My trip to Boston

I described my trip to Boston in this post. Checkout my Soundslide project that shows Mercyhurst students presenting  communication research and having fun in Boston.

Alicia and I (left) visited the Cheers bar while in Boston.

Planning your application budget

I have already discussed the necessary steps and elements to applying to graduate school, but I think it's important to go over the money involved in this process. When I started thinking about graduate schools, I didn't realize how much money would be required just to apply.

GRE costs

One of the biggest factors I underestimated when thinking about cost was how expensive it is to take the GRE. It costs $160 to take the GRE. I spent $35 on a book that helped prepare me for the test. If you send your GRE scores to more than four schools or if you don't send them while at the test center, the cost is $23 per school. Taking the GRE and preparing it cost me $195, but if I had chosen to purchase more preparation materials or send more scores, it could have easily cost much more.

Application fees

The costs to apply to a grad school can quickly add up. When I applied to undergrad schools, all of the fees were waived if I applied online. This was not the same for grad schools. It cost me $30 to apply to Kent State University, $40 to apply to The Ohio State University and $50 to apply to Ohio University. All together, I spent $120 applying to grad schools.

Transcript expenses

When applying to grad schools, I never factored in the cost of sending transcripts. I thought transcripts were free because I already pay to go to school at Mercyhurst. I was wrong. It costs $5 to send each transcript. Even though I only applied to three schools, I had to send four transcripts because Ohio State required two. Now that I have accepted Ohio State's offer, I will need to send another transcript once the year is over showing that I graduated. Once I send this last transcript, I will have spent a total of $25 just for mailing in official transcripts. This fee would be more expensive if I had credits from another college or university.

Total costs

I spent $340 applying to graduate schools. While this is a lot of money, it could have easily been more expensive. By only applying to three schools, I was able to save on transcript fees, application fees and the cost of sending my GRE scores.

How to save

In order to make the best use of your money, I suggest you thoroughly research a school before applying to it; there's no point in applying to a school that doesn't offer your program. Also, limit the number of schools you apply to. Finally, fully prepare for the GRE before you take it. You're better off buying a $35 preparation book than paying another $160 to retake the test.

The many places research can take you

Last weekend I was able to travel to Boston with eight other Mercyhurst students to present research at the James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference. My research group, which consists of Alicia Cagle, Lindsay Cox and me, traveled to Washington D.C. last year to present research at this conference.  I talked about my experience there in this previous blog post.

This year, Alicia, Lindsay and I presented our paper titled "Framing of Muslims and America: A content analysis of opinion and news articles within international media outlets." Our paper looked at how Muslims and America are framed in relation to each other in both opinion and news articles from CNN, Fox News, NPR, The New York Times, BBC and Al Jazeera.

Alicia, Lindsay and I presented our
research during a poster session.

I was really excited to go back to this conference because last year's conference is the reason I started considering graduate schools. Different graduate schools with communication master's programs attend this conference to recruit students. Even though I wasn't interested in any of the schools that were at the conference, it's cool to hear about the different programs and opportunities. Just learning about these programs last year at the conference sparked my interest in grad school.

Another reason I was so excited to attend this conference was because I greatly enjoyed conducting this research, and I wanted to share our results with communication students and faculty. 

The three of us explored Boston when
we weren't presenting research.

 Sometimes you might not be excited about a topic when you start researching it, but if you work hard enough, you will become immersed in what you are studying. I wasn't extremely eager to begin studying the framing of Muslims in news sources when I began researching this topic in the fall of 2010. Now I just presented research on this same topic in the spring of 2012.

It sounds like such a long time to be researching the same topic, but my partners and I have been able to accomplish so much with our study. We were chosen as the top four paper at last year's Undergraduate Scholars Conference, we placed in the top five at the University of Buffalo's Research Symposium, we have been published in a communication journal and now we have presented at this year's Undergraduate Scholars Conference.

I'm not sure if I am done researching the framing of Muslims in news sources, but I'm very happy with the opportunities my research has provided me. I am looking forward to having opportunities to conduct research with faculty members at Ohio State next year, and I'm excited to see where this research will lead me.

Ohio State pros and cons

Even though I already decided to attend Ohio State University in the fall, I still want to go over the factors that affected my grad school decision.

Ohio State Pros

1. The communication master's program at Ohio State is a highly ranked program, and it focuses on communication instead of strictly journalism. Within the program, I can focus my studies on interpersonal communication, health communication, political communication or media uses and effects. Right now, I'm most interested in the media uses and effects concentration.

2.  As part of my assistantship at Ohio State, I will have the opportunity to teach and research. I'm extremely excited that I will get to assist with both of these tasks during my time at Ohio State. I'm not sure which job I will enjoy more, so I am glad I will get the opportunity to experience both.

3.  Ohio State not only offered me free tuition, but the school also offered me the largest stipend out of the three schools I applied to.

4.  Even though Ohio State is the third largest school in the country in terms of population, there will only be about 25 master's students in the program. Also, the largest class I will teach will have about 25 students in it. I am glad I will be able to get to know the students in my program, and I will receive individual attention as well because the program is relatively small. I am relieved that I will not be overwhelmed by having to teach a class with hundreds of students.

5.  Ohio State has wonderful research facilities. Rooms are available to communication students where they can record human partcipants playing video games, watching TV or talking online. They also have machines that can record a person's nonverbal communication. Their facilities will be more than adequate for any type of research I choose to conduct.

I am very excited about my decision to attend
The Ohio State University's Communication master's program.

There are so many more aspects that I am looking forward to at Ohio State, such as living in Columbus, the beautiful campus, and working with the faculty. I am so excited about my decision to attend The Ohio State University that I can't think of any cons.

I was almost certain I wanted to go to Ohio State once I was accepted and visited, so I didn't ask the other schools a lot of questions. For example, I never found out the actual amount of my stipend from Ohio University, but if I had been interested enough, I would have talked  to someone about it.

If you aren't sure of which offer to accept as you are making a grad school decision, don't be afraid to ask questions. You want to be as informed as possible before you decide to spend the next two years of your life at a school.

Ohio University pros and cons

Now that I've looked at the pros and cons of Kent State University, I'm going to list and explain my pros and cons about going to grad school at Ohio University.


I had visited Ohio University when deciding on undergrad and loved the campus and school itself. I chose to apply to OU because the school is well known for its Scripps School of Journalism. In fact, according to Wikipedia, The Scripps School "is considered one of the best journalism schools in the country."


Here is a look at my pros and cons for the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication master's of science Journalism program.

Ohio University has one of the top
journalism programs in the country.

Ohio University Pros:

1. The school is well known for its journalism program. I know that if I went there I would receive a quality education.
2. The campus is beautiful and is located in a "real" college town. I would be on a campus similar to the one I am now, just on a much larger scale.  

Ohio University Cons:    

1. The graduate program Ohio University offers is a master's of science in journalism. Since I'm more focused on teaching communication at the college level, I would rather enter a broader communication program than a more specific journalism one.
2. Ohio University expected me to make a decision on whether or not I would enroll in the fall by April 15. However prior to this date, the school never informed me of my stipend rate or what jobs my graduate assistantship would entail. In order to make an informed decision, I needed to have both of these details clearly explained.
3. Ohio University is about four hours away from home. I know this isn't extremely far, but I wanted to choose a school that was a little closer to home.

      It probably looks bad that I could only think of two reasons to go to Ohio University, but it just wasn't my top choice for grad schools. I applied there in case I didn't receive the offers I was looking for from Kent State or Ohio State. It's not that Ohio University is a poor grad school, it is just that it isn't the right school for me.

      For help finding a school that is right for you, visit PhDs.org. This site allows you to search for grad schools based on your field of study, and then you can rank the programs based on location, placement, size, diversity, and cost.

Kent State University pros and cons

Once I received my grad school acceptance letters, I had to seriously think about each offer. There were many differences between each school and offer, but several factors were the same for the three schools I applied to.

I received a graduate assistantship with stipend at all three schools, and I would be required to work about 20 hours a week at each one. I also received free tuition from all three schools.

 I considered all of the pros and cons of each school in order to make my decision. Here is a look at my pros and cons for the master’s of communication program at Kent State University.



Kent State was one of my top choices for graduate school.



Kent State University Pros:

1.  I really like the communication studies program. It is broad, so I would be able to study a variety of topics within communication. I would be able to focus my degree into one or two areas consisting of: health communication, interpersonal communication and mediated/mass communication.
2. One of the required courses for the program is titled Teaching of College Communication. This class sounds perfect for what I want to do with my degree, which is teaching communication at the college level.
3. Kent is close to home; it is only about an hour away. Distance is important to me because I love having the option to go home if I need to. Mercyhurst is only about one hour and 15 minutes away, which I think has been a good distance because I have always been able to go home when I wanted to.   

Kent State University Cons:    

1.  Kent’s stipend was the lowest amount I was offered. It was a little more than half of what Ohio State offered. In fact, the stipend was the same amount as when one of my professors received her master’s degree from there in 1998.
2. I would only receive tuition remission for nine credits each semester. If I took more than nine credits, I would have to pay for each additional credit.
3. The offer letter I received from Kent did not explain what my job requirements would entail. I was not told whether I would be a teaching assistant, research assistant or graduate assistant. I emailed a communication professor at Kent and asked questions, but she only alluded to the fact that I might be required to teach. I was never told exactly what I would be required to do.

My grad school offers

After searching for schools, taking the GRE, sending in applications and waiting about a month, I heard back from the three schools I applied to.

I applied to The Ohio State University Master’s of Arts Communication program, Kent State University Master’s of Arts Communication program and The Ohio University Master’s of Science Journalism program. I was accepted to all three schools and received a graduate assistantship with stipend at all the schools as well.  

Ohio State offered me free tuition and a stipend for working 20 hours a week as a grad assistant. My duties would involve either assisting with research or teaching. 



I was so excited when I received my acceptance letter
from The Ohio State University.

 Kent State offered me free tuition for up to nine credits a semester and a stipend for working 15-20 hours a week as a teaching assistant. The fact that I was not offered free tuition in full made me nervous. However, when I asked a professor from the communication program, she told me I would typically only take nine credits a semester. My Kent State stipend amounted to about half of what Ohio State offered.

Ohio University offered me free tuition and a stipend to be a grad assistant, but they never gave me an actual amount for my stipend. I was told the normal stipend is about $9000, but I was never given an exact amount. The details of my assistantship and what I would be doing were never explained either, but this was my third choice for a school, so I didn’t ask a lot of questions or try to find out all the details.

All of my offers covered the nine months of the school year when I would be working. I would get breaks between semesters and my summers off as well.

My plan was to only go to graduate school if it would be free and if I would get paid for it. If I was going to have to pay to get a master’s degree, I would apply to jobs instead. Because of this plan, I only applied to schools where I knew funding was available. I was lucky enough to have all the schools I applied to offer the funding I was looking for.

The Chronicle of Higher Education allows you to search for schools and look at the stipends they offered graduate assistants during 2008-09. Although these numbers may be out of date, it is helpful to know how much money students made three years ago. The website also explains if the school offers health benefits to its students, how many grad students were enrolled in specific programs and the amount of hours grad assistants were required to work.

Of course, if you have specific questions about a program, the school itself is always the best place to go for an accurate answer.