This Fall, I will be an official Grad School student in the History Department at Tufts University. Which sounds pretty impressive, until you remember that that the only thing that’s really changing is the official part of that sentence. I’ve been taking classes for a few years now… but now I will be enrolled in a program, I can register for classes before the start of the semester, and they’ll have to (eventually) give me a degree. I also had to fork over 300 bucks in order to accept their acceptance (and so it begins…).
I’m going to be studying American History, and I’m pretty sure that I want to focus on american newspapers. The professor that I’ve been working with this semester already has about 27 different ideas for thesis topics. And that was before I got the official notice that I’d been accepted into his program.
What does this mean for you, dear blog readers? Not much, although I will probably continue to neglect Book Report Friday (it’s pretty hard to read a reviewable book a week when you’re already reading a ton of books for school). And I will occasionally be writing some posts about interesting events in history. Folks seemed to like my posts about the Suez Canal Crisis and Earnest Shackleton.
In the short term, this doesn’t mean that much for me. I’m going to continue working my same job and they’re going to continue paying for my same classes. At some point, I’ll write a thesis. And then, at some point, they’ll give me a diploma. Hopefully, I’ll have learned a thing or two along the way. I’m in my fourth class right now and I’m taking two classes over the Summer. You only need 10 credits to graduate, so I’m heading in the right direction. Two more classes next year and then a thesis.
And then… who knows? Probably nothing, but I’ll have a free Masters. And that’s nothing to complain about!
So… what should I do to celebrate?
Get a really comfortable desk chair! For real though – got a yoga chair this semester, and I did homework in it for like four hours! As opposed to my usual 45 minutes, then a bunch of squirming. Oh, also, maybe party a little! Congratulations!
This is exciting! Congrats!
I’m a big fan of reading while curled up on the couch. Or, curled up on the guest room bed with no electronic gadgets within sight.
I think we need to get together and do some celebrating!
Thanks! š
So when you graduate can we call you Dr. Ruth?
I am too jealous for words. Someone is paying you to take history classes? That sounds like a dream come true to me.
Wow, Hope, congratulations for your officialness! I love the idea of focusing on American newspapers. So relevant when you think of the influence they used to wield and how that influence has been diluted, even threatened, by the rapid-fire growth of electronic media, television news channels, etc.
I’ve always secretly wanted to get my Masters. There’s a program at a University in Pittsburgh that lets you do most of your work long distance and come up for a couple of one week stints a year. After this December, I start earning five weeks of vacation a year and am seriously considering applying for the program.
I won’t have a doctorate (yet!), so you’ll have to call me Master Ruth.
I work in academia, so I can take 2 classes a semester for free. I make up for it with a much smaller salary. š
Thanks, Mary! I’m really fascinated by newspapers. It’s sometimes hard to believe, but they were once hugely profitable! It was actually quite the difficult task to find a newspaper for sale if you wanted to get into the business. I want to look at the technology that helped to create and shape the modern newspaper. I’ll do a few writeups on the blog at some point.
You should totally apply to that program! What would you study?
Good for you, Hope! Getting my Masters early in my career was one of my best moves, EVER. Now if only I was debt free so I could take on my coveted PhD
I feel like having a Masters in pretty much anything opens up a lot of doors. Plus, I’m a History nerd, so it’s actually kind of fun.
My ultimate goal is to go back to school full time and get a PhD, but that’s going to be a lot more difficult!
Is your Masters in Education? Both my sister and my mom have that. And my other sisters have Masters degrees as well. Right now, I’m the least educated sister. I guess I come from a family of smarty pants. :p