• Are you reasonably sure of your career goals, or could you change course after a taste of the working world?
• Would a break from campus life benefit you?
• Would you have difficulty adjusting to student life after a break from college?
• How much will your job and salary prospects be enhanced by graduate school?
• Will it be easier to enter graduate school in your field directly after college or after gaining work experience?
• How much will graduate school cost?
• What are the indirect costs (e.g., lost earnings)?
• Is there a possibility that an employer may pay for you to attend?
• Do you need some time away from academics to acquire work experience, clarify your career goals, or mature?
• Will you be going to school full time or part time?

Next, you may want to gather more information to help clarify your decision. You need to concentrate on what you want to do, identify graduate programs that you would consider attending, and learn about the processes of gaining admission to graduate school and obtaining financial assistance.

Begin your exploration by going to the Career and Experiential Learning Lab in Lucina 235, which includes directories and guides for applying to graduate school as well as a variety of free materials to help you. Among the resources available are

Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice by Donald Asher

Making It into a Top Graduate School: Ten Steps to Successful Graduate School Admission by Howard Greene

Paying for Graduate School without Going Broke by Peter Diffley

The Complete Guide to Graduate School Admission: Psychology and Related Fields by Patricia Keith-Speigel