WOW! I got Admitted and screwed at the same time.

[sdsualumn]

So I was offered a GA spot at a university. It was tentative based on me getting into its Sports Administration program. I took the gre back in feruary and was planning on submitting my application soon after. I had to get 3 letters of Rec but one ****** took 3 months to write it while one took 2 hours and the other took less than a week.

The guy told me it was a long shot that I would get in since my gpa was under a 3.0 and that they are only enrolling 25 students to the program this year. I was going to just move on since I though that one guy wasn't going to write me a letter. But the guy pulled through and I submitted the app a month ago. Just received notice that I got accepted.

So I got in contact with the staff member that offered me the GA spot and told him that I have been accepted. He replied and said the position has been filled. Story of my life.

I really want my masters. Things have been crappy lately and I really want to go back to school. But there is no way I can pay $1200 per unit. I am already in 30k debt from undergraduate. Not about to go another 50k in debt.

Is there grants for graduate school?

Being $30k in debt already. got my BS in Accounting. Didnt get a high enough gpa to get an accounting job.

With that being said, is it worth going another $30k+ in debt to get my masters in sports management? thats just tuition, it will probably be another $15k+ with rent and other fees.

So getting my masters and then entering the work force with roughly $75k in debt vs. entering the force right now and probably make around $25k-$30k a year with $30k in debt?

[j3doucet]

Well, lets look at the math.

The degree costs you $50,000. On top of that, you won't be working. Don't know how much you make now, lets say you're making $Xk year. So you miss out on $X,000 for two years.

So the final cost of the degree is $50,000 + 2*x

Okay, so how much more will you earn with the degree?

You need to earn both enough to offset the interest on costs, plus the interest you could have made on deferred income (let's say it's 5% a year), _and_ enough to pay down the principle.

So, conservatively, if you want to pay off the debt from this degree in just say, 20-ish years, you need to make

0.07*(50,000 + 2*current_salary) more per year.

I don't know a lot about salaries in sports management. Will they be 15-20% higher than what you're making now? If not, I'd say this is a bad idea. On top of that, student loan debt is the very worst kind you can get. You can never default on student loan debt, which means you could be paying it until you die if things don't work out.

[Gneiss1]

What is the job market for a sports management degree like? Also what is the pay like? That would be the first two questions I would ask. There is a website I love called payscale.com and you can use a lot of the features for free. You can compare salaries, see returns on higher education, etc. I would check that out to see if it is a financially wise decision (I'm guessing no) and then also take a look at job postings to get an idea of how many jobs are being posted where you want to live and what the qualifications are.

If the sports management thing doesn't work out you can try and find a position in your field somewhere (anywhere, start low) and work your way up. Experience and good references from employers should compensate for anything your GPA may lack.

[busybee3]

Is it possible to defer admission and secure a GA position for the following term?

[go3187]

So I was offered a GA spot at a university. It was tentative based on me getting into its Sports Administration program. I took the gre back in feruary and was planning on submitting my application soon after. I had to get 3 letters of Rec but one ****** took 3 months to write it while one took 2 hours and the other took less than a week.

The guy told me it was a long shot that I would get in since my gpa was under a 3.0 and that they are only enrolling 25 students to the program this year. I was going to just move on since I though that one guy wasn't going to write me a letter. But the guy pulled through and I submitted the app a month ago.

You seem to be solely blaming this one person for you not getting the assistantship, but to me, it sounds like you mostly screwed yourself.

I don't doubt that you want a masters (that's not enough for getting it), but you didn't really pursue getting the GA. Had I been in your place, I would have asked my potential LOR writers if they would be able and willing to write me strong reference letters. The answer to those questions is either a yes or a no. If they said "yes", I would have told them I need the letters by xx.xx.xxxx, then send them reminder emails as the deadline approached, or even arrange to meet in person. Instead of doing this, you "just moved on" after one of your referees gave you an honest and realistic opinion.

Your LOR writer probably has a busy schedule, and either completely forgot about your application, or didn't know exactly how urgent it was. You gave up on it. Now, after he did write you the LOR, you think he wrote it three months after you told him about it just because he's a "******". Sounds pretty ungrateful to me, especially since his LOR was good enough to help you get in.

Hopefully you didn't vent your anger to your referee. Unless you're never again going to need a LOR from him, and there's no chance his opinion of you could affect your studies/career, it's wiser to be as polite and courteous as possible with this person. He's clearly someone capable to write you a good LOR, and if you don't "just move on", you can probably arrange to have it on time next time you need it.

[Chukwu Chucks]

Is it possible to defer admission and secure a GA position for the following term?

Yeah! I wanna know that too!