I decided to explain some more of my apparently semi-controversial decisions (see refusing to marry and spending holidays solo for my other decisions). Seriously the number of views for those two posts skyrocketed. This time, I will explain the choice to move across the country for grad school when I was accepted to one in my backyard (or actually about a 20 minute drive from my parent's house where I was living at the time). This has to be a two part post so here will be the reasons I didn't go to the one in my backyard. Next time I will explain why I chose the one I actually went to over all the others I was accepted to.
I think I applied to 8 grad schools all together and was accepted into 7 of them (I didn't want to become a Pittsburgh Penguins fan anyways so take that!). The school that I was accepted to was I think ranked 6th or 7th in the country at the time which was also the highest ranked school for my program I had applied to. For comparison, the solo school that rejected me was 8th (again take that!) and the one in my backyard wasn't even on the rankings because they weren't accredited at the time. Long explanation on how that works suffice it to say that I would've had an even harder time finding a job than I already do had they not become accredited before I graduated (they are accredited now).
So, why did I not go to the school back home? Here is the short list:
1. They were not accredited.
2. They gave me a headache.
3. I had a bad experience there taking a couple classes.
4. Their ranking sucked.
5. My particular interest was not a focus there.
Here is the long list:
1. They were not accredited.
The lack of accreditation had something to do with it (mind you it was just that particular part of the school that wasn't, the rest of the grad, med, dental, and undergrad colleges were). When I read the accreditation website about what that meant, it said that a lot of government agencies will skip over your job application if you didn't graduate from an accredited school. Considering the government probably accounts for about 50% of jobs in my field.....that was not a risk I was willing to take.
2. They gave me a headache.
Another reason is that they gave me a headache. Out of all the schools I called to make sure I was putting the right GRE codes in for and making sure all my materials were received, I had to spend the most time and energy calling backyard school. Part of it the reason they explained, was because they received a lot of applications this year and were about 3 weeks behind on updating everything online. Mind you, my application materials at this point had been sent to them 6 weeks before by the time I called and it was another 2 weeks before it reflected that fact online. For comparison, when I called another school to confirm, my profile online was updated as having received everything the next day after the call. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal but when you're applying to grad schools and spending upwards of $500 total to apply, plus the stress, it really does matter that everything is updated as them receiving everything a couple weeks after you send them everything.
3. I had a bad experience there taking a few classes.
I think the best way to describe this is to copy something I wrote on facebook while taking a couple classes there (and yes grad school friends, I really did refer to the office as SAS back then, little did I know right?). One thing to mention is I only took a few classes there one semester after graduating from my undergrad institute. **Note: specific names have been removed**.
"To continue on with my rant from my last note, only this time about the school (or at least parts of it). The other week I had a checkstop placed on my account. Aka: I can't register for classes, which jokes on them because I was in the first group of students that could since I transferred about 140 credit hours (and that wasn't even all my hours). This one was saying that I needed to see my advisor from student advising services (SAS). So I made an appointment which was Wednesday. I even had an e-mail reminder from them sent.
Wednesday comes and I drive to the campus. I walk in to SAS and found out from another woman that my advisor wasn't in today. She was baffled that my appointment wasn't cancelled but said she would advise me since I was there and she probably felt bad for me. Long story short, I found out that my advisor must have mixed me up with the incoming freshmen because they are the only ones required to be advised. The checkstop was removed from my account prior to that day ::rolls eyes::.
That would have all been fine and dandy except for the fact that today, I get an e-mail from SAS saying that I missed my appointment at date and time (wednesday at 12:30) and to please reschedule. There is no checkstop on my account (yet that is, they tend to appear on my account Sunday nights go figure that one out). I'm thinking "okay, first of all he wasn't even in that day so why did i get scheduled by SAS to come in that day". What the hell am I supposed to do? Make him appear out of thin air? Sorry, missed that lecture in ::former professor's name:: physics class. I really don't care. Because if I have any control over things, I won't be there next semester. Hopefully, I'll have a job by then. I'll inject myself with that ebola I didn't use a couple years ago to avoid genetics at ::my undergrad institute::. I even asked the lady that I saw Wednesday and she gave me the withdrawl from ::backyard school:: form."
4. Their ranking sucked.
Like I said before, they weren't even on the rankings because they weren't accredited. Now they are and are either tied for last or are second last, I don't remember.
5. My particular interest was not a focus there.
They offered a general degree with the option for a concentration in my field. Where I ended up going had the degree in my field where I could focus on particular areas within the field. Because I'm not giving my degree specifics away let's say my degree is art history (it's not but I'm using it for an example). So, backyard school would have offered a general MFA degree with the optional concentration in art history. The school I went to offers and MFA in art history with a concentration in Egyptian Art (because mummies are cool and that's what I would've focused in had I been an art history major). Okay, that was kind of a crappy example but you get the point.
Next time I will explain why I chose my school over the other five I was accepted to (not including backyard school).
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