How many of you have attempted a Master's Program?

Dixie

Dixie

Farting Snowflakes
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I know I am only a junior in my undergrad studies, but I'm considering grad school. I'm thinking about doing something related to deaf literature. I know that isn't a large arena and tends to be extremely narrow, but I think it's worth studying the contributions that deaf people have made to literature, beyond Helen Keller.

Everyone around here seems to be into Southern Literature, American Literature or something along those lines. Deaf literature is something that is beyond the boundaries of American Literature, but definitely falls into cultural studies. Too bad, this stuff is scarcely taught in schools, let alone in universities.

Thoughts?
 
Dixie said:
I know I am only a junior in my undergrad studies, but I'm considering grad school. I'm thinking about doing something related to deaf literature. I know that isn't a large arena and tends to be extremely narrow, but I think it's worth studying the contributions that deaf people have made to literature, beyond Helen Keller.

Everyone around here seems to be into Southern Literature, American Literature or something along those lines. Deaf literature is something that is beyond the boundaries of American Literature, but definitely falls into cultural studies. Too bad, this stuff is scarcely taught in schools, let alone in universities.

Thoughts?
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The scarcity of literature you mentioned makes me wonder where you will get your material, etc, should you decide to go for it?
 
ProjectMUSE is one of my favorite databases for research. Thank God my university subscribes to it so I have complete access to it. My academic advisor did her dissertation on feminism within children's literature. I've come across some of her stuff, very interesting how she looks at it through the eye of feminism. Roberta Trites Seelinger wrote a good primer on how to apply feminist theory to children's literature.

As for deaf literature, I have read the works of Harlan Lane and Dr. Paddy Ladd. Both are very good, but if I wanted to do more than dabble in it, I need to find more deaf authors that have made contributions to the history of literature. That's going to be hard to do. It will be likened to digging for female authors to add to the Canon after the predominance of wealthy, middle-aged authors for many centuries (IE- Mary Wallstonecraft's "The Vindication and Rights of Women").
 
I am hoping to get my cumulative GPA up to a 3.5 or above and hope I get offered a fellowship. If not, grad school will have to be put on hold until my undergrad loans get paid off.
 
Dixie said:
I am hoping to get my cumulative GPA up to a 3.5 or above and hope I get offered a fellowship. If not, grad school will have to be put on hold until my undergrad loans get paid off.
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yeah lets hope that they can give you the internship so that way you would have a chance to get in, then you ll be able to afford for the graduate courses.
 
I have been accepted into graduate school for the fall, I will be getting my MA in severe/multiple disabilities...

I think the area you want to study is very interesting! I say go for it! Word of advice though, wait a little bit after graduating from undergrad to apply for graduate school, most graduate schools want you to have work experience, I know a lot of people who applied to graduate school right after graduating and they did not get accepted and were told to wait a little bit
 
I have a Master's Degree. Cant believe it has been almost 12 years since I graduated with it. Time flies!
 
I myself just graduated with my Masters and will be returning to further my education in May. ( I needed a semester break! ) It's a lot of work and a hell of a lot of time. It's hard, and incredibly expensive... However, WELL worth it. If you can dedicate yourself to it, you'll be rewarded later. :) Good luck to you!
 
I only survived 1 year of grad school. Withdrew in my 2nd year...:( I doubt I will ever go back and finish the MA in that field. However I am toying with the idea of going back for a different bachelor's degree (namely Computer Science/Engineering if the math stuff didn't scare me witless- all I wanna do is program!)
 
Mewtilation said:
I myself just graduated with my Masters and will be returning to further my education in May. ( I needed a semester break! ) It's a lot of work and a hell of a lot of time. It's hard, and incredibly expensive... However, WELL worth it. If you can dedicate yourself to it, you'll be rewarded later. :) Good luck to you!
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Master's in drink and profanity?
:lol:
seriously though, really, so what are you after now??!
 
its too hard...i probably not bright enough grrrr...despite there is so much to believe in ...it just aren't winning 'listening ears' or 'reading eyes' from outsiders of the Deaf world.... some deafies might even say I'm not Deaf...but what that do to the freaking media show....there are spoilt and misguided politics grrr... whatever...some audists actually claims to be Deaf...oh well what can we do???
 
Grummer said:
really a Masters or a Bachelors?
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I have both. A Bachelors from Arizona State University in 1998 and then a Master's from Gallaudet University in 2002.
 
Grummer said:
..so you did a thesis?
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No, but I took 45 extra credits in my Master's program instead of a thesis. It depends on the program on whether one has to do a thesis or not.

I did several mini research projects involving data collection and etc. It wasn't my cup of tea but I did it and completed all the requirements. That's why I have no desire to go for a PhD.
 
For whatever reasons you want a Master's my only concern is paying for it. If you can get a scholarship so that you can get a free ride, why not?

But if it involves yet more student loans I would think twice about it and consider how good of an investment it is for when you get a job. It wouldn't be a good idea to tally up a 50 grand loan just so you can maybe get a job that pays 40 grand.

At least in my field of software programming, a master's degree is a waste of time and I have noticed that people who have a masters degree really just can't get a job with a bachelor's so they figure to go back to school in order to avoid paying off the student loans. (A loophole with student loans is that you don't have to start paying it back if you are in school)

With the deaf studies, I can't help but wonder what value would you gain from more classes? You could just go to deaf conferences and read the many texts available on deafness.

Good luck with your decision!
 
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At least in my field of software programming, a master's degree is a waste of time and I have noticed that people who have a masters degree really just can't get a job with a bachelor's so they figure to go back to school in order to avoid paying off the student loans. (A loophole with student loans is that you don't have to start paying it back if you are in school)
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True- I rarely see any jobs requiring a Masters (some do) but now I'm seeing more and more jobs demanding at least a Bachelor's in Computer Science or similar. Used to be that it didn't really matter. I managed to get away with it for years because of the years of experience; my bachelor's is in Early Childhood Education. But now I'm having a harder time finding something even though I have at least 7-10 years experience as a tester- they want a specific degree! Thus why I've been mulling going back and getting a second bachelor's but the requirements scare me silly-- Calculus?! I failed "Topics in Math" (no no real clue on the actual subject matter), barely passed Analysis (Pre-Calc I think really) in High School... high level math scares me silly.
 
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