Prerequisites for graduate school

A reader writes:

"I have a bachelors degree in Construction Management & Design and I am thinking about going back to school for my masters. However, I am thinking about picking a different field other than construction management. My question is: Considering my prerequisites associated with my bachelors degree, what masters degrees would I be eligible for?"

Believe it or not, most master's degree do not have specific prerequisites, but when it comes to graduate school you're actually thinking about this backwards. Don't think about what you've already taken and how that fits into grad school prerequisites. Instead, think about what you want to get out of grad school and look for programs that match that.

 

The most important question you must ask yourself is why are you interested in going to graduate school? The best two reasons for wanting to go to grad school are having a genuine passion/interest in a particular topic/field or having a career goal that requires graduate school.

If you are considering grad school because you don't know what you want to do or want to avoid jumping into the job market, I hate to tell you that grad school is not for you. At least not yet.

Grad school is not the place to figure out what you want to do. Because grad school is pretty focused, you should enter it with a clear idea of how it fits into your career or academic plan. 

In your case, because you are considering changing fields from your undergraduate degree, it is very important that you know what direction you want to go in. Look at the requirements for the types of jobs that you want after doing a grad program and use that as a gauge to help you figure out what areas might be good options for you.

 

This semester I'm actually teaching a course for first generation and low income college students on preparing for and applying to graduate school, so I love it when I hear about first generation and low income college students and alumni wanting to go to grad school. Graduate school is awesome, but only if you understand how it fits into your future. Good luck!

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.