posted
My husband told me yesterday that I plan too far in advance. He thinks it's unreasonable, for example, to be trying to figure out where to go for my master's when I haven't finished my undergrad yet.
He agrees with long range planning for things like retirement, but other than those things he thinks it's best not to plan too far in the future. To support his statement, he asked me what my plans for myself were five years ago, and how different they are today. Well, yeah, that was a good point.
However, on something like school I can't not plan. It drives me crazy for there to be uncertainty. He thinks I am adding unnecessary stress to my life, I say that as soon as I figure it out, I'll be fine, and if I don't plan ahead, then I'll only have stress later when it gets closer.
What do you guys think? I'm just wondering what opinions are - consider the fact that I'm a sophomore in college - is it too early to be thinking about what graduate school I want to go to?
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
It's not too early to think about. It's too early to plan for, in my opinion. You can evaluate the options with the data you have now, as long as you do it with the full knowledge that your data may change and you'll have to reevaluate. The danger I would see would be if you make a plan and feel the need to follow through with it, even if it is no longer the optimal decision.
In other words, I'd start gathering data, but keep an open mind, and think of it as preperation rather than planning. But that's me. If planning works for you, go for it.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I bug Annie constantly with this, I'm always trying to construct long-range plans and multiple paths to take and contigency plans and what not. I think Annie would be the best person to ask about it being a good idea...
posted
And you're a "P" in the Myers/Briggs, Belle?
I wouldn't say it's wrong to have a strong plan. In fact, without goals most people would just float through life. If it stresses you out more to not have a plan, then clearly you aren't buying out a better life by just going with the flow.
And I personally believe it's how you react when your plans don't pan out. You don't want to compromise your goals, but it's also not good to miss out on the things life unexpectedly offers you in pursuit of a rigid agenda. (I like to plan, but details make me feel roped-in.)
Whatever causes the least amount of unhealthy stress, do that thing.
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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It's strange -- I'm a planner in some areas, but exactly the opposite in others.
I hate planning trips or planning things on my calendar way down the road. (it was a real feat for me to reserve our room for BobnDanaCon this early) I hate being committed to being at a certain place at a certain time. When I travel, I like to have no agenda and no timetable and just go with whatever I feel. I usually am a very impulsive person and don't like the tethering that comes with planning.
However, at home, I have a short-term and long-range plan for my house (for remodeling) and how it is going to be done, and how I would like it to look etc.
So overall, I'm not a planner, except in that one area.
posted
I have to add a caveat there - don't change plans when other people are involved. It's not OK to back out on agreements or commitments, even verbal ones, because your plans have changed. Grown-ups don't do what feels best when it means someone else is being put out. This is one of my big preaching points.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Why would you not think about where to go to grad school while still in under grad? That’s like saying “I’m still in HS so I don’t need to think about where I’m going to college.” Planning is good. Being flexible is great. Not having a plan is confusing.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Yeah, I'd say I'm similar. Although, I have absolutely no need to stick to my long range plans. I just mostly like to speculate about the future.
Like Annie, I make huge plans and then change my mind every couple of weeks.
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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In one of my college classes we had a girl who was getting married in December. She asked the professor early in the semester if the final exam day could be switched because that was her wedding day. But another student objected. He had the whole semester planned out to the hour in his planner, and moving the exam date would disrupt the study time he had planned for other exams. And he would not back down, not even when the girl began to cry. It was in his planner, and it was the optimal arrangement of his time for that week, four months in the future. How could he possibly mess with it?
That, in my book, is excessive planning and inflexibility.
I would go insane trying to run my life like that. I bought my wife a Franklin planner for her birthday and she loves using it. But I can barely stand to mark appointments on a calendar. Having a to-do list is OK, but staking out my time to the minute makes me feel like there's a million tons of rock over my head. In a word, claustrophobic.
Still, I believe in budgeting and saving for short-term and long-term expenses. We are putting the finishing touches on our year's supply of food and other necessities. And we are trying to keep a coherent plan for the future--kids, schooling, jobs, etc. But I jealously guard my wiggle room and my right to spend at least a few hours of every day doing what seems best at the moment.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
I applied to grad school almost at the deadlines. In fact my application to Virginia Tech would have been late if the deadline they published really was the deadline.
So no, I don't plan, or at least not well.
People that have plans really amaze me. I don't really have a plan. I enjoy this now, so thats what I'm doing. It seems to work so far.
Do you have the knowledge to evaluate grad schools at this point? (ie, winter of sophmore year, I wouldn't have.)
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
It sounds fine, as long as you don't substitute planning for thinking, then you'll fall into some sort of awful rule-worship where you have to do everything according to plan because it is in your plan.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Ok, I want to be a certified library media specialist in an elementary school. That's my career choice. My undergraduate degree will be in elementary education, and my graduate degree must be in library media study of some kind.
There are two choices in Alabama - at Jacksonville State University (where I'm getting the undergrad) they have a M.Ed program with library media certification. At Univ of Alabama, they have an MLIS (Master's of Library & Information Systems) degree.
Either degree would allow me to do what I want to do. The M.Ed is more limiting, however. The MLIS is a highly sought after degree and would open up many more job possibilities than the M.Ed.
Right now I do want to work in the public school system, but when my kids are older what if I want a career change?
Most of the school librarians I've talked to say the JSU M.Ed program is excellent, and when I looked up the job satisfaction surveys on the Alabama Dept. of Ed website, the librarians that were educated at JSU had a much higher rating from their school principals than the ones from Alabama. Getting hired as a school library media specialist would probably be easier with a JSU degree, as it's well known as a teacher's college and has a good reputation around here.
But, the career mobility is limited with the JSU degree.
As you can see, I probably have obsessed over it too much. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Would be doing the same thing for undergrad for both programs?
Based on what my teacher friends have told me, you could and probably will change your mind a thousand times about what you want to do. Since you will student teach to get a degree in education, that experience could have a profound effect on your plans.
So, I think it's fine to dream and consider possibilities, but if you're trying to decide definitively, I think you'd be better served by gathering more information and experience. Your undergrad will give that to you.
Posts: 1163 | Registered: Jan 2005
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"A plan is just a list of things that don't happen."
(Edit: I just wanted to post the quote. As far as thinking about a master's when you're still in undergrad, um, yes, the last couple of years of undergrad are pretty much when you ought to be thinking about that stuff. In the general case, I think planning is fine as long as you keep in mind that things are probably not going to go as planned. Myself, I plan intermittently.)
posted
I think it may be the whole dream/possibility thing that appeals to me.
Because even when it doesn't work out, it doesn't upset me. For example, probably a year before I started back to college I had already reviewed the course requirements for the degree, and planned out which courses I would take which semester. When it came time to register for the classes for this semester, I couldn't register for the ones I'd wanted because the school hadn't finished evaluating my transcript. So, I took different courses than I planned and it didn't bother me at all.
The undergraduate degree will be the same for either program. And the admission requirements for each program are about the same. There is no reason to have to make the decision now.
So, in other words - hubby is right - I'm worrying about this unnecessarily.
*sigh* I hate having to tell him he was right.
[ February 15, 2005, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: Belle ]
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
My dad always tells me that I ought to think of a plan for everything in life, that way I'll never be at a loss. He applies it to more than just graduate school and such, but also to imagining different experiences that could happen and how each situation should be handled best.
Posts: 119 | Registered: Oct 2004
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