On becoming me: Why I chose to go to grad school
Grad school "creatively and boldly led me to the better version of me"
By: Teresa Wooster
Going back to school was not practical. In fact, I wrote my entrance essay on how impractical it was! I'm a wife, a mom of three children, I have a job, hobbies, and plenty of priorities to juggle.
When people would ask me why, I'd give them the only response I could:
I wasn't done improving myself and investing in me.
Two years later, I've learned some things along the way. Here are few tips worth sharing:
- Find your pace. Take it as fast (or as slow) as you want. I am the poster child for the slow route! One class at a time (even taking one semester off) was the right pace for me, for my family, and for my career. While I know others who crammed multiple classes in per semester, it's taken me three years and I'm on track to graduate in May. Whatever the speed, Mount Mary is there to make it work for you.
- It is never going to get easier, so do it now. You will always be busy and you will always have other commitments. But you will never regret going back to school.
- Enjoy the ride. Grad school is not a linear journey. It's still a time where you can open yourself up to new opportunities and new perspectives, and Mount Mary is right-sized for those experiences. Producing a radio show, attending author and poet presentations, and even writing this article are all things I never anticipated I would do. But graduate school is as much about acquiring new skills as it is about sharpening existing ones. Try something new. You may fall in love with it.
I made the right choice. Mount Mary has creatively and boldly led me to the better version of me.
In her book Life is a Verb, author Patti Digh said that "being practical and safe and always logical is overrated." I couldn't agree more.
Teresa Wooster is a content specialist in financial services and a graduate student in Mount Mary's English department. She graduates in May.
Graduate school creatively and boldly led me to the better version of me.
Teresa Wooster
