Is anyone here applying to grad school in US/UK/Canada for fall 2005?
I’m inshallah applying for a master’s for the fall 2005 session, but I don’t know anyone else who’s applying, so I would really love it if there’s some other people too so we can motivate each other.
I have to take GRE’s too. I’ve got the preparatory materials, just need to organise my life now and start studying.
Plus I really need to do an indepth overview of all the grad programs being offerred so I can decide which programs I want to apply to. The basic categories I’m leaning towards for grad school are:
Education, Technology Assisted Education, Third World Education, Education and Gender development, Education and Public Policy
Management
Will also be applying to some Computer Science masters programs but that will be a backup plan and still not sure about that.
[The above list is subject to constant revision And another idea under consideration is just to forget about applying this year and wait for a couple years and then apply for an MBA to good business schools.]
irem quite a brave decision, if u r seriously thinking of doing Masters in Education related field after ur graduation in CS.
i m thinking on these lines too , of changing the field but for me its not the easiest thing to do, i m contemplating hard on this but its risky nd some ppl say its too late nd may be u cant even click in the next venture but i still feel , if u think u r not made for this field nd u can do better job on some other field, u should drop that particular field immediately nd look for some new horizons...
just wanted to share my thoughs , i know it has no direct link with ur posts..
^^ RT and Irem,
I think its a really sensible decision to start thinking about options that interest you. Who says you gotta stick to what you did in your undergrad. Let your experiences guide you, but your aptitude channel your energies in the right direction.
Irem, you seem to be very interested in education related areas, and from the sound of it, you somehow want to leverage your technical technical disposition towards that end. Have you thought about an M.Ed. with a concentration in e-Learning or something... a very very lucrative field these days!
as fara as an M.B.A. goes, I see that as more of a complement than anything else. You can go for an MBA anytime. It helps you develop a different type of attitude towards everyday business problems and greatly increases your effectiveness at the workplace.
My advice would be to go with the flow... and follow your heart. Grad studies is a major committment, and you need to be sure of what you wanna do... but then again, we live and we learn, so don't be too hard on yourself if you get into something that you thought would interest you, but maybe in reality it doesn't. That being said, I think most people can make good decisions about future plans once they have a couple of years of work experience after their undergrads... so inshaAllah you wouldn't have this problem.
thanks a lot for your replies and suggestions everyone :)
Fraudia bhai and Umar, great suggestions, thanks
RT, thanks for the encouragement and for sharing ur thoughts...as for your confusion, i think Umar has said some good words that also apply to your situation....
i know what u r saying about not feeling like you are into your field...i felt like that about computer science, i enjoy programming if im in the mood but i cant take it up as a full time profession....
kehte hayn na zindagi mein pyar siraf aik baar hota hae :D my one and only true academic love was Biology :( i wanted to be a doctor...*sigh...a very heavy deep sigh :( * ...lekin abb...is umer mei..when i am 22...at burhapay kee dehleez... :D daaktri to nai parhi ja sakti na :D is lyay, after having mourned and mourned over it...i have tried to bury the issue...lekin abhee bhee kabhee zikr chirta hae to dil se aik dard bhari aah nikalti hae :D
khayr, alhamdulillah, abb, i am interested in education related development work, specially gender related, and small scale rural entrepreneurship....inshallah...
khayr, so i take it you have done in a bachelors in computer science and are now working in that field but not happy? which fields interest you? also, there can be jobs in computer science that have blends from other fields, and you might find them interesting...mera masla to hae hae ke i just dont like technical type ke jobs...what abt u, are you a technical person?
yeah irem , infact i m still not done with my bachelors nd ofcourse its computer science unfortunately:( nd u shud not ask me my feelings about this field :p . i m in my last semester nd Insha Allah will be graduatin in May. u r lucky that atleast u have decided what u have to do but i m still quite ambivalent about my future venture.
i just want to take a break of one month or so after my graduation nd then decide what fascinates me. i have ideas but i have yet to discuss it with my family nd their feedback counts a lot. i m only sure of one thing that i m gonna quit this field nd thats all .i hope everything gets alrite Insha Allah. sighsss nd even bigger sighs than urs .
*nd i m not a technical person nd i hate programming, i hate it , i hate it , i hate it *
explain how m.ed with e-learning is a lucrative field these days. i assume u dont mean what you local school district would pay u :)
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Fraudia,
In fact, I’ve seen very few people with M.Eds’ work as teachers in school districts. They usually undertake some form of Educational Administration responsibilities.
Besides the “conventional” jobs, I’ve seen qualified people find suitable opportunities in international organizations including WHO, UNICEF and UNESCO. In fact, just last month, I was talking to someone with World Bank’s HR, and we were discussing a new project that they needed help with… in order to startup a new e-HR program, I recommended someone with expertise in e-learning to be part of the project team.
Similarly, with consulting firms such as McKinsey, BearingPoint and Deloitte with distinct practices in HR Operations, Knowledge Management, and IT Transformation, there exist quite a few practicable possibilities for work.
Umar but in Bearingpoint, where I worked, and interviewed people for such positions, and other firms, they are looking for people in a trainign background, but they hardly hire people with degrees in education, because the concepts are quite different, organizational learnign and development, internal communications and training fields may be related to "edcation" per say but the grads from these programs do not have the type of background to easily transfer it to corporate situations, there are some, but majority are communications and org design type ppl who have branched out into e-learning.
for soemone getting a degree in education, there is not an automatic connection, and not a direct and easy transition.
Just thought I would show a different perspective here. The possibilities are there indeed, but its not as direct of a connection as one may think from that post.
Yeah Fraudia, I agree... in the conventional sense, consulting firms won't look for M.Eds when they think of corporate consulting engagements, and traditionally the M.Ed. programs haven't focused on the organizational aspect of learning, but just the schooling aspect of it.
However, with new M.Ed. program concentrations in Leadership and Change Management, Organizational Development & Training, International Policy etc., there are a rich array of opportunities in Organizational Development. I agree though that the link between the degree and these types of opportunities will need sometime to bolster - a lot of people are still unfamiliar with the new concentrations that are available in the programs.
Saqib bhai, coz I'm not really interested in those fields :(
thanks for your reply :)
Fraudia bhai and Umar, thanks for replies :)
DS tum apply kerne walay thay na..? is saal nai kar rhay? kar lo na pleez :D
RT have u thought about quality assurance? i have heard its not that technical and a good field for comp sci ppl...aj kal pak mein is kee demand bhee hae..
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by irem: *
RT have u thought about quality assurance? i have heard its not that technical and a good field for comp sci ppl...aj kal pak mein is kee demand bhee hae..
[/QUOTE]
QA in IT is actually quite technical but unfortunately the way this area is handled in most places it is almost a joke ... recently there has been more emphasis on developing and implementing processes in this area as well... but one can choose to specialize in an area in QA that does not deal with programming...
I am surprised that there is QA demand in PK... what kind of QA work?
Chachoo bhai, QA at all stages of software dev is in demand in Pakistan. There's a lot of outsourced development offices with foreign clients and their QA work is more rigorous. For the local software development firms, QA is not so well defined but basically consists of testing the product. Its a fast growing field though and QA professionals are in demand.
Matsui uncle, whats a svengali? How much I'm making is not my first consideration, I just wana do something that makes me feel like I'm doing something constructive and helpful...I'm hoping to go into the fields I mentioned in my original post in this thread inshallah.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by irem: *
Chachoo bhai, QA at all stages of software dev is in demand in Pakistan. There's a lot of outsourced development offices with foreign clients and their QA work is more rigorous. For the local software development firms, QA is not so well defined but basically consists of testing the product. Its a fast growing field though and QA professionals are in demand.
[/QUOTE]
Is there really that much off-shoring work in IT in PK ?
are there training centers or schools in PK which provide education/training in this area? or is it on the job learning? Do you what kind of methodologies/processes/tools are in use?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by irem: *
Chachoo bhai, QA at all stages of software dev is in demand in Pakistan. There's a lot of outsourced development offices with foreign clients and their QA work is more rigorous. For the local software development firms, QA is not so well defined but basically consists of testing the product. Its a fast growing field though and QA professionals are in demand.
Matsui uncle, whats a svengali? How much I'm making is not my first consideration, I just wana do something that makes me feel like I'm doing something constructive and helpful...I'm hoping to go into the fields I mentioned in my original post in this thread inshallah.
[/QUOTE]
Is anyone here applying to grad school in US/UK/Canada for fall 2005?
I'm inshallah applying for a master's for the fall 2005 session, but I don't know anyone else who's applying, so I would really love it if there's some other people too so we can motivate each other.
I have to take GRE's too. I've got the preparatory materials, just need to organise my life now and start studying.
Plus I really need to do an indepth overview of all the grad programs being offerred so I can decide which programs I want to apply to. The basic categories I'm leaning towards for grad school are:
Education, Technology Assisted Education, Third World Education, Education and Gender development, Education and Public Policy
Management
Will also be applying to some Computer Science masters programs but that will be a backup plan and still not sure about that.
[The above list is subject to constant revision :D And another idea under consideration is just to forget about applying this year and wait for a couple years and then apply for an MBA to good business schools.]
So...anyone out there...? :)
mehrbani wa salam
irem
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I gather that you are an UGrad . You can pursue Foundation graduate
courses in Education and than move on to Masters in Edu.
I wanted to do Masters in Edu. But the courses are too easy.
And most of them are related to secondary education not Masters
level courses. Even the Masters in Business Education has so easy
courses.Childish, I might say.
And another idea under consideration is just to forget about applying this year and wait for a couple years and then apply for an MBA to good business schools.]