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Graduate school wasn't my backup plan. It wasn't my plan at all.
I wanted to graduate from college as quickly as possible to save money. However, during a meeting with a writing professor in my penultimate semester, my plans changed. He suggested applying to a Master's program.
His one piece of advice? Make sure that I don't incur more debt. Since many Master's programs aren't fully funded, my search narrowed. Heeding his advice, I researched only a few programs that fit that criteria. After graduation, I applied to one program but wasn't accepted. So I threw myself into work, and the years whipped by.
After a half-decade of working in a profession that furthered other people's dreams, I realized I had to start putting myself first. For me, that meant advancing my education once again.
I ended up going to a fully funded Master's program five years after graduating from college, and it was the best decision I made.
I enrolled in an MFA program, where I wrote a lot and often drew from my upbringing.
Though I had many defining, rich memories as a child and young person, waiting until I was in my 20s to go to graduate school allowed me to draw upon more adult life experiences.
Continuing to work and build my career helped shape my background and gave me new perspectives I didn't immediately have after graduating college.
Since my graduate school program met at night, I continued to work full-time. If I had gone immediately to grad school from undergrad, where I worked multiple part-time jobs, I probably would have continued to cobble together my income through various jobs, freelance gigs, and side hustles.
But having a full-time job with benefits allowed me to have a consistent schedule to work around. That reliability allowed me to plan my work and academic calendar in a way that helped me establish a routine. It became a foundation for my success.
Since I had been working full-time for about half a decade by the time I enrolled in graduate school, I was able to have a small safety net. That extra money went to buying books and the extra bus rides I had to take to get to my school several times a week for classes and other events.
Working full-time also allowed me to make more than the minimum payments required for my student loan repayments from my undergraduate degree. A nice bonus to graduate school was that my student loans could be deferred, which meant I could keep saving to repay them without the pressure of having to make a payment.
To prepare for graduate school, I studied for the GRE. Even though the program I chose didn't ultimately require them, the studying I did helped me revisit some educational foundations.
Also, since I had time off from the academic rigor of undergrad, I was able to recharge a bit before diving into another academic setting immediately. This time off helped me get excited about learning and ready to tackle education again in a thorough, more meaningful way.
Working full-time in my field was very intense and time-consuming. Since I was salaried, I often worked unpaid overtime. Graduate school actually gave me a valid way to put up more boundaries for a work-life balance.
Ultimately, attending graduate school was a true honor, and it felt like a respite from the hectic demands of my day job. Graduate school was about making work that I was proud of, which was a nice change in my life. In a way, it helped me become my own boss.
