A paper I had to write...

As a Criminal Justice and Sociology double major, graduate school is a must for me. I have a love of learning that I could not imagine stifling by stopping my education after college. That being said, I do plan to take a few years off in order to get some job experience. Also, I will be getting married in a little over a year, and thus will be concentrating on living life as a recent college graduate, new police officer, and wife.

Because of my impending marriage, choices for graduate programs will be limited. I will be in less of a position to pack up my life and move to a different city or state for a period of time. More than likely, I will be living in Asheville, so schools located in Western North Carolina are my top choices. I do not mind commuting to somewhere a few times per week, but prefer to be able to live at home throughout the time it takes me to complete the degree.

Economically, price is less a consideration than location is. Because my fiancé is a nursing student, he is essentially guaranteed a job. His plan is to work at Memorial Mission in Asheville for two years, at which point they will pay for him to get his masters and become a nurse anesthetist. When he finishes, he will have to return to Asheville, but will be earning a salary that breaks the six figure mark. At this point, I plan to quit work and go back to school. Because of his salary and our frugal spending habits, we should be able to comfortably handle my going back to school.

As for selecting a school, I am willing to do the work. Even as an under-grad student, I have consistently challenged myself, and will be completing two majors and a minor in three and a half years. Work loads do not scare me. My hardest problem is selecting a program to enter. I have been debating between Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Public Administration with a concentration in Criminal Justice.

Because of all these considerations, I feel that Western Carolina’s M.P.A degree is my best option. This spring, a criminal justice concentration was added, and many of the classes are taught at night in Asheville. I believe that have a masters in Public Affairs will enable me to do much more in my career. While I am still trying to decide between teaching at a community college or working longer in law enforcement after I complete my masters, this will allow me to have more options.

Having classes offered in Asheville will allow me to live at home and still maintain a healthy marital relationship, which was my biggest fear. I do not want to have too much added stress on our relationship while I am working to complete this degree, and being able to take classes that are close to home would really help remedy that. And because gas prices are consistently rising, it would be much more cost-effective for me to live so close to my classes.

Also, because I will already have experience in public service, I will not be required to complete the six credit hour internship. Instead, I will only have to take an additional elective course. The fact that the program only requires 36 hours is also nice. It can easily be completed in three or four semesters, which would be right around two years. This would keep me on track for the life planning my fiancé and I have been doing.

All in all, I believe that Western’s program is the best fit for me, because of the small classes sizes, and especially the location. Until I was proposed to, I never thought about the effect that marriage would have on my life plans. Despite that, I could not imagine doing things in any different order. But just in case something happens, I would be interested in the Criminal Justice masters at Appalachian State University, as well as the Criminal Justice program at East Tennessee State. Both would be very beneficial to me in terms of going on to teach at a community college, but would not be as helpful as Public Affairs should I ever decide that criminal justice is not right for me. At least with Public Affairs, I would have other options to fall back on.