By SALIMA GREIG

Contributing Writer

WAIT

School is a huge part of our lives for the first few years. 

We start at a young age and aren’t done until we’re in our twenties, or for some, even later on. 

This is a big chunk of life that we don’t get back. I have enjoyed school so far and have learned a lot but since I am only in my second year of college, I know that by the time I get to be a senior, I will be worn out.

I hear a lot of people talk about going to school to get their masters in business, education and other degrees. 

I think it’s better to wait. 

We have so much information stuffed into our brains year after year that it seems to become a blur. After studying for four years in college, it’s time to take a break and go out into the real world for a bit. 

I think it’s more important to get real life experience out of the first degree you get and then apply it to the next one that you want to have. 

My mom has always been very hard working and I would love to be able to help her out after I graduate. 

She has been there for me and my three brothers and I want to take an opportunity and apply what I learn in the real world to help her out. 

I know that she would be really grateful if I was able to help support the family for a little while, and I am happy to do so. 

Your family is some of the most important people in your life and you have to know how to help them out.

I don’t think it’s wrong that people go directly into grad school after their undergrad, I just believe that it’s a better use of your degree to use it right after graduating. 

There is always time to go back and get more degrees, so why take that time right away? 

I’m not one hundred percent positive, but I do believe that I will be too burned out on college to go into two more years of it right away. 

For me, the next step after my first degree will be putting that to good use and trying to be successful in the real world. 

By ALEXANDRA SMITH

Staff Writer

DIRECTLY

If you’re about to graduate, you probably have a lot of tough decisions to make as to what direction to take after getting your degree. One decision you may have to make is choosing whether to go to graduate school immediately after graduation or postpone graduate school. The good thing about going to grad school right after you get your undergraduate degree is that you have better access to professors who can write a good recommendation letter or fill out recommendation forms for you. But if you postpone graduate school and go years later, it would be difficult to get a recommendation from your professors, because they may have retired or may not even remember you.

You do have the option of getting a recommendation from your employer, but they may not be able to attest to your academic ability as well as your professor would. The tuition of colleges usually increases from one year to the next. If you go to grad school immediately after finishing undergraduate school, tuition will be as low as it will ever be. If you wait, tuition at the same school may have risen.

So choosing to go to grad school right away can save you a lot of money. As part of the grad school admission process, you have to take and make passing scores on grad school entrance exams such as the GRE and MAT. If you take the tests while you’re still in college, they might be easier, because the material is still fresh. But if you wait a while and take the tests later, you may have forgotten a lot of the material and would have to brush up on your skills.It’s not impossible to go back to school after a prolonged absence.

But the longer you wait, the harder it will be to remember the little details, like how to take good study notes, how to pace yourself during a long semester, or how to juggle final papers with your work schedule. We all lose the school mindset the longer we’re outside of the classroom. The longer you wait, the more difficult a transition back into an academic setting will be.