Is it hard to get into graduate school?
I hear people say it’s hard to get into graduate school? I’m thinking about a master’s in Political Science. Why is it hard to get into graduate school? And are graduate school programs hard or just time consuming?
I’m considering a Political Science Master’s program.
Master’s programs at state schools like Texas.
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3 Responses to “Is it hard to get into graduate school?”
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It depends on the program, of course, but in general grad programs are small and selective. Out of the 7 people I knew who applied to grad schools this year, only two actually got accepted. The rest were all rejected. It’s a tough economy right now so grad schools are seeing an influx of applicants, but because of a lack of money/need to keep the programs small for adequate grad experience, they can’t increase their acceptance. They’re very difficult and time-consuming. Don’t try going to grad school unless it’s something you really want to do.
It depends on the school because some are more selective than others. Obviously the Ivy League schools are hard to get into and have the pick of the crop out of all the people who apply. Some universities will accept you as long as you have an undergraduate degree and meet their academic requirements while other grad schools will not accept you unless you have experience in the field as well as a bachelor’s degree, and some require that the bachelor’s degree be in your field of study.
Master’s degrees are a bit more challenging (I”m a grad student) and more is expected of you as far as work is concerned. The work is also harder, and you need to show that you’re capable of doing the work and successfully completing the program. My program was harder and more time consuming. I was thinking about going for the MBA at my school. For instance, for my bachelors in business admin., Quantitative Statistics is required. For the MBA, Advanced Quantitative Statistics is required, so the classes are harder and more advanced and can be more challenging. My university requires working with an outside non-profit organization or a small business on a group project (marketing, advertising, creating business plans, etc.), and the same thing is required for the grad program, except it’s more in-depth for grad school. For undergrad, you have to keep your GPA above a 2.0, but for the grad program it has to stay above a 3.0, so the requirements are more stringent and more is expected of you academically and professionally. This is for the MBA, though. I decided against the MBA, though.
It depends on the program. MA students are essentially sugar daddies for universities. In academic fields, MA admisions are not that difficult since most MA students are planning on eventually applying to PhD programs. In professional fields (IR, business, engineering, etc.), MA admissions are more difficult since most people in those fields will not pursue a PhD.
The difficulty of the graduate program depends on the school. MA programs are primarily coursework based. At Universities, the MA level courses have to appeal to PhD students so they tend to be difficult and time consuming; but at colleges, the MA courses are only slightly more difficult than upper division courses (in some cases, they are cross listed with an upper division course).