offered every semester, so I can still take that class next semester.
I could get into the Problems in Mass Communications class, but I would have to find a professor to supervise me. This I didn't have the time to even begin looking for a supervisor. In a moment of weakness, I considered sucking up my pride and just taking Technical Report Writing.
So here's what I ended up doing. I looked at all of the classes available and ending up picking Creating a Newsletter. The good news is that its not independent study and I've heard great things about the teacher. The bad news is that its at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday. On the other hand, I'm up at 7 a.m. anyway, so this isn't so big a deal. Since it gets out at 8:45 a.m., I could go to work from 9-11 a.m., and then have the rest of the day free (save for Tuesday's Advocate production). So it kind of works out. I don't have any classes on Friday, so my weekend basically begins at 11 a.m. Thursday. That definitely works out.
Location: My House in the Twin Cities
Mood: anxious for school to start (seriously, I'm getting bored at home)
What I'm Reading Now: Anything that will help me study for the GRE.
Sigh, if only it could be so easy to find a graduate school. It's not like I'm at a loss finding at publishing program or anything that interests me. If anything, as of this moment, I'm planning to apply to a dozen schools. Yet, I now have to figure out just what kind of college atmosphere I want. Academics are always at the top of the list, but what about what else the campus offers. I have to take financial aid into account as well as numerous other things I never thought were important when I chose MSUM.
Unfortunately, I didn't think about what my criteria for a graduate school was when I went college touring with my parents this summer. My top choice was Emerson College because, as far as the Web site claimed, it was a small arts school that offered a publishing Masters and opportunities that would "open doors" (the Web site's term, not mine). From that description, Emerson was exactly what I wanted. How very wrong I was. Yes, I still believe that Emerson is a great school academically, but the campus is nothing more than a few buildings on the edge of Boston Commons--not exactly the small college atmosphere I'd expected or grown to love at MSUM. Unlike MSUM, there wasn't any sense of community, especially when you have to check in with a security guard at every building entrance. I intend to apply to it when I put together my applications in late October, but I'm not sure that I will immediately jump at the "opportunity" if I get accepted.
On the other hand, my instincts about colleges have been proven wrong. Take Pennsylvania State University. It's a BIG school, completely unlike MSUM. (You could probably fit MSUM, Concordia, and almost all of NDSU on its campus.) I decided to tour there because I had heard it had a good English program from a professor. I wasn't expecting to be impressed, but I was. Yes, the campus is huge, but it had ample ways of getting around and numerous activities for students to get to know each other. I now intend to apply here, and I may even go (assuming I get a good graduate assistantship, which is one of my biggest college requirements).
So that's my experience in touring graduate school. My next task in the GRE, which I take at the end of the month. Wish me luck because I fear I may need it.