Having almost a full semester of graduate school under my belt, I think it’s time to explore the actual differences between what my undergraduate experience was like to now. To some, it might be a shock and to others, it might align with your perception of graduate school.
- Class Times
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In undergrad, all of my classes were in the morning/early afternoon with the exception of music ensembles. Although I have significantly less classes, they’re all in the evening for 3 hours, twice a week.
- Cohort Style
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Most graduate programs are ‘cohort style’, which means you and however many others are in your ‘year’ will have the same classes together until you graduate. Occasionally you might have a couple students who transcend cohorts (most likely part-time students), but you’re with the same people for all of your coursework. Depending on who you’re with, this can be a good or bad thing.
- Less Involved
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Being a grad student means you’re most likely going to be less involved on campus when it comes to extracurricular activities because of Point #4.
- Working a Job
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While getting your graduate degree, there’s a very high chance you’ll be working a graduate assistantship and/or another job, which takes up your time during the day. This is why classes are held at night to accommodate those people.
- Distance
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Because of those different factors above, you might feel a bit isolated from everyone else on campus. Even though I’m still involved with a few clubs and organizations, I still feel distant from everyone else. This makes me miss my undergrad experience. I miss seeing different people everyday and as much as I like the cohort model, I like having different classes with different people because of the variety.
Hopefully this gives you more of an insight into what graduate school is really like!