A graduate degree is an investment because it enhances your existing potentials and it requires time, effort, and money on your part. For example, a bachelor’s degree may have already prepared you for a job, but a graduate degree ups your opportunities, performance, and knowledge.
Career advancement
Proceeding with the previous thought, a graduate degree can provide you with more career opportunities. Because of your advanced learning and better qualifications, you may get more job offers. You may also be promoted if you have an existing job. A teaching assistant, for example, can become a higher-ranked instructor in the university he or she is working for, especially after getting a master’s degree. If he or she proceeds to get a doctorate, that person will possibly earn professor status sooner.
Earning potential
With career advancement, higher earnings come hand in hand. A higher position can provide you a higher salary. Definitely, getting a graduate degree comes in handy when you apply for a higher position in the academe or the corporate world.
Another accomplishment…
Of course, do not forget that earning the degree itself is an accomplishment. Having a graduate degree is something to be proud of. However, for it to be truly an investment, you must maximize on the rewards it can give to you. Remember, most people are content with just having a bachelor’s degree, so you belong to a select few because you have an advanced degree.
Becoming specialized
Usually, graduating with a bachelor’s degree provides you with learning that spans a wider scope of knowledge. Graduate studies, meanwhile, can focus on a particular area. This way, you can better study that smaller scope in a more in-depth way. You can become an expert or a specialist in that particular area of your field of study.
Making connections
Being connected to important people, admittedly, can advance your career. You can establish healthy working relationships and respectable connections by going to graduate school. In graduate school, you get to know professors who are leaders in their fields; you also get to know fellow students who are, in their own way, important. Even if graduate studies are wise investments, you still have to make use of common sense and people skills to truly benefit from having it.
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You may be telling the truth, but having a good back-up is always advantageous especially in your plans to enter graduate school. Even if you have submitted the most impressive graduate admission essay and transcript, somebody else has to vouch for your capability and also for your personality.
Why are recommendation letters a must?
The admissions committee does not really know what methods you were using when you got those grades. These numbers do not reflect your attitude and your interpersonal skills (how you deal with your classmates, study group members, and teachers). For example, maybe you were ruthlessly aiming for excellent grades so that you were never interested in anything else such as helping out a classmate. A good reference will be able to show the admissions committee that not only were you a good student, but you were also a good classmate or a good worker – a great person inside and out. If you’ve already written about it in your graduate admission essay, then the recommendation letter validates what you’ve stated.
People to approach
Not everyone can write your recommendation letter. When you are choosing among the professors and instructors in college, put distinguished people who know your work well on top of your list. College instructors or organization advisers will make great references. Make sure that you have a good grade with the particular college instructor you have chosen, and that you have displayed a great attitude with the adviser of your choice.
Narrowing down your list
You cannot choose every college instructor or adviser who has given you a high grade. Again, you have to choose someone who has seen you at your very best – as a realiable leader or member of a research group, as a consistent worker, and as a generally well-rounded student. Make sure that the reference knows you well enough to answer questions graduate schools may pose. The reference must also be known for being articulate – you do not want any mixed messages coming through. He or she must know your goals and must understand your motivations.
The element of trust
It is important that you know your reference, and he or she also knows you well, preferably on a first-name basis. The reference must know you enough to write about you positively but honestly. You must in turn know your reference well for you to anticipate what sort of recommendation he or she will write, without you having to unfairly influence him or her. You must then be able to trust your references enough to submit their sealed letters as part of your application, partnered of course by an excellent graduate admission essay.
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In a changed culture where fast and easy are key words, there has been a shift in attention and appreciation from the written word. Yet, for me, literature remains timeless treasures. Each book offers a reservoir of knowledge, emotions and passions. Each book is a treasure that should be guarded with care and reverence. My pursuit of a degree in Library Science will allow me to fuse my passion for books in both my personal and professional lives.
I believe that we become truly successful in things we are passionate about. There should not be a gap between what we do to put food on the table and what we do out of love. I am a mother of two and an active community volunteer. As such, I’ve always believed that what I do should make a difference in the lives of the people I care about the most. I hope that in going into Library Science, I can practice in an academic setting where I can influence young people in taking interests in books.
I’ve worked several jobs, most of which had something to do with writing. While in a sales and marketing company, I drafted presentations and advertising materials. I wrote out words that I knew would add value to the product and influence how people thought of it. Later on, I worked for a print magazine, for which I wrote articles and blurbs, and helped plan content. I loved my work, and it became natural to me to write out ideas and share my thoughts.
Like many writers, I believe that I can only be good at my craft if I kept on reading. So I have read my fair share of books and truly enjoyed them. This type of exposure helps me hone my talent.
Apart from improving my craft, I also learned a lot from my work experience. As a web writer for a start-up company, I realized the value of technology and how we need to promote it. As magazine contributor, I researched on different civic and legal procedures that affect my community. As volunteer for the Montessori School, I found out about alternative-education systems that aid in facilitating further learning. It was here in the school setting where I was inspired to take my graduate studies and improve my skills.
I want to do work that effect change. This is something that’s always been true about myself, which I realize through active involvements with various civic organizations like the American Red Cross and the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. In becoming a librarian, I feel that I will be able to make a positive contribution to the lives of young intellectuals. It is an opportunity for me to share my love and passion for the written word. Hopefully, I will be able to immeasurably enrich children’s lives and make them learned readers.
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