Where should I go for graduate school?

[paradise!]

*cough* It's not like I go to OSU or anything and know the rules, seeing as I did take AP classes. However, I came in with 70 credit hours - but that's because I took college classes in high school, which doesn't count as AP credit, therefore doesn't apply to the 45 credit hour guideline.

http://www.ureg.ohio-state.edu/ourwe.../CurrentEM.pdf
See "How much EM Credit can be earned?" in the right column.

Also, I'm trying to remember what AP classes our high school even offered. If I remember correctly - Government, Chemistry, Calculus, English, German, Psychology. I know you took French, so scratch that one off the list. And I heard AP Gov't and Psych are both jokes that aren't really AP classes, but I'll count them anyway.

Now, assuming you got 5's on everything (ha), you'd get 5 credit hours for Gov't, 10 for Chem, 10 for Calc, 5 for English, 5 for Psych. If I did my math right (and I did, I'm an actuary), that's 35 credit hours.

The only way your story would be slightly plausible was if you took AP German and got a 5, like I did, awarding 25 credit hours. Except you took French. And you can't transfer in 60 credit hours of AP.

Nice try though :flowers:


PS - Ilya do my taxes

EDIT: And don't try to say that you were good enough after 4 years of French to take the AP test on your own and score a 5. Anyone that went to our school can attest to the fact that French is a complete joke. Madame is a cool person, but she's no Frau when it comes to teaching.

Wow where to begin even on this post.

Well first off, I came into big nut as a sophmore and entered in french 4 that same year and aced it. Yes, the class was a joke, and madame is a nice person. I grew up in canada so I learned a bit of french there and tested out of 3 levels of it. So, I took the AP class that year and got a 5 (I was 15 and literally studied only the night before). Who cares if the classes themselves are jokes? Who is even talking about the classes themselves? The AP scores are the equalizer.

I'm not sure what '25' credit hours youre talking about as the requirement for foreign language at OSU is only 4 classes or 20 credit hours. Either way, I got my 20 there. 4 in gov, 5 in calc AB, 5 in psych, 4 us history (freshman year), I took a summer anthropology class and a microecon class at c-state last summer, theres another 10. You really don't think this adds up to 60? You can do the math, mrs. actuary, oh and feel free to count the EM hours i got for getting credit for taking a calc exam at orientation that put me in 153 in the fall. It might not add up to exactly 60, but the shit is close enough

now get to tabulatin'

[Ilya]

on normal forums, dudes brag about the size of their dongs

on 2d spaceship forums, dudes brad about how many credits they entered college with

[Squeezer]

Thanks Gen, Fit, 404, Scurvy and others. I'm working on it still but I appreciate the advice.

And how is Mathematician a good job? Much less top 5. I call bullsheet

edit: Then again I've never taken a single Calc class in my life despite the fact that they're apparently coveted by 1st year students.

[Galleleo]

lol at Paradise.

Also, para, "literally" studying only the night before is what I have been doing throughout my entire school career, and trust me no shit you got in high school or pre-college tests or what bullshit have you do come anywhere close to the kinds of tests I get at my university (which is why I don't ace them) so check yourself before you wreck yourself.

wait nvm, you already wrecked yourself.

[Stompa]

So I was in a similar position. No one in my family went to college either. I went to a liberal arts school for undergrad, and finished in 5 years, too (but I don't know what school you went to). My major was Psych w/ a minor in Philosophy, although my actual degree says "Bachelor of Arts" with no mention of my concentration. My GPA was only 3.2. I took a year to decide where to go next. Decided I didn't want to do clinical psych, and applied to schools of public health.

My advice (based on my process for grad school applications):

1. Decide what kind of school you want to go to. What kind of program? English? Creative Writing? Journalism? I don't know anything about these types of schools.
2. Once you've narrowed down type of school/curriculum, find out who the major accrediting organization is, and pull up a list of all accredited schools. For public health it is the Council on Education for Public Health, for example. You sound like you have done well enough that you can opt to not go to an unaccredited school.
3. At the same time, look up rankings of schools/programs in your field. Going to a school ranked 5th vs. a school ranked 10th isn't really a big deal, but when comparing it is worth knowing if a school isn't ranked, and if a school is ranked 7th.
4. Go to these schools' websites and READ ABOUT their programs curriculum including COURSES OFFERED, faculty research interests and background, etc. If you are going to graduate school, you are choosing to do something you should be interested in. You don't want to end up at a school and find out you are bored/there's nothing to do. Of course, take into account location as well. For example, I really wanted to go to California, and Berkeley has an excellent school of public health, but didn't have the program I wanted to do. University of Texas - Houston has a great program, but I didn't really want to live in Houston. Hopkins has the best program, but for fuck sake Baltimore is terrible.
5. As you narrow down your potential programs, take note of APPLICATION DEADLINES, as the whole application process will fuck you if you don't stay on top of your shit. Be aware of application fees, which programs require what (eg. letters of recommendation, certain test scores (GMAT/GRE?)). Also, start planning to register for the GRE.
6. Email/call/talk to professors, advisers, and anyone else connected to the programs you're interested in. It will never hurt your case to show others you are interested in both the school/program and your field of interest.
7. Study for the GRE. I never studied for the ACT/SAT (and got fairly lackluster scores). I studied for the GRE for about 2 weeks and got a 1320. Schools are more interested (in my experience) in your percentile rank than your actual raw score. For instance a 600 Verbal got me in the 85th percentile my year, but may differ when you take it. Also, that verbal section is a bitch. Fuck antonyms. For verbal, I studied using a GRE vocabulary flash-card-type book and memorized root words and affixes. I highly recommend the Kaplan book materials.
8. Look for available scholarships. They will differ by school. Hopkins offered me no money and there were few-to-no scholarships available to me. Emory gave me $3,000, but again few scholarships. The school I'm at now had a scholarship I figured I had a good shot at--and I got it--$15,000/year makes a big difference.
9. Secure letters of recommendation. I was pretty lucky and had some great variety - an MD, a CEO, and someone high up who has an MPH.

I applied to 4 schools and got into all of them: U of S Florida, Emory U, Johns Hopkins U, and the George Washington University. I think what ultimately made me successful was I had the track record proving I was interested in what I was applying for. I have done nothing but work with mental illness for the past 6 years; my education and job choices reflected that. So when I applied to these schools of public health, I highlighted that I was most interested in mental health as a niche within public health. I'm willing to bet they just ate that up. I'm of the impression that schools are more interested in how serious/engaged you are than how good your academics are (although this can't hurt). My GPA was pretty lackluster, but I was clearly interested and had a strong GRE.

I suppose that's the best advice I can give.

[gran guerrero]

go where the best weed is at

[Galleleo]

So I was in a similar position. No one in my family went to college either. I went to a liberal arts school for undergrad, and finished in 5 years, too (but I don't know what school you went to). My major was Psych w/ a minor in Philosophy, although my actual degree says "Bachelor of Arts" with no mention of my concentration. My GPA was only 3.2. I took a year to decide where to go next. Decided I didn't want to do clinical psych, and applied to schools of public health.

My advice (based on my process for grad school applications):

1. Decide what kind of school you want to go to. What kind of program? English? Creative Writing? Journalism? I don't know anything about these types of schools.
2. Once you've narrowed down type of school/curriculum, find out who the major accrediting organization is, and pull up a list of all accredited schools. For public health it is the Council on Education for Public Health, for example. You sound like you have done well enough that you can opt to not go to an unaccredited school.
3. At the same time, look up rankings of schools/programs in your field. Going to a school ranked 5th vs. a school ranked 10th isn't really a big deal, but when comparing it is worth knowing if a school isn't ranked, and if a school is ranked 7th.
4. Go to these schools' websites and READ ABOUT their programs curriculum including COURSES OFFERED, faculty research interests and background, etc. If you are going to graduate school, you are choosing to do something you should be interested in. You don't want to end up at a school and find out you are bored/there's nothing to do. Of course, take into account location as well. For example, I really wanted to go to California, and Berkeley has an excellent school of public health, but didn't have the program I wanted to do. University of Texas - Houston has a great program, but I didn't really want to live in Houston. Hopkins has the best program, but for fuck sake Baltimore is terrible.
5. As you narrow down your potential programs, take note of APPLICATION DEADLINES, as the whole application process will fuck you if you don't stay on top of your shit. Be aware of application fees, which programs require what (eg. letters of recommendation, certain test scores (GMAT/GRE?)). Also, start planning to register for the GRE.
6. Email/call/talk to professors, advisers, and anyone else connected to the programs you're interested in. It will never hurt your case to show others you are interested in both the school/program and your field of interest.
7. Study for the GRE. I never studied for the ACT/SAT (and got fairly lackluster scores). I studied for the GRE for about 2 weeks and got a 1320. Schools are more interested (in my experience) in your percentile rank than your actual raw score. For instance a 600 Verbal got me in the 85th percentile my year, but may differ when you take it. Also, that verbal section is a bitch. Fuck antonyms. For verbal, I studied using a GRE vocabulary flash-card-type book and memorized root words and affixes. I highly recommend the Kaplan book materials.
8. Look for available scholarships. They will differ by school. Hopkins offered me no money and there were few-to-no scholarships available to me. Emory gave me $3,000, but again few scholarships. The school I'm at now had a scholarship I figured I had a good shot at--and I got it--$15,000/year makes a big difference.
9. Secure letters of recommendation. I was pretty lucky and had some great variety - an MD, a CEO, and someone high up who has an MPH.

I applied to 4 schools and got into all of them: U of S Florida, Emory U, Johns Hopkins U, and the George Washington University. I think what ultimately made me successful was I had the track record proving I was interested in what I was applying for. I have done nothing but work with mental illness for the past 6 years; my education and job choices reflected that. So when I applied to these schools of public health, I highlighted that I was most interested in mental health as a niche within public health. I'm willing to bet they just ate that up. I'm of the impression that schools are more interested in how serious/engaged you are than how good your academics are (although this can't hurt). My GPA was pretty lackluster, but I was clearly interested and had a strong GRE.

I suppose that's the best advice I can give.

Holy crap that's a hassle... makes me glad I'm Dutch. Choices are a lot easier here.

[Stompa]

Holy crap that's a hassle... makes me glad I'm Dutch. Choices are a lot easier here.

Deciding what kind of program I wanted to do / what school to attend was more difficult than the actual application process.

[phata$$]

I have done nothing but work with mental illness for the past 6 years

So that's why you were always playing in pub. Research.