Going to grad school at your alma mater

[Laure]

I know in pure academia, it's considered a bit taboo to get your masters at the same place you received your BA/BS. Anyone got any insight to this in terms of LIS? My alma mater is #1 (UIUC) which is great, but I wonder if it will show a lack of well-roundedness when it comes to applying to professional positions post-grad.

NB: I do not want to be a librarian - I'm looking towards HCI/community informatics in the non-profit or government sectors.

[Bukharan]

I don't think it is written anywhere that it's taboo. People certainly do that.

I heard that BA and Ph.D. from the same school (unless it is a top top school of course) may be (? say who?) taboo. BA and MA should def be fine.

[eklavya]

just like Bukharan, i too have my doubts about what you just said being a taboo. in fact, this is the first time i am ever hearing it. i am doing my masters where i finished my undergrad, and if i were to do it over again, i would not do it anywhere else but here. wherever you do your masters, take it as a really nice springboard that vaults you into bigshot schools/programs/labs. but you said UIUC is the best in your program.. so there you go, taboo or not, you are making the right choice by deciding to go there. again.

[thelost]

I looked into this before too. It seems like it's only an issue if you plan to go into academia. Businesses probably don't care.

If you want to know how common it is, I have some real data. I work at a college and out of 6000 graduates, 500 have two degrees from the college and 30 have three degrees from the college. Some of those are people with multiple BS degrees, but I'd guess the majority are people who have a BS/MS or MS/PhD from the college.

[Laure]

Thanks, all! I will probably be headed there, barring any issues. I spoke to my other choice today and they seem VERY disorganized. (It's a new program, so I understand a bit, but they want me to take extra electives in order to stay full time and be eligible for insurance and assistantships? Uh, no. This isn't undergrad with gen eds.)