quick guide: Graduate School Prep
what's needed for graduate school
Making the decision to attend grad school is a big step - and a right move for many career-minded college graduates. What you need to analyze is what type of graduate program that will meet your personal and financial objectives.
Topics:
college prep: Why Go to Graduate School
Key Reasons Why You Should Get a Graduate Degree
— better career
— more knowledge
— better opportunities
— increased fame and fortune
— personal fulfillment
— and more money.
According to recent surveys, graduate degrees can earn an average of 35% to 50% more than those with only a bachelor's degree:
Master's Degree or Ph.D.?
It will depend on your field of specialty and job that you are seeking. Many fields in education, engineering, health care, and social work require a Masters Degree to move beyond entry-level positions.
You will also find that many state licensing requirements require a Masters Degree to begin your practice. Additionally, a doctorate degree is required for medical and legal professions.
Those pursuing academic careers will pursue a PhD. These candidates are interested in research, academic teaching, and scholastic achievements.
Articles on why go to grad school?
http://www.gradview.com
grad prep: Research Employment Projections
Get a Good Idea on What's Going On
Find out what jobs are going to be hot and what's jobs will not. This will help you decide which graduate program is best for you:
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
occupational outlook by category: provides insight on the training need, work environment, earnings, expected job prospects and more. It's a valuable resource to help decide what career you may like.
www.bls.gov/oco/projections on what's hot and what's not. Includes employment statistics and the fastest growing careers:
www.bls.gov/emp/provides information on careers from an occupational perspective
www.bls.gov/oco/cg/
Individual State Labor Statistics:
occupational projections by state and region — helps determine where you may need to locate for the best growth
www.projectionscentral.comLink to individual State job and occupation trends:
From America's Career InfoNet:
making smart career decisions - research the job market, wages and trends by region and occupation:
www.acinet.orgemployability checkup form - find out how different careers stack up by city and wage:
www.acinet.org
grad prep: Complete a Personal Assessment
Get to Know Yourself
by taking some career and personal self-assessment tests to determine your aptitude and character for career opportunities. By understanding your personality type, it will help determine what career opportunity will bring you the most satisfaction.
- Start with defining your personality type:
take this online quiz to get a non-test based review of your personality type and careers that may be of interest
www.personalitytype.com
another test-based online character assessment:
www.advisorteam.com
About Self-Assessment Tests
you can view more information about personal assessments and how they can measure your personality traits for jobs and other life-events
- Kinds of self assessment tests:
summary of personality assessment test and which tests work for careers:
www.humanmetrics.com
about the Myers & Briggs self assessment test:
www.myersbriggs.org/
about the Keisey Temperament assessment:
www.keirsey.com/
other Self-Assessment resources:
www.rileyguide.com/assess.html
grad prep: What Kind of Career
What career would you like?
By understanding who you are and what you like, you can now explore career opportunities that will be most satisfying to you:
- Evaluate Your Career Interests
your first step in finding the right career is to evaluate what you would like to do and what career fits your overall aptitude
start with careerkey.org
- Understand your interests and career relationship
you can take this online career assessments for a small fee - not recommended at this stage of your planning
view the Strong Interest Inventory®
- Other Helpful Career Assessments:
use this skills assessment to understand job types that you may best be qualified for based on your temperament assessment:
http://online.onetcenter.org
what to do with your skills into shaping a collegiate major:
www.udel.edu
cont-ed prep: Who's Who in Opportunities
From Fortune Magazine
Fortune 500 companies
Fortune Global 500
Fortune Best 100 companies to work for
Fortune fastest growing companies
Fortune small business 100
Fortune 50 best for minorities
www.fortune.com
From Forbes Magazine
Forbes 400 Best big companies:
www.forbes.com
Forbes 200 Best small companies:
www.forbes.com
Forbes 500 Private Companies and other listings:
www.forbes.com
From Inc. Magazine
America's fastest-growing private companies —
The Inc. 500:
www.inc.com
Other Company Directories
Top 500 franchises:
www.entrepreneur.com/franzone/...
Best 100 companies for working mothers:
www.workingmother.com
Career Industry and Company Search
Find a company by type/industry:
www.business.com
Another company search directory from ThomasSearch:
www.thomasregister.com
Search Industry Directories
High tech company registry:
www.corptech.com
Legal firm listing:
www.lawoffice.com
Engineering firm listing:
www.enr.com
Accounting firm/CPA listing:
http://accounting.pro2net.com
Human Resource listing:
http://hr.pro2net.com
Finance-related listing:
http://finance.pro2net.com
Search Government Directories
Federal government-related listing:
www.gov.com
State and local government directory:
www.statelocalgov.net
Foreign government resources:
www.lib.umich.edu
Search Other
Non-profit organization directory:
www.guidestar.orgInternational business directory:
http://globaledge.msu.edu
grad prep: Achieving Success
Now is the time to build a successful future
Success in college and your career requires planning, discipline, and execution.
Download FREE
Complete guide on discipline and character building. Has illustrations on the building blocks of success.
view our "building success" module: FREE downloads
Graduate School Guide
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