Grad School Story (Pt. 1)

So, this is going to be the first of two eventual posts today, albeit with two very different focuses. This one is coming during a study break for finals, and focuses on what I have in mind post graduation since it's been a recurring question I have gotten. As such, there's a bit of a story to be had...

Those who know me in real life know two things - first, that I am an Aerospace Engineering major, and second, that I intend to go to graduate school. Not because I need it, but because I can see myself too easily becoming bored in the regular 9-5 jobs that most engineers take post-graduation. A career goal of mine is also to become a college professor, and naturally graduate school is the means to that end.

I decided over the summer to get a drop on applying for graduate schools. If I could get it all done early, it was one thing off of my plate, AND my application was sitting on top of the pile. So, I took the GRE over the summer and began searching for potential graduate programs of interest.

In the process of narrowing down schools, I started flipping through a few professors' work at each school to see if their research interested me. One professor at Penn State stuck out for his work on aerodynamics, so I resolved to contact him that next week. I decided to take a different route to help myself stand out, so I chose to call the professor as opposed to the typical emails that I'm sure he got.

One ring... two rings... "Hello?". Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. I actually got an answer? A professor at the UA answering their emails was a rare enough occurrence (and I honestly figured it carried to most other places), but I actually got an answer on the phone! This meant I had to actually think on my feet now. The professor and I had a nearly 20 minute conversation about what I'm interested in, the work he does, and other topics. At the end of the conversation, he actually invited me out to the campus to meet him and tour his labs. Needless to say, I got to work on my ticket there right away.

A few months passed and I was on my way. Thanks to some good friends from high school, I had a place to stay as well. Off I went to Penn State to meet the professor and tour the labs, which turned out to be a very enlightening experience. The professor said he definitely was interested in having me there, but there was one problem - the ever present money issue. I didn't realize it at the time, but Pennsylvania is hurting financially worse than most other states. He said he did have one grant out at the moment, and he'd let me know how that one turned out. If he got it, the money would be there... if he didn't, well... you get the idea.

All and all, I felt the meeting went really well. The professor was honest with me in terms of my strengths, weaknesses, and problems that may lie ahead. He didn't sugarcoat anything, but he was honest. He felt that I had an excellent chance of getting accepted, but that getting the funding to go would be a definite question mark, as it was for a great many students today. He said to keep in contact, and to let him know if I had any other questions for him, and he would let me know about how the grants played out.

As a bit of a side note (since when I tell this story, this part tends to surprise people), in science and engineering fields, it is very common that graduate school tuition is waived, along with paying a stipend. In most engineering fields (and a decent percentage of science fields), there is an unspoken rule that if you do not get funded, it's a sign that the school doesn't particularly want you and you should look elsewhere. This is not specifically the case here, but the rule regarding that you should be funded for graduate school stands. This is why funding came up at all as opposed to 'take a loan ya bum'. Well... that, and I can't afford to go to graduate school without it.

I now realize that this one entry is getting pretty lengthy, so I think I'm going to call this part of the story good here. It's an excellent stopping point, and I will just figure to add on another post later today during another study break (in addition to my already planned post from earlier) that will wrap up the second half of this story.