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Hey everyone. This week, I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with a current student and with someone in admissions at a school that I intend to apply to next year. I intend to ask them about a variety of things (what's the cohort like, what's the day-to-day look like, more detailed breakdown of employment statistics, etc.) in addition to some questions related to specific aspects of the school. Are there any questions in particular that you think I should ask while I have this opportunity to get face-time with these people?

Take the job. I was in your shoes last year. I was graduating and wanted to go into grad school, but decided to take a job offer instead. I've been incredibly happy that I did. It feels incredibly relaxing to know that I'll be more competitive for the top schools having had a two years of work experience. It's also allowed me to save up money that I'll be able to use to reduce the loans that I take out if I have to. In addition, it's also made me that much more excited for the time when I do go back to school. You will be significantly more competitive for admissions and scholarships with work experience, you will have more to add as a student and as a classmate, and you will be more ready for the academic rigor of the programs. That's not even counting the fact that you will be more competitive for jobs/internships that you're applying for while part of the program if you have previous work experience as well. I would recommend working at least two years as well. This means that you'll actually have some interesting work experiences to talk about in your applications as well as having time to complete the econ pre-reqs.

Don't overly concern yourself with these rankings. While Ford is an excellent school, the true importance of the school is whether it gets you where you want to be. Look at the employment statistics and see where they place people. Identify people that work in positions you want to work in and see where they went to school. Factor in things like where you would like to live/work after school and how much it's going to cost you to complete these degrees. While some of these factors are likely baked into the rankings in a certain capacity, don't make your decision based on the rankings. Go to Ford if it will help you get to where you want to be, not because it's #2. Go to American or Luskin if they have a program you want to be a part of and you want to be in DC and don't sweat what their ranking is.

I've watched the same webinars and heard 20 as well. I get the sense that it may be growing by a bit, but certainly nowhere close to 80.