Update on Returning to School
So the list of possible choices for grad school has been evolving, leaving me even more confused. I'll tackle them one at a time then...
Animal Nutrition: The PhD program is probably going to be very hard to get into without a Masters. Particularly since on their website they say explicitly that preference will be given to applicants with an MS. This leaves me with the possibility of going for the Masters in Animal Science, concentrating on Nutrition, and from there either trying for the PhD or hoping for a job. I guess I should e-mail a faculty member or two and see what they think about the possibility of interdepartmental nutrition specialization for a Master's student. With the Animal Nutrition degree, my main goal is to work with exotics, and since the Animal Science Dept. itself is entirely focused on domestics, that could be quite difficult to arrange. But I'm not going to work with cows, chickens, or pigs for the rest of my life, so if I can't tweak the program to my own ends, I probably shouldn't even bother applying.
Human Nutrition: If I'm hoping to just do research then the MS program (complete with available assistantship) would be the way to go. But since I would more than likely prefer to be a dietitian, I would have to do the MFCS. This would be good for me because: 1- no thesis; 2-I get my masters degree while completing coursework to become a registered dietitian. This would be bad for me because the MFCS program rarely gets assistantships, and almost never gets them the first year. However, I know that I would enjoy this course of study, and could find a way to make the money work, (particularly with my grandma offering to help out)
Vet School: I think I've given up on this idea for now. I think I really feel that being a vet wouldn't be rewarding for me. Also, I would prefer to be able to spend time with animals outside of work, helping out through volunteering or fostering. I could always change my mind again, of course. But I think that when I decided against vet school back in my sophomore year of college I had a very good grasp of what I was doing.
Education: I'm leaning toward not pursuing this one as well. I can always substitute teach at a later date if I don't have to work full time and want to give this a shot.
Ecology: I didn't list this option on my original journal entry, but since then it has been growing on me. There are a few faculty members in the program who have research interests pretty close to my own on this topic. What I am interested in is behavior, reproduction, geographical ranges, human-animal interactions, predator-prey interactions, and populations. In short, conservation work (preferably with mammals) Getting in to this degree program is going to be VERY competitive, they only let in 10 masters students a year. But the more I think on it, the more that I am drawn to this.
So, for today at least, I am leaning most heavily towards an MS in Ecology, or a MFCS in Human Nutrition. I still have to decide just how many $50 application fees I want to pay to one university, but I guess a lot of that is going to depend on how well I do on my GRE, which I have signed up to take on my birthday, Aug 7 (Happy Birthday to me!) So at 1:00 pm on Tues the 7th, think of me, and wish me luck!
Animal Nutrition: The PhD program is probably going to be very hard to get into without a Masters. Particularly since on their website they say explicitly that preference will be given to applicants with an MS. This leaves me with the possibility of going for the Masters in Animal Science, concentrating on Nutrition, and from there either trying for the PhD or hoping for a job. I guess I should e-mail a faculty member or two and see what they think about the possibility of interdepartmental nutrition specialization for a Master's student. With the Animal Nutrition degree, my main goal is to work with exotics, and since the Animal Science Dept. itself is entirely focused on domestics, that could be quite difficult to arrange. But I'm not going to work with cows, chickens, or pigs for the rest of my life, so if I can't tweak the program to my own ends, I probably shouldn't even bother applying.
Human Nutrition: If I'm hoping to just do research then the MS program (complete with available assistantship) would be the way to go. But since I would more than likely prefer to be a dietitian, I would have to do the MFCS. This would be good for me because: 1- no thesis; 2-I get my masters degree while completing coursework to become a registered dietitian. This would be bad for me because the MFCS program rarely gets assistantships, and almost never gets them the first year. However, I know that I would enjoy this course of study, and could find a way to make the money work, (particularly with my grandma offering to help out)
Vet School: I think I've given up on this idea for now. I think I really feel that being a vet wouldn't be rewarding for me. Also, I would prefer to be able to spend time with animals outside of work, helping out through volunteering or fostering. I could always change my mind again, of course. But I think that when I decided against vet school back in my sophomore year of college I had a very good grasp of what I was doing.
Education: I'm leaning toward not pursuing this one as well. I can always substitute teach at a later date if I don't have to work full time and want to give this a shot.
Ecology: I didn't list this option on my original journal entry, but since then it has been growing on me. There are a few faculty members in the program who have research interests pretty close to my own on this topic. What I am interested in is behavior, reproduction, geographical ranges, human-animal interactions, predator-prey interactions, and populations. In short, conservation work (preferably with mammals) Getting in to this degree program is going to be VERY competitive, they only let in 10 masters students a year. But the more I think on it, the more that I am drawn to this.
So, for today at least, I am leaning most heavily towards an MS in Ecology, or a MFCS in Human Nutrition. I still have to decide just how many $50 application fees I want to pay to one university, but I guess a lot of that is going to depend on how well I do on my GRE, which I have signed up to take on my birthday, Aug 7 (Happy Birthday to me!) So at 1:00 pm on Tues the 7th, think of me, and wish me luck!