Blogocentric Formulations

Grad School

At the end of October, I will have officially been unemployed for a full year. While I've done some consulting here and there (and thankfully my wife has a full-time teaching job, with benefits), that ultimately means I've been without a full-time job of my own for almost an entire calendar year. That reality got me thinking about my life and what I've accomplished up to this point... and all the things I still want to accomplish.

One of those things is grad school. I don't really work in an industry where advanced degrees translate into higher salaries, but that's not the main reason I'm considering going back to school. The main reasons are that, one, I love to learn. While I certainly don't miss paying for the classes or textbooks, I miss academia. I didn't really appreciate it the first time (my parents were a little pushy in their insistence that I finish as quickly as possible, which didn't leave a lot of time for enjoyment or personal exploration), and I'm eager to go back and really dive into a course of study where I can apply myself and see how much I'm truly capable of accomplishing.

Secondly, I really have been thinking about another career path. I truly love the motion picture production process, and how creative and business elements mix to create a diverse project... but I'm also realizing that the business of making movies is taking away some of my enjoyment of the craft. The industry is highly competitive, the ladder to success is twisted, warped, and complicated... and quite frankly, there aren't a lot of people and companies out there who can actually get a movie or television show made. Sure, there are a lot of people trying to get them made, but most of them (even million-dollar companies) don't have the resources to actually make anything... which can be very, very frustrating for someone like me, whose entire career is oriented toward managing the process of making the product.

Thus, I think it might be time to reconsider grad school. I briefly entertained the idea a couple years ago, but dismissed it because, at the time, I had a decent-paying job and didn't want to take on any more debt. But now, with no job and few excuses left, I'm thinking that grad school might actually be something beneficial and edifying that I can do until jobs are somewhat easier to come by.

It's been a long time since I've dusted off the old transcripts, and I have no idea what my chances of admission are, but in the next three months, I'm planning on taking the GMAT test, and applying to the MBA programs at Stanford, Columbia, NYU, USC, and UCLA. I've always dreamed of going to a university known for its excellent program, and these five schools seem to have the best programs for what I'm looking to do. If I end up getting into USC or UCLA, it'll be an easy transition because they're within driving distance of our apartment. If it's Columbia or NYU, I'll get to live in New York for a couple years, which is something I've always thought about doing. And if it's Stanford, we'll be closer to family and friends in Northern California. So there's really not a bad option in there.

All I have to do is get in, right?

The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy. In addition to continuing to look for work, I've got five very intensive applications to finish, multiple essays to write and letters of recommendation to acquire for each of them, and the GMAT test, which will involve me remembering all the algebra, geometry, and other math concepts that I forgot immediately upon finishing my last college math class, almost eight years ago. Anyone remember how to do long division by hand? Or calculate the surface area of a cylinder?

At least the good news is that these five grad schools put a premium on the essays, letters of recommendation, and personal interviews. They're more about the "right fit" and "potential for success" than they are about the test scores or the GPA. Thank God for that.