Finish that Application!

The deadline for Penn GSE's Higher Education Master's program is March 1st.  I am wondering how many people out there are considering applying but have not completed their profile for fear that grad school may not be the right choice.  We have more news articles every day that tell us how graduates are struggling to get jobs in this (slowly improving) economy, even those with Master's and PhD's.  The threat of being burdened with further student loan debt may make Grad school look like it's not worth it anymore to a potential applicant.

But if you're thinking about applying, and you're checking out Penn GSE's website, and you're looking at the Admissions Blog, and you stumbled on to this blog (thanks for visiting!), I have to ask... why not apply?

We never know what's in store for us unless we take that good ol' leap of faith, if you will.  If you have begun an application (for any of the programs at GSE whose deadline has not passed or is based on rolling admission), you should go ahead and finish and give yourself a chance to be accepted at this great institution.  All of the worries of the world, and whether Grad School is worth it nowadays, doesn't really matter.  What matters is taking a chance and giving yourself as many possibilities and opportunities as possible.  The worse that can happen is you get rejected.  Getting rejected should not be looked at as a definitive reflection of self, I feel that it's more of a sign that the circumstance you want to put yourself in does not quite align with the timing you try to put yourself in it.

The best that can happen is you get accepted.  Then you can weigh the pros and cons of whether grad school would be worth it to you.  But at least give yourself that chance first.

So go ahead, finish that application.  You'll feel better once you do.