Continuing @ same school undergrad -> master's

[futuredrb]

Hey all,

I transferred to my current university as an incoming junior and stayed on track, which was kind of a miracle. I'm finishing my undergrad now and will be staying at the same school because it is a fantastic environment for me and I love my mentor who I will work with for the next two years. I feel like I really came into my own here this year (as a senior) because the transition was very difficult. How, if at all, should I change between being an undergrad and a grad student in the same program mostly surrounded by the same people (with one new professor next year, whichever incoming freshmen/major changes, and possibly another grad student)? I already am working towards being a student leader in our studio and my mentor has told me how great he thinks that is. Do I need to do anything differently next year? Thanks!

[PsyDuck90]

If there are any new expectations of you, they will be made clear. Coursework is definitely going to shift, but there isn't really some magical line you cross when you become a grad student. Just keep doing what you're doing and pushing yourself for more opportunities and you should be golden. 

[futuredrb]

13 hours ago, PsyDGrad90 said:

If there are any new expectations of you, they will be made clear. Coursework is definitely going to shift, but there isn't really some magical line you cross when you become a grad student. Just keep doing what you're doing and pushing yourself for more opportunities and you should be golden. 

Awesome, thank you! there are so many awesome opportunities and I'm always seeking more so I'm excited about it.

[accidental_philologist]

It sounds like a really great environment for you! You'll really flourish there  I've heard, at least in my fields (German and medieval studies), that staying at your undergrad institution for a master's is okay, but it looks kind of bad to stay all the way through your Ph.D. Idk if you plan on going for a Ph.D. after your Master's, but whether or not it's the same in your field might be a good thing to find out if you do. 

[TwirlingBlades]

I did my UG and G at the same university. I completed my bachelors early (finished in 3 years, in the US bachelors are usually 4 years), and completed the masters in 2. My university doesn't have a PhD program for my area of study.

I didn't really consciously do anything differently. There is a lot less time spent physically in class (I had 3 classes per semester for my first year, then 2 classes per semester for my second year + thesis hours). I also had an assistantship outside of my department which took up a LOT of my time. This means that I had the ability to (mostly) schedule my own time since I didn't have to physically be in class more than 2 or 3 days. That was definitely a learning curve. My second year was taken up mostly by my assistantship and writing my thesis/collecting lab data, all of which had to be scheduled by me. Especially the first semester, before I started to get into my research, it was hard to not just sleep all day, since I felt like I had so much time (I only had class T/Th mornings, and M evening). That quickly went away though, all of the work started to pile up during second semester/end of first year.

Sorry this isn't super helpful, but grad school by nature is different and you will learn to adhere to a new way of learning! About half or so of the students in my program went to the same university for UG, so that was really cool. It was nice to work with the same professors and continue working on projects from UG, so definitely take advantage of that.

 

[futuredrb]

On 3/11/2019 at 3:30 PM, accidental_philologist said:

It sounds like a really great environment for you! You'll really flourish there  I've heard, at least in my fields (German and medieval studies), that staying at your undergrad institution for a master's is okay, but it looks kind of bad to stay all the way through your Ph.D. Idk if you plan on going for a Ph.D. after your Master's, but whether or not it's the same in your field might be a good thing to find out if you do. 

I'm going to go for my DMA (music) but my university doesn't offer one, and I'd want to go to somewhere else to work with new faculty and be in a new environment anyway! Thanks!