Affording Graduate School
So, you’re thinking about graduate school and you’re wondering how you will pay for it all? In some respects it’s similar to paying for your undergraduate education, but often there are some new options to help pay. See the short list below for some ideas.
Application Process
Completing the application takes persistence, attention to detail, and compiling the appropriate documents. Review the resources below to get a head start on your competition.
Is Grad School Right For Me?
Many Terps consider graduate studies. But do you know if further education is the right next move for YOU? When you think about continuing on with your education are you considering a master's or doctoral degree? And why? There are good and not so good reasons to attend graduate school. You should consider the pros and cons of going straight to graduate school versus working for a few years first to earn money, gain experience, and clarify your longer-term career and life goals.
Reasons to attend graduate school include:
Job Trends & Student Outcomes
An overwhelming amount of information about the job market and workforce trends exists online. Some of the information can be very useful when organizing a job search. Below are a few sources that offer a good starting point.
Technology & Data
While positions can open at any time, it is often very helpful to start your internship or job search in computing/computer science and technology early. Employers, especially the larger more competitive organizations, usually start their recruiting process in the late summer and early fall. Whether you’d like a summer internship or start a full time job in June, you will want to start your search in the late summer or early fall before. Some employers will make offers to successful interns before they even finish their internship.
Hospitality, Sports & Recreation
Hospitality and tourism relates to the management, marketing, and operations of restaurants and other food services, lodging, attractions, recreation events, and travel related services. The recruitment timeline in this industry is based on position vacancy.
Health and Sciences
Health and Sciences encompasses a wide variety of career options with high employment needs.
Healthcare is expanding rapidly and with an ever-increasing elderly population, the demand for qualified health care and medical professionals is not likely to decrease in the near future. Healthcare occupations range from medical doctors to dental hygienists to health care administrators.
Government, Policy, Law & International Affairs
The Government, Policy, Law & International Affairs cluster is a broad category of fields that are often suited for those who are mission-driven and seek to provide knowledge, support and resources for the common good.
Government or the public sector encompasses roles at the federal, state and local levels. Public sector opportunities span across all disciplines and are great options for students from all academic backgrounds with varied experiences.
Education, Human Services & NonProfit
Education is America’s second largest industry, and the career tracks are as varied as the students are. Those who enter the education field as professionals tend to have a passion for helping young people, a passion for the subject area they teach, and/or a belief in the transformative power of education.
Consulting, Finance, Operations and Entrepreneurship
No matter the function, roles within this cluster seek to apply business acumen to the art and science of offering a product or service to clients and customers. Career paths within this cluster include consulting, finance, operational roles and entrepreneurship.