Grad School...
So I'm feeling a bit more calm now about my future. :) I just spoke on the phone with someone from the Certification Department at University of Puget Sound, and I found out that I won't have to apply to their M.A.T. Program that I want to get into until March 2010, since I'm not graduating from Sac State until December of this year. This gives me plenty of time to focus on graduating from Sac State with good grades, time to take my GRE (explained below) and my CBEST (California Basic Educational Skills Test, something all aspiring teachers have to take before going into certification programs), and to move and get settled in. I can take the prerequisite courses for UPS there during the summer before the fall term starts and the actual program starts, so that's convenient, and there looks to only be two prerequisite courses (and these are education-related) as opposed to the 10 or so that UW Tacoma requires (and those were ugly classes like math and science crap that I would never use). It looks like I'd have just eleven classes to take total for my M.A.T. and certification, and there's even student teaching thrown in there. These classes will be split up over four semesters (summer, fall, spring, summer) so I'll get it done in about a year's time (so I'd be graduating from UPS in the summer of 2011).
The only two drawbacks I've found so far with this program are:
1) They don't offer an English as a Second Language subject matter program. I have to settle for teaching just English, as to native speakers. This isn't a big deal and I was prepared to settle for that, especially since I plan on teaching in Washington where the demand for ESL teachers is less.
2) They require a GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for matriculation. Basically I have to take a test to show that I'm worthy of going to grad school. It's kind of like the SAT, especially in the fact that some universities aren't requiring the GRE anymore. But UPS does. However, the not-so-bad thing that I found out was that I just have to take a general GRE, not a subject-specific one. And the subject-specific one (the English one) was what I was looking at yesterday that was scaring me. It was the one with the literature-specific questions that I had no clue about and I was getting scared cos it's not my fault my teachers haven't exposed me to certain pieces of literature! I didn't know if I'd have to do major studying for it or what. I still plan on studying for it and looking at the practise GRE, but I'm less concerned now that it's just a general one and will cover any and all subjects. Seems like it'll be less specific and maybe less intense that way.
So yeah. Next thing to think about is where else I should apply, since it's not good to just apply to one university, in case they don't accept me for some reason. I've already pretty much decided I don't like the program offered at UW Tacoma, so that leaves Pacific Lutheran University (no I'm not Lutheran, but they don't care and neither do I), and then the rest would be universities in Seattle, which I'm trying to shy away from since I don't want to make that drive from Tacoma all the time. So, we shall see, but I am glad at least I have one promising program to apply to and I have high hopes that I'll get into it, given the fact that I've been kicking ass with my grades at Sac State (with one tiny exception that shouldn't matter). :)
The only two drawbacks I've found so far with this program are:
1) They don't offer an English as a Second Language subject matter program. I have to settle for teaching just English, as to native speakers. This isn't a big deal and I was prepared to settle for that, especially since I plan on teaching in Washington where the demand for ESL teachers is less.
2) They require a GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for matriculation. Basically I have to take a test to show that I'm worthy of going to grad school. It's kind of like the SAT, especially in the fact that some universities aren't requiring the GRE anymore. But UPS does. However, the not-so-bad thing that I found out was that I just have to take a general GRE, not a subject-specific one. And the subject-specific one (the English one) was what I was looking at yesterday that was scaring me. It was the one with the literature-specific questions that I had no clue about and I was getting scared cos it's not my fault my teachers haven't exposed me to certain pieces of literature! I didn't know if I'd have to do major studying for it or what. I still plan on studying for it and looking at the practise GRE, but I'm less concerned now that it's just a general one and will cover any and all subjects. Seems like it'll be less specific and maybe less intense that way.
So yeah. Next thing to think about is where else I should apply, since it's not good to just apply to one university, in case they don't accept me for some reason. I've already pretty much decided I don't like the program offered at UW Tacoma, so that leaves Pacific Lutheran University (no I'm not Lutheran, but they don't care and neither do I), and then the rest would be universities in Seattle, which I'm trying to shy away from since I don't want to make that drive from Tacoma all the time. So, we shall see, but I am glad at least I have one promising program to apply to and I have high hopes that I'll get into it, given the fact that I've been kicking ass with my grades at Sac State (with one tiny exception that shouldn't matter). :)