I've heard many people say that you should go to a different grad school as opposed to remaining at the same school as your undergrad. Why is this?
I've heard many people say that you should go to a different grad school as opposed to remaining at the same school as your undergrad. Why is this?
It depends on if your master's program is an extension of your undergrad or not or even in the same department.
The general reason is to get exposed to another school of thought on the subject matter.
For instance, Univ A might have profs with similar philosophies. So you took classes and learned some about that school of thought; Univ B has a different philosophy so you will get another perspective.
A few more things, less academic:
1) Get away from your comfort zone. I had friends who were in grad school in college when I was an undergrad, they hung out with us. Seems like they should have been hanging out with other students.
2) Gives you a chance to grow and make new contacts. It doubles the prof contacts you make as well. You get the benefits of the network from your undergrad profs and your grad profs.
3) Might be a nice break from 4+ years in the same place.
luv2run wrote:
A few more things, less academic:
1) Get away from your comfort zone. I had friends who were in grad school in college when I was an undergrad, they hung out with us. Seems like they should have been hanging out with other students.
2) Gives you a chance to grow and make new contacts. It doubles the prof contacts you make as well. You get the benefits of the network from your undergrad profs and your grad profs.
3) Might be a nice break from 4+ years in the same place.
This.
I'd goto the best grad program you can get into. That's: the best professors/researchers. Only stay at your current institution if you're a chemistry major at Cal Tech, or a physics major at UC-Santa Barbara, or genetics at Harvard...