Graduate/Professional School FAQ

John C. Hoag, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, CSM

I have assembled this list of "Frequently Asked Questions" for CSM undergraduates who are contemplating graduate or professional school. Please feel free to suggest additions to this list.

1. What are graduate and professional schools and degrees?

1a. How long will it take to complete a degree?

2. What opportunities are available in the CSM field with a graduate degree?

3. What about CSM's new Master's degree?

4. What is the degree worth?

5. Where might I go to grad school?

6. What are admissions requirements?

7. What is the admissions process?

8. What is an Assistantship?

9. What about a double-major or second Bachelor's degree?

10. What if I work for a few years before returning to grad school?

11. What about correspondence and distance learning programs?

12. What about prerequisites courses that I have not taken?

1. What are graduate and professional schools and degrees?

Graduate degrees include the Master of Science (MS), Master of Arts (MA), and Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) are examples of graduate degrees. The degrees of Juris Doctor (JD), meaning Lawyer, and Medical Doctor (MD) are considered professional and require one or more licensing examinations. This FAQ is mostly limited to admission into Master's and Law School programs. A Master's degree is normally needed before starting a Ph.D. program.

A Master's degree should involve 45 quarter hours (30 semester hours) beyond the Bachelor's and can typically be earned in either of two ways: thesis or non-thesis. The thesis is book based on some original problem that you solve or analyze or may be part of a larger research initiative; the thesis is a necessity if you want to consider a Ph.D. at some point. Many graduate programs are tuned for Master's students and downplay the research component. A non-thesis program may instead involve a comprehensive final exam across all classes taken in order to graduate.

The Ph.D. degree requires original research, preparation of a dissertation document, and a series of public "defenses" of your work.

1a. How long will it take to complete a degree?

Based on credit hours alone, a Master's degree could be done in one year if taken on a full-time basis with no thesis involved. Time to complete a Master's degree will extend if taken part-time, if a thesis is involved, if you receive an assistantship (described in a later question) or if you take an internship.

A law degree, if pursued full-time, will take three years to complete, with summers off.

Formal requirements for Ph.D. degree are often described as "90 hours beyond the Master's" but some hours are allocated to research, not classes. Add four years or more to the Master's, or more, if pursued on a full-time basis (or more if there is a spouse, mortgage, or children!).

2. What opportunities are available in the CSM field with a graduate degree?

As the field matures, there is a clear distinction between opportunities in the field. Recently, large numbers of Bachelor's-level graduates obtained their first jobs performing technician tasks (such as installation, operations, support, etc.) whose long-term prospects are limited although starting salaries are decent.

Roles that have higher technical or business responsibility such as network analyst or designer, regardless of employer size, are better enabled through advanced education in my opinion. This may be due to "tangibles" such as learning advanced skills, or due to "intangibles" such as committing to another year or two to one's profession.

Exception: I don't think a Master's in a technical area benefits someone whose talent is in sales. In sales, success is immediately compensated; an MBA may help advancement into management.

3. What about CSM's new Master's degree?

The Ohio Board of Regents has authorized the McClure School to enroll students starting Fall, 2003, for a unique degree entitled "Master's in Communication Technology and Policy" (MCTP). We will add one more faculty member, retain the current facilities, and reduce the size of our undergraduate program to accommodate new courses and, initially, about ten new students. The School has been seeking this program for many years and is excited about its start.

The School will invite CSM graduates with years of related work experience to return to Athens enter the program. We have no plans to deliver courses electronically using any means. Marketing and recruitment plans are being finalized at this time.

College represents one of the few times, not counting the Witness Protection Program, where one can relocate without consequence. Translation: leave. I have heeded this advice twice: (1) when selecting a graduate program, and (2) when seeking a teaching job. Most of my faculty colleagues received the same advice, which means it probably is not personal! Note: I think you can enter a different program on the same campus (such as an OU MBA) without negative consequences.

4. What is the degree worth?

At what point does one break even on the investment on an advanced degree? Assume that, while taking 1.5 years to earn a degree, you would forgo an annual salary of $40k/year. The starting salary with Master's degree will be higher, and its rate of increase will be steeper, so that break-even point will occur in 5-10 years or perhaps sooner. Note that often "better firms" recruit at the graduate level, which could also accelerate the breakeven.

I have read that, considering graduate degrees in technology, all advanced degrees pay for themselves and that lifetime earnings are higher - despite the years spent in school but "out of the economy." Of course, there is a logical fallacy to say this would be true for all students. This is for all students who finished, which is smaller than the group that started.

On the other hand, there is so much formal and informal merit-based financial aid in graduate school that a student is not truly "out of the economy." Your instructors each received free tuition in return for light work (teaching, working in a lab, etc.) and had internships or consulting along the way.

5. Where might I go to grad school?

Graduates from the School recently have enrolled in Master's programs at Pitt, Ohio State, Ohio, George Washington, Robert Morris, John Carroll, and also have been admitted to Miami, Ball State, Keller (DeVry), and perhaps others. Pitt is often regarded as the pre-eminent graduate program in telecommunications.

Your faculty have identified telecom programs at Pitt, Colorado-Boulder, Syracuse, George Mason, Penn, SMU, and others. No comparable graduate program exists in Ohio at either a public or private institution. Peterson's http://www.petersons.com/(http://www.petersons.com) has lists of all graduate programs, and the site http://www.mba.com provides information about MBA programs. Note that our the name of our field is different from place to place, and that "telecommunications" could mean "broadcasting" to some.

The problem before you is to select one or more specific programs of interest, perhaps from within a single school or department. For instance, Pitt has about four distinct programs within its Information Sciences school.

6. What are admissions requirements?

Interestingly, graduate schools are often quite flexible about formal admissions requirements. First, they are flexible about undergraduate degree, rarely requiring a Bachelor's degree in the same discipline and frequently deferring prerequisites until a student is in residence. At their best, admissions committees want to admit applicants that can finish their program and earn a degree; that is, they are looking for students with potential.

Second, graduate programs have some latitude regarding GPA. You need not be a straight-A student to enter most graduate or professional programs. Clearly, top programs are selective but not rigidly so. Admission will be based equally on grades, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation; generally, two of these three items must be strongly positive. Schools may actually state their minimum GPA and test score for admission; below a 3.0 GPA and 1200 composite GRE, your options are going to be limited.

Schools are aware where their programs rank nationally and in their local market, aware of students that are "late bloomers," and are aware that past experiences are not always transferable. A student rejected at MIT could find a home in a part-time night program at some urban state university.

Schools reward candidates not only with admission but also with tuition waivers and teaching or research assistantships. For most of us, admission must be accompanied with financial incentives. Note: assistantships are not available in legal and medical education.

7. What is the admissions process?

First, realize that the graduate school admissions process determines both entry to an academic program and application for a teaching or research assistantship (Note: there are no assistantships in law or medical school, to my knowledge). Financial aid is not necessarily a separate process, as it is in undergraduate education. Stated differently, you should consider seeking both the "right" school and "best" appointment at that school - and this process starts in the Fall term of the year before you expect to enroll. If your materials are in order by, say, January 1, you should know by the end of March about admissions and assistantships.

There are at least three parts to the grad school admission process: the application itself, which may include a statement of intent; a national standardized test; letters of reference.

Ohio University required that you take the ACT or SAT in order to enter a Bachelor's program. Graduate programs typically require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), while MBA programs require the General Management Aptitude Test (GMAT); Law schools require the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and medical schools require the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Authoritative details on each type of test may be obtained through Educational Testing Services at http://www.ets.org.

GREs and GMATs are given very infrequently - only a few times per year - and may be taken at may locations including OU's Computer Services Center. The tests themselves are relatively expensive (over $100) which discourages retakes. Years ago, testing consumed at least a Saturday morning. I do not recommend "cramming" for these exams, but I recommend familiarizing yourself with the test format and instructions.

You control where, if anywhere, your test scores are sent. You may, in fact, have scores sent only to yourself, where you may later (for a fee) send them to different schools. If you have the resources, you may take the test very early: you can retake the exam if needed (and no one sees your prior scores). These tests measure only aptitude, which may not improve over time.

Your must enlist at least three people to write letters of reference or recommendation, whose responses are expected to be confidential. This process normally contains completing a form, where recommenders subjectively rank you against your peers on matters of intelligence, communication, integrity, and so on. We are also given the opportunity to write anything we want, which is usually a complete letter "to whom it may concern." Before I write a letter of reference, I generally that the student write some statement about career aspirations. I also review the student's College folder and DARS report.

8. What is an Assistantship?

An Assistantship is a job, or "appointment" in our jargon, that is performed by a graduate student. A graduate assistant should receive free tuition plus a modest salary in return for teaching, working in a lab, working on a research project, and so on. The assistantship work cannot exceed 20 hours per week, whereby a grad student is considered full-time with a reduced class load. Taking an assistantship will slightly extend the time it takes to complete a degree. If you receive an assistantship for three quarters, then over the Summer you should receive free tuition but not have to work. The compensation or "stipend" should be $1000 to $1500 per month which is taxable.

Major universities could not operate without graduate assistants, and they work hard to manipulate the immigration and tax systems to keep it that way. You could gain an assistantship from your new "home" department, or you could obtain one in another department (Math, English, etc.). I suggest that you review a course schedule at your intended school, looking for courses not taught by names on the faculty roster; those represent assistantship opportunities, but you will need to pursue them totally on your own.

9. What about a double-major or second Bachelor's degree?

You may find that a Master's degree will have greater benefit and less of a net cost than a double-major or second Bachelor's degree. A second Master's is common, however, avoiding the stigma of having a Ph.D. degree. A double-major that can be completed in two or three quarters may be a worthwhile investment depending on the field.

So it is entirely possible that, while you could not be admitted to the MIS program at OU, your Bachelor's in CSM wouldearn you admission to a Master's program in MIS elsewhere. Your would be responsible, however, for meeting the

admissions requirements for the new program.

There is no universal answer to this question. German engineering schools, I am told, will not admit a graduate student until after years of professional achievement. This is also true for the best MBA programs (Wharton, Chicago, etc.). Clearly, adult students appreciate the opportunity to continue their education and may indeed make the most of it.

On the other hand, finishing graduate school is often a "war of attrition" in that many students leave before completion (this is especially true for Ph.D. students). Thus, you are more likely to finish if your life is not encumbered by personal or financial obligations. To "live like a graduate student" would be a step up for most of us, if you have an assistantship.

You may accrue many benefits of an advanced degree without actually finishing it. At urban universities, high-tech companies used to recruit grad students with this in mind. This is, of course, not true for law and medical schools, where only graduates may take the license exam.

11. What about correspondence and distance learning programs?

It depends. On paper, there are many great relevant degrees offered at a distance (Maryland, Phoenix, SMU come to mind). The problem is that very few people actually finish these programs, and a large number of students cannot even finish individual courses. Translation: schools heavily promote and profit off these programs but few students benefit.

If you are employed and not willing to commit to a residential Master's program and cannot find a suitable program locally, then this may be your only option. As an alternative, you could be buying technical books off Amazon and receiving no college credit. In this environment, you accumulate college credits, your employer pays, and you can encounter great ideas.

Note that in a part-time or distance program, you probably will be able to seek admission or enroll in classes for any term, not just Fall.

12. What about prerequisites courses that I have not taken?

This question may concern many CSM undergrads if their intended program involves calculus or rigorous programming. No, you are unlikely to be denied admission based on these shortcomings. At the very least, you are responsible for obtaining this knowledge on your own if it is relevant to your new program. At the most, you will be required to take these classes at your new school. You could be taking Calculus I in a room with freshmen.

In a good graduate program, you will be in command of your education. Learning on your own will be an essential part of the program, and hopefully the relevance of the subject will motivate you to accomplish what you wouldn't/couldn't/didn't a few years prior.