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.

Submitting materials continued

Along with sending in your application, recommendation letters, personal statement and transcript, you will likely need to submit a resume, writing samples and/or a portfolio. Your resume, writing samples and resume are the areas where you can show what experience you have and really make yourself stand out.

The New York Times posted an article yesterday titled "Do Grades Matter?"  (you have to log in to view it). The article discusses just how important grades are for getting accepted into grad school.

Sheila Curran, president of Curran Career Consulting, is quoted saying, “The more you have relevant work experience in a particular area, the less important grades are. But if you want to become a professor, then grades are absolutely essential."

I think this quote nicely sums everything up. If your transcript doesn't show what you want it to, your experiences related to your field of study can make up for poor grades. Though, the importance of grades does depend on what profession you want.

If you do have excellent grades, you need to have experience as well to show that you can excel beyond the classroom.





Grades aren't everything. To be accepted into grad school, you need a combination
of decent grades, positive recommendations and experience in your field.

   When working on your resume to submit to grad schools, you want to highlight your out-of-class experiences. Most likely, your professors who write letters of recommendation for you will boast about your work inside the classroom, and your transcript will show all of the classes you have taken.

You should construct your resume so that it explains all of the experiences you have that relate to your chosen field of study. If you worked on an important class project that relates to what you want to do in grad school, that's fine to put on your resume to send to graduate school, but don't waste space by listing your relevant coursework.

If you are required to submit a portfolio or writing samples, choose several pieces of work that relate to what you want to study at grad school. Try to select projects that are quite different from each other to show the wide-array of work you have completed. Also, choose writing samples or projects that you are proud of. If you did not receive a great grade on it or if you didn't put your full effort into it, odds are the admissions committee won't be impressed by it either.

For more tips about selecting or creating a writing sample, read the article "Producing a 'Winning' Grad School Writing Sample."

Submitting materials to grad school

Once you submit your grad school applications, it’s time to work on the rest of the required materials. All of the schools I applied to required a college transcript. I sent in my transcripts right after I applied to schools because Mercyhurst is notorious for its inept registrar’s office and slow mailroom. The transcripts have to be sent by the school, which I was extremely nervous about.

Even though I was wary, I filled out the form in the registrar’s office, turned in the required $10 for them to mail an official transcript and hoped for the best. Luckily, all of my transcripts made it to their destinations.

The transcript process was easy, but prior to sending them, I did not account for them costing money. So on top of the application fees, check with your college or university to find out how much it costs to send official transcripts.

You should also realize that some schools will require more than one transcript. I had to send two for Ohio State. I sent one to the school of communication and one to the graduate committee at Ohio State. With the application and transcripts, it cost me $80 to apply to Ohio State, and that’s not including the cost to take the GRE.

After you take care of sending in your transcripts, it’s time to work on your personal statement. This was the one part of the application process I was dreading because I had no idea what I was supposed to write.
One professor told me that I should write a paragraph about my experiences in college that have prepared me to begin studying at the graduate level, a paragraph about why I want to study in the particular program I’m applying for and a paragraph that explains what I want to do with a master’s degree.

Her directions got me off to a good start, and this website from Purdue gave helpful advice and allowed me to understand what exactly I should be writing.

Some schools will be more detailed than others in their directions for writing personal statements. Ohio University had few specifications for what they wanted to see in my personal statement. My Ohio University personal statement can be found on my online portfolio. 

Ohio State gave me certain questions to answer. For example, I had to explain what areas of research I am interested in and which faculty members I would most like to conduct research with. To be able to answer these questions, I had to read about the Ohio State communication faculty members and examine their past research projects. I then chose the ones I was most interested in.

It's okay to use a lot of the same information in your personal statements for different schools, but make sure you change all the names in the letter to match the program and school you are submitting it to. Also be honest about your goals and always have someone else read it before you send it in.

Applying to a school

Even though I have already made my grad school decision, it was not an easy one, and there were many steps involved in reaching the point where I was ready to make a decision. 

After I received my GRE scores, I started applying to schools. There are many parts to an application, and the following is a list of the items I was required to submit.

1.       Application

2.       Transcripts

3.       GRE scores

4.       Letters of recommendation

5.       Personal statement

6.       Resume

7.       Writing samples

8.       Portfolio

I’ll discuss all of these requirements at a later time, but I want to focus on the application itself for this post. Some of these requirements will be different depending on the program and school you are applying to. If you had ETS send in your GRE scores or other required test scores to the school you are applying to, that part of the application process is already done.

The applications were fairly basic and easy to complete, and all three of the applications I submitted were online. They typically focused on personal information, such as contact information, test scores and educational background.

A couple of the applications I filled out asked for the contact information of the professors I wanted to write recommendations for me. Make sure you ask your professors first before you sign them up to write letters for you. It is useful to talk to them about what program you are applying to and what you want to do with a master’s degree. I had a teacher ask if I would rather be a teaching assistant, graduate assistant or research assistant because one application had her rank in order of what job I would be best at. Communicating your goals to your professors will help them give you the best recommendation possible.

Keep in mind that most applications have fees associated with them. The three schools I applied to had fees ranging from $30-$60. There will also be more fees required later on when you submit your transcripts.

It is important to complete these applications and submit them at least one month before the application deadline. Once these are submitted, you can begin sending in the other required materials. By applying a month in advance of the deadline, this allows enough time for your professors to recommend you, and it gives you time to focus on perfecting everything else that will help you be accepted to the program you are interested in.

My decision

After nearly eight months of researching schools, preparing for the GRE, applying for schools and evaluating my offers, I have made a grad school decision. I have decided to attend The Ohio State University, and I will be studying in the School of Communication Master’s program. Starting in the fall of 2012, I am going to be a Buckeye!

I have decided to go to graduate school
 at The Ohio State University.

Although I thought this would be a difficult decision to make, I was sure of where I wanted to study once I visited Ohio State.

The School of Communication invited me to visit this past weekend, along with 19 other students. The school booked us each a hotel room, took us out to a wonderful dinner (where I had a $9 martini and $17 meal), funded our night out at a bar and reimbursed me for the gas I used to drive to and from Columbus. How could I say no to that?



Every year, Ohio State students jump in Mirror Lake
during November before the Michigan game.

However, the program itself and the people I met were the real reason I chose Ohio State. I met with the director of the communication program, many communication professors and current MA and Ph.D. students. All of them were extremely welcoming and willing to answer any questions I had. The students were truthful and explained both their likes and dislikes of the program, but many had wonderful things to say about studying communication at Ohio State.

The communication program Ohio State offers is a top-rated program. But, my biggest fear about studying at Ohio State was the number of students. In terms of population, Ohio State is the third largest university in the country, with 65,000 students.

Luckily, the communication master’s program only accepts about 25 students each year and maintains approximately 25 master’s students each year including both first and second-year students. This means I will be in a very tight-knit program where I will know all of my fellow students. In fact, during my first semester, I will take all of my classes with next year’s incoming students. This will really help me get to know the students in my cohort.



The communication department offices are located in Derby Hall.

I’m also excited about my decision to study at Ohio State because I love Ohio State sports, and the city of Columbus is great. The director of communication at Ohio State pointed out some cool facts about Columbus:

1.       Columbus is the 15^th largest city in terms of population (2010 U.S. Census)

2.       It is the most affordable big city in the U.S. (2011 Relocate America corp)

3.      It is the 4^th best shopping city in the U.S. (2010 Forbes)

4.      It is the 9^th best City for new college grads (2010 Bloomberg)

5. It is a top rated city to raise a family (2009 Business Week)

Because of the program, the people, the school, the sports and the city, I am so happy with my decision, and I can’t wait to be a Buckeye!

Using social media in your search

Almost all college students use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Typically these sites are used for entertainment and social reasons, but they can be used for your grad school search as well.

Last week, U.S. News & World Report published an article titled, "Graduate School Applicants Use Social Media to Bypass Admissions Offices."

This article explains that prospective graduate school students are turning to social media websites to find out about programs and schools from current students and alumni. Many prospective students are more likely to trust what these people have to say about the program than the school itself.

I think current students and alumni are good people to talk to when you have questions about a program, but don't limit yourself to social media. Taking a tour of the campus and the program's facilities and meeting people in person and listening to their experiences at the particular school will always be more beneficial than reading a Tweet about the school or program.

Try talking to as many people as possible, including the director of the program, faculty members and current students. All of these people will give you insight to what the school and program are really like.

Now, go ahead and get back on Facebook, but use it to help you with your grad school search.

I survived the GRE

Once you have several grad schools in mind, registering for the GRE is the next step, presuming that your program requires these test scores.

Taking the GRE is the most terrifying part of applying for grad school, but following these tips can help you succeed.  

Visit the ETS website to register for the test. Keep in mind you want to give yourself enough time to prepare for the test, but you also want to leave enough time to receive your test scores before your applications are due.

In the U.S., the test costs $160. This is definitely a lot of money, but I have two tips to making the most of this money.

1.       At the end of the test, you will be prompted to select four schools that you want to send your scores to. Know which schools you are interested in ahead of time, and send them to four of these schools. Even if you are choosing between two schools, you might as well send your scores to four programs that interest you. You don’t want to pass up this free opportunity. You have to pay $23 to send your scores to a school after the test date.

2.       Prepare as much as possible for the test. To avoid having to spend another $160 to retake the test, the best thing you can do is study, complete sample problems and take several practice tests.

The Official Guide to the GRE did a great job
preparing me to take the test.

To prepare for the GRE, I purchased a book titled The Official Guide to the GRE. This book was extremely useful, especially because it is written by ETS, the creators of the GRE test. This book provides explanations to the three test sections (Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical Writing), offers math review, has sample problems with explanations and includes a practice test.

I definitely recommend this book for preparing for the GRE. I bought it from Barnes and Noble, and it cost $35. For those who don’t want to spend any additional money on the GRE, there are free materials that you can download from the ETS website.

On the day of the test, it is important to relax. For me, the test was more daunting than anything else. There were ridiculous rules to taking the GRE, and those scared me more than the test itself. For example, you can't bring anything into the testing room with you. If you wear a hoodie or jacket into the test, you can't remove it during the test. I even had to go through a metal detector before entering the testing room.

It is not impossible to do well on the GRE. Just remember to give yourself time to prepare, take practice tests to understand the setup of the exam, read the test-taking rules on the ETS website and send your scores to four schools you are interested in. Also, don't forget to breathe...