College freshman. I’ve known since middle school that I want to go into a specific field and that I’ll need to get a masters for that.
I learned recently that one of the colleges I turned down offers a 4+1 program where you can easily get a masters from my dream program. Now I’ll have to do 4 years of college, 2 years of work experience, and a 2 year masters instead. And that’s assuming that I even get into this highly competitive program.
I’m really angry at myself. I didn’t do enough research during my college admissions process, and I’m wasting money.
Looking back I chose my current college because it’s what my parents wanted and it has the best reputation. And maybe because it’s similar to my high school and I was scared of graduating. I can’t help but feel that I’ve majorly fucked up, and I haven’t told anyone because it’s so embarrassing.
TL;DR: turned down a college that had my dream program, now I’ll need to do additional years and pay more money.
Comments
You can reapply
A classic case of people’s parents imposing shitty uninformed decisions on them.
Can you apply to transfer? You’re only a freshman, the damage isn’t crazy at this point.
And maybe the other program seems great from the outside but has downsides that you wouldn’t be aware of until you were in it. And while I get spending longer in school might seem like a disaster now in the long term you probably won’t even care about it, 2 or 3 years might seem long now but when you’re older it won’t. Plus you never know what connections you might make and experiences you might have in those extra years, you might look back and be glad you did them.
You’re being way to harsh on yourself, it’s always easy to think about how you should have done something differently after you’ve already done it, the next time a decision comes up like that you’ll no doubt do more research. Hope school goes well!
Reapply, then transfer!
You did not fuck everything up. This is fixable.
Dude, if you commit to six years of the wrong decision this easily, you’re gonna have a bad time as an adult. Get it together and fix your mistakes!
2 years work experience sounds like a good idea. It will also help you with the masters as you would have a taste of real life when you sit for it
Contact your desired school and see if they accept transfers into the 4+1 program. Ask what you need to take at your current school to stay on track until you can transfer in.
You’re fine. You actually might have SAVED yourself money – maybe after you enter the workforce after 4 years, you ultimately decide to go into a different field and the master’s would have been a waste. You just don’t know at this point. You haven’t fucked anything up.
I don’t know your program(s), but it could be akin to a a GED not being technically equivalent to a hs diploma. Maybe the longer program better prepares you for the future job? If possible, talk to people who are on the other side of these programs and ask about pros/cons. If the shorter one still seems best, transfer asap.
That express masters might not be as competitive as on from a better school.
Accelerated programs like that are often really bad. There may be no support, no actual students in it, unrealistic demands for course requirements, faculty that don’t understand/support it, and advisors that can’t help you through it either.
If your current school has a better reputation, maybe just stick with it because it may help you get a job easier. Also, isn’t it possible to do your master’s program at a different university? You could just get your bachelor’s at the current school and figure out the masters later.
Personally, I think requiring 2 years of work experience before the masters is a good idea because it’ll help you retain info from academia when you understand the relevance of it. Otherwise you’re just memorizing facts with no context as to how it relates to the real world and how useful it is. Unless you have a great memory, you may just end up forgetting those facts before you get the chance to put them to use.
And wouldn’t you learn more from a 2 year masters program than 1 year? I feel like you’re focused too much on saving money on tuition and getting into working in your field too much. If you don’t thoroughly learn what you need to learn, you may not have much of a chance at getting hired in that field anyway, especially if it’s as competitive as you say.
You can always transfer but honestly getting some work experince before doing your masters is probably a good idea and will prepare you to get the most out of the masters.
Whats the college/ program!
The only fuck up here is thinking that you fucked up your career. You are not committed to your current school. Transfer to the other school. Done.
No masters degree is as key as you’re making out here.
Signed, a guy with a masters that got him his job.
You didn’t ruin your future you just took the scenic route. The best careers aren’t built on shortcuts, they’re built on resilience. You’ll get there, and you’ll probably be better for it.
Transferring isn’t that hard. A lot of people do the first two years at a cheaper school and then transfer to the more well known expensive school for their last two years.
If you’re a college freshman just transfer
Take the credits from your freshman year and reapply.
Reapply and transfer. Your first year will be mostly general studies anyway.
Get your basics done. Get excellent grades. Transfer.
Go contact your registrar’s office about transferring out and also get in touch with the college you wanted to go to about transferring in. You need to talk to both sides to get the ball rolling.
It feels like you fucked up your life/career, but you didn’t. You’re angry at yourself for making a mistake, but it’s not the end of the world.
Someone else said getting some work experience before getting your master’s is a good idea and that’s true. Most grad schools will ask you to submit a resume with your application because they want to see that you’re committed to the study; having work experience in that field can strengthen your application.
At the end of my freshman year we had a chemistry practical exam and I (accidentally) set fire to the laboratory. It really wasn’t that difficult to change courses even at that stage and I now have a degree in Metallurgy.
You are being over dramatic.
You can transfer
You’ll probably change your major after you get started, like most college students do. Your ‘dream career’ now might not be your ‘dream career’ in 2 years.
You need to focus on post-college outcomes not speed of program.
Not sure where you are getting this ‘2 years work experience’ – almost all career have a straight to Masters pipeline from undergrad.
Reapply and switch colleges in your sophomore year
You can reapply and transferring between schools is often easier than getting accepted as a freshman.
Why? Because you have a college level work history to show admissions you can do it AND they’ve already had a pile of people fail / drop out / transfer out and that original glut of students they got to cherry pick now has openings.
Note though, non thesis masters programs are different from thesis based masters programs and masters program quality can be judged by hiring managers.
That said, generally, thesis masters if you want to go into academics or research based career fields. Non-thesis if your career path will not be academic or research based.
Good luck OP. Very few such choices cannot be undone.
Take my word for it. I did 5.5 years. 3.5 as a physics major looking at specializing in thin films or a few other equally career path based areas of study, 1.5 more to get my engineering degree, 0.5 more because in all that, I forgot to go to a weight lifting class and didn’t have enough physical ed courses to actually graduate (4 semesters required by that school).
Anyway, it worked out just fine and my final semester was the most relaxed and enjoyable part of my life. I was dating the woman would eventually marry, i had a lazy and lackadaisical schedule, I took rock climbing for the phys ed credit and studio oil painting because I needed enough credits to count a full time student. I also took some courses to finalize a minor and add an ASI, so it padded out my “just out of college resume”. So lovely.
Not the end of the world. Just apply for next year. Seems you still need to do more research.
4 years of college, 2 yrs of working experience plus 2 years of master is vastly more superior than 4+1. I’m at a position where I can make decisions on which candidate to hire. I’ll always hire that first one over the second.
And you certainly didn’t ruin your whole life whatsoever. One of my friends is starting her PhD at the young age of 32, about a decade after she got her BS.
And if you are still set on doing the 4+1 you can transfer around sophomore or junior. Though nobody i know think very highly of 1 year master program. They are almost always there to pad your CV rather than learning useful things.
It feels like the worst thing in the world now, but this will ultimately just be a speed bump my guy/gal.
Transfer
Faster doesn’t necessarily meant better.
I can almost guarantee you that in 10 years you’ll look back on this and say “what was I thinking?!?!“
The 5 year program may not be all that it’s sold to be. The 5th years in my masters program were woefully underperforming. I will be skeptical of resumes with these that show up in the future. You’ll get so much more out of the masters once you’ve worked in the field if you do it that way, and it’s often paid for
Finish this year and transfer. There will be a lot of people who drop out in the first year and plenty of room for second years in the program. You’ll have some making up to do but you’ll get through it.
Good luck!
What’s the two years of work experience for? You have to do that before you can get a MS?
If you’re in first year, you’ll find that by third year, the program will change, often to incorporate a popular program, like Honours to Masters fast tracking. Hang in there. It’s not over til it’s over.
Lol, chill tf out, you haven’t fucked up your career if you haven’t had one yet, you are still in school.
Unless master is required for your career, doing 2 years of real work experience might even be more desirable to 4+1 program because a master degree with no work experience sometimes is detrimental for your ability to get your first job. Some careers like software don’t need master degree and company will try to go for bachelor degree as they will need to pay more for master degree per law. Once you get real work exp, then you can decide to go back to school, some companies can even pay for your master degree.
Swing for the fences kid; transfer, reapply, contact admissions — there’s a lot of opportunity between freshman and senior year, and a lot of time to get to where you want to be
Bro chill. You’re not chained to the desk. Transfer.