STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Congrats on your decision to apply to grad school. It's a pain to apply, but really worth it once you get your degree. In my opinion,  graduate degrees are like what Bachelor's degrees were for our parents' generation... not everyone has one and it will get you ahead of the other people. Of course experience is also needed.

For my Masters, I actually applied pretty late BUT I also applied for spring semester which not many people do. I remember feeling rushed and stressed so I would highly recommend getting everything in early. I just remember HAVING to get a meningystis (sp?) shot the week before school started and being frazzled the entire time.

For my Masters, I only applied to 2 schools... UGA and Vanderbilt. I got in both but choose UGA. While Vanderbilt is a much better school, I went there for undergrad and I wanted to diversify my education (ie there was a chance I would have been taught by some of my undergrad profs). Also, UGA was 1/16 of the price which was VERY appealing. As far as choosing a school, national reputation is really important (Trust me, I am the BIGGEST snob about schools) but you also have to take into account local reputation. Since I will most likely stay in the south, UGA met all my needs and is well though of down here so it was a good match. Plus, I loved my program and had amazing experiences both in the classroom, in my independant studies, and related work experiences where I applied what I was learning.

For law school, I also applied early so I knew pretty early where I was accepted. While I liked my program at UGA, from that experience I realized I preferred a private school environment (better resources and facilities, MUCH better administrative processes, and there just seems to be a more postive outlook). I toured the schools I got in and choose Stetson Law because 1. They offered me scholarship $$$ which was nice  2. I liked the location  3. I was ready for a change and Florida seemed like a cool place to go  and 4. I really liked the people. I know our reputation isn't as great as some of the other schools I got in, but I am so happy I choose a private school, have made great friends, and have AMAZING professors. Law schools are funny though... while we don't have the best overall reputation we're the top ranked school for advocacy and the 3rd best for legal reseach and writing. So if you really like a school that's not at the top, one of their specific programs may be nationally recognized.

As for saving $$$, I'm not well informed on loans and that kind of stuff so I don't really have advice. I would recommend not touring schools until you get accepted. It's really time consuming and costly. Instead, request a look book or free video from the school and apply to the schools that look appealing. If you get in, then go look at them.

congrats honey!  i have a couple of friends that went to business school so if you want pm me w/ as many specific questions as you can, i will get their answers for you.  anyway let me tell you what i know from my law school getting in process and what i've heard about business school--

the first thing i did was study for the lsat during the summer before my senior year.  i took kaplan and think it was money very well spent.  i HIGHLY recommend that you take kaplan.  i know law schools are more focused on lsat scores than business schools are focused on gmat scores but make no mistake--scores are important, it's just a fact of life.  also for the gmat, focus on the math portion, i've heard it's harder and less intuitive than the verbal portion.

next, apply as early as possible to just get the ball rolling and for your own peace of mind.  i don't think it necessarily affects your chances of getting in because they basically put your app into three piles whenever they get it--the definitely yes pile, the maybe pile, and the no pile.  but i think for business schools there are more essays and stuff so the more time you give yourself to do them, the better.  for law school all i had to do was a 2 page personal statement that was the same for all three of the schools i applied to which really didn't take that long.  by the way, when you're ready to start writing those essays, i'd be happy to help out in any way i can.

ok as for the rankings question, i have to admit i too am a school snob so take this for what it's worth.  imo, rankings matter--a lot.  they just give you such a leg up and there's a lot less explaining to do, you don't have to sell yourself as much, you're just given a certain amount of respect just from the fact that certain school names are on your resume.  is it fair? no.  does it mean so and so from a top ranked school is smarter than so and so from a not so well ranked school?  no.  but trust me, you need all the advantages you can get., especially if you're a minority woman.  yet another fact of life.  so imo, you should definitely go to the highest ranked school you get into.  money should not be a factor--that's what student loans are for.

can't think of anymore advice but please feel free to pm me.  i'm so excited for you honey, i just feel like this is the first step toward fulfilling your destiny :)  

thanks again for all the input, keep it coming!

esquiress -- i'll definitely pm, as it gets closer to time. you'll probably get sick of me.

rocky -- i've considered fashion merchandising, (i've thought a lot about it actually) but i don't think it's the right path for me. primarily b/c the only school that i found that offers a grad degree in that area is fit and the course description doesn't quite fit my needs. plus i just know a lot of people who've gone that route (studied fashion, etc.) and it's really hard to get a job with just that. also i'm definitely more interested in the business aspect, and for some reason, and i could be totatlly off, i feel like the ability to pick out cute stuff is kind of innate, and what really matters is having a good grasp of the actual skills needed to run a good business. however i do plan to pick a school in a high fashion area (right now i'm primarily looking at schools in nyc and la) so that i can also work part time at a boutique. finally if the whole boutique thing doesn't work out, i know that a general mba will give me more options to fall back on then just a degree in fashion.

1 - apply early - yes and yes. I don't know if it helps, although everyone says it does, but it certainly can't hurt. I applied by the deadline and didn't find out until around May (semester started in September). It was a bitch to wait that long. Other people applied earlier and found out earlier. So I say yes, if you can. Of course, if it's going to foul something up, don't worry with it.

2 - ranking - The ranking played highly into my decision. I went to a top-tier law school and I say screw the "fits your needs" part. I mean maybe you should consider a certain school if they're the only ones that have a certain program you want to go into, but how often does that happen? Usually there's something comparable at each school, if not exactly what you want. The school that fit my needs the best was Yale. How's that for unrealistic expectations? Once you graduate, the school on your resume will be a lot more important than the individual program you specialized in. (of course, this is my experience with law school and it may not be the same with other grad schools.)

3 - expartus - Nope. I didn't use this service but there is a service you HAVE to go through to apply for law school. It's actually quite convenient. You send all your stuff to the one service (letters, test scores, transcripts, etc.) and they send it all out to the schools you apply to. I think you get a certain number of schools free (or with the fee you had to pay) and then you have to pay for each additional school. It was very convenient and if it's feasible, I suggest doing it.

4 - money - what a bastard! School loans were super-easy to get. When you fill out your federal loan applications, make sure you say you have ZERO money in savings and checking accounts, etc., because they will automatically take that much money off the top of your student loan award. For instance, when I applied for the loans I had about $660 in my checking account, I reported it, and my award was the full amount less $660. Can you believe that? What a crock. Especially because I didn't have $660 when I started school, that was just when I filled out the app. So even if you do have money, say you don't. After that year I put zero down for every single entry. That way you can get the maximum amount of money available. And then there are always private loans, which are more expensive but convenient if you need more money. The loan process was a pretty easy one for me but start early so you don't have any pressure at the last minute. (Oh and my parents couldn't help out either so I did the whole thing via student loans.) FYI, take all the federal money you can get because you can consolidate those after you graduate to pay back. You can't consolidate the private loans.

If you have any other questions be sure to ask. I would have loved to have had someone to talk to about this stuff when I was going through it.

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Originally posted by: blubirde
"4 - money - what a bastard! School loans were super-easy to get. When you fill out your federal loan applications, make sure you say you have ZERO money in savings and checking accounts, etc., because they will automatically take that much money off the top of your student loan award. For instance, when I applied for the loans I had about $660 in my checking account, I reported it, and my award was the full amount less $660. Can you believe that? What a crock. Especially because I didn't have $660 when I started school, that was just when I filled out the app. So even if you do have money, say you don't. After that year I put zero down for every single entry. That way you can get the maximum amount of money available. And then there are always private loans, which are more expensive but convenient if you need more money. The loan process was a pretty easy one for me but start early so you don't have any pressure at the last minute. (Oh and my parents couldn't help out either so I did the whole thing via student loans.) FYI, take all the federal money you can get because you can consolidate those after you graduate to pay back. You can't consolidate the private loans. If you have any other questions be sure to ask. I would have loved to have had someone to talk to about this stuff when I was going through it."

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now - I didn't have the experience of deducting my bank accounts from what I would qualify for... If they had done that, I wouldn't have qualified for one red cent.  I'm pretty sure I put down all of our bank accounts too... BUT - can't hurt to put zero - I guess I was paranoid that I would get busted if I wasn't forthcoming with that information.