jaaaayciee

I'm looking into applying at UNC Charlotte, and I'm just generally curious about the city and the campus. I'm an extremely liberal person as far as politics goes, but I also have a Christian faith that I would like to get stronger with. With the recent passing of the NC bill regarding bathrooms, I'm a little off-put about the conservativeness of the North Carolina government. I'm not sure how much I would like living somewhere that was so different than my views politically, but maybe it isn't that bad. Also, what's the weather like? I'm born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, so I'm used to the dry heat for most of the year.

After floating around on the forums, I see many different posts about students being accepted into programs, but students also being rejected across the board. However, not many of these people I've found are applying to Education programs. I'm extremely concerned about my chances even getting into graduate school -- when I first started out at community college, my GPA was absolutely awful (I was 15 and adjusting to college life), but once I switched to university, I immediately got on the Dean's List all the time I've been here and I maintain a 3.6 (A-B range). I don't have any internships, but I have volunteered at schools here and there (can't really volunteer at high schools due to security measures). I plan on doing a lot more volunteering and hope to have stellar letters of recommendation, but I'm still afraid that it isn't enough. I know that programs like psychology are extremely competitive, but how competitive is the education program?

I'm thinking about going for an MEd degree, and I recently have started considering applying to European schools after hearing that they are either way cheaper, and offer more funding. However, I'm definitely planning on teaching in the United States, and I would like to teach government (though my undergraduate degree is for all of social studies). Would it be beneficial to get my Master's abroad, or should I just stick to the United States?

Each TA that I've known are all working for their PhD, compared to just their Master's Degree. I'm kind of counting on getting offered a TA position, but are they not offered for those working on their Master's Degrees? If so, are the qualifications the same as those who are working for their PhD?

Some schools I've been looking into will have specific dorm halls set for only graduate students, whereas others don't specify. The dorms seem very expensive, but I don't know how I would like being completely on my own in my own apartment. Plus, for those schools where there are not separate graduate dorms, I don't know if I'm going to like all the drinking, partying, smoking, etc. that I assume undergraduates do in the dorms (I could be wrong about this, but I'm just basing what goes on in the dorms based off stories I've heard at my current school). Also, there's also the pet issue. I have a cat that I'm definitely taking with me when I go to school, whether it's allowed or not. I think I'd like the (possible) companionship of a roommate in a dorm, but they might seem like m ore trouble than they're worth.

I've seen different comments about graduate students scheduling their own campus visits or interviews, but also other comments that say their visits/interviews have been accepted by the school. I think it would be nice to tour the campuses I'm considering before I apply and maybe meet some of the faculty, but I'm not sure if I have to wait until application season to try and schedule a meeting or visit.

My name is Jaycie, and I am 3 semesters away from graduating with my Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education. I started college when I was 15 and have never really left home before, so graduate school was something that has never really crossed my mind. Part of me is just sick of college and wants to get my life started. However, one of my history professors told me about a foundation called the James Madison Fellowship, which is basically a huge grant if I get accepted (apparently they accept only one person per state, per year), and I get to take a class in Washington D.C. to study government (which is what I want to teach, though my degree covers U.S. History, world history,etc.). After talking to my dad about it (it's been just he and I for a while), he completely jumped on the idea as he's been begging me to go to graduate school for as long as I can remember. He thinks that because I'll be 21 when I graduate, high school students will eat me alive. After hearing about the Foundation and noting my dad's excitement, I really started considering graduate school. I didn't know how much was included in graduate school, and it's extremely scary and overwhelming. I'm turning 20 this year and I don't need to start applying until roughly Fall of 2017 (to get my applications early and start the program within the NEXT fall), but I think something like this is a good idea to get ahead of. I've already started thinking about letters of recommendation, taking the GREs, etc. However, I still feel like a little clownfish dumped into the huge ocean. The two major schools I've been looking at are University of North Carolina, Charlotte and University of Indiana Bloomington, however, this is not exactly concrete. I figured I could join this forum site to maybe make some new contacts that'll help me out with this process as the time gets closer for me to apply. Any advice, questions, responses, etc. are certainly welcome, and I thank all of you in advance!