Oh man, how do I sum up these past few weeks? Well, for starters I’ve been looking at going into Masters Programs at two different schools. Am I WILD or what?! The first school I went to was Marquette. It’s really nice; they called me “Ms. Kimberlin” one-too-many times, but that’s besides the point…
“Oh may I get you anything Miss Kimberlin? Do you have a map Miss Kimberlin?” A young student says, skipping around me like he’s never seen someone dressed in business casual before. Hey, I just came from work.
“Please, call me Jillian,” I say, wincing at the name ‘Miss Kimberlin’, “I just graduated with a bachelors degree and…”
“Oh? From here Miss Kimberlin? You know you can transfer some of your credits Miss…”
“Stop,” I interrupt, holding up my hand. “Jillian.”
“Of course Miss…” He starts. I glare him down. “…Jill?”
“…Better.” I say, nodding.
The school, in itself, was very nice. We get to a “classroom”, which consisted of about 6 students gathered around a large round table situated in what looked like a small meeting room. Only, the walls were covered in posterboard projects and it had the strange smell of glue and marijuana…maybe it was just me.
I stood outside foolishly, the door wide open and the deep voice of the professor echoing down the hallway. I look back at the student giving me the tour; he stares back at me wide-eyed - He clearly wasn’t going to interrupt. I felt like I was interrupting a meeting, not a class. After I sat down he started talking about Bioinformatics again - I forgot that is what the guide told me I was sitting in.
It’s a nice school, but I honestly don’t think I can justify paying 800 dollars Per. Credit. Hour. For. Tuition.
The periods are necessary.
The second school I went too is Carroll University. They JUST changed their name to “Carroll University” from “Carroll College”, and dammit they are proud. Even while I was sitting with a woman explaining the program, she pointed to my folder and said playfully, “Oh, you can cross out the College and write ‘University’ if you want extra brownie points”.
So, I did.
VERY nice school. It’s situated in downtown Waukesha, WI. Which, I didn’t realize was about 75% people my age who just graduated. It seems that all of the houses and general residence in the surrounding area are bought up by students who just graduated from Carroll. It’s actually pretty nice.
Oh yeah, and the tuition there is only $425 per credit hour. HALF of Marquette. I get the feeling all I’m paying for is the name “Marquette”. I guess it makes sense, I mean, people pay more for brand names like “Sony”, “Tommy Hilfiger”, and “Michael Jordan”. Why not college, too?
The girl who showed me around was very nice. Most of the buildings on the campus look like they have been there for awhile; older-type stones make up every wall. Nothing is drywall except for the gym; kinda feels like they made the school from leftover parts of a castle with the high wooden crossbeams and stone columns holding up every piece of the building. I’m half-expecting to see torches in brackets along the wall as she gives me the tour.
“And, this is our largest lecture hall,” She says, motioning down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs it opens up into one room with about 5 rows of tables and 30 chairs situated in it.
“I’m sorry…did you say largest?” I ask, thinking of the 300-desk class that I had Accounting in (twice), and two math courses. Or the AUDITORIUM (no, I’m not kidding), where I had Psychology that easily had 500 plus students, even some were in the balcony on test days.
“Well yes, of course, we have about 3500 students here,” She starts. I think my mouth about hits the floor at this point, “What’s wrong?”
“Erm, did I mention that I went to a school with 20 THOUSAND students in it?” I say, allowing myself a small laugh. Her mouth forms a small ‘o’, and she nods.
“Wow,” She says, “Well, you won’t find those large classrooms here!”
“That is a plus,” I say. It was at that point that I asked her, what could be quite possibly the most stupid of questions:
“Is this a private school?”
“Uhm…yes?”
“Ah…I’m sorry that’s what I thought, I just wasn’t sure about it…” I say, a bit flabergasted. I trip all over my sloppy apology as I come to realize what a stupid question it was. She assures me that it was fine, and leads me back to the computer labs, where they have (GASP) FREE PRINTING!
That makes up for the fact that their library is rather small and uninteresting, unlike the two-story Marquette library complete with over 100 digital catalogs and sound-proof study rooms. I was practically drooling all over the brand new scanners as she led me around the computer lab.
However, overall, I think Carroll College is my number one choice.
Wish me luck as I send in about 100 different items worth of paperwork, because they don’t require that I take the GRE (Graduate Entrance Exam, basically). So I have to practically write a NOVEL about why I want to come to Carroll and what will I do to help my work…no, the WORLD with my Masters? Also, what EXACTLY is the function of a rubber chicken and please explain in less than 10 paragraphs the meaning of life - be objective and specific.
I guess the only question now is: would I like cream or sugar?
