Grad School Neighborhood Tour
There are a lot of important things to consider when researching grad schools. Some of the most common considerations are the cost of tuition, rigor of the program, required coursework and acceptance rate. Another common consideration is the school’s city or region. Whether you are interested in staying close to family and friends or you are hoping to get a job in a particular location after graduation, a school’s city or region may impact the program’s appeal. When considering a school’s location, be sure to also think about the neighbor the school is in. Is there public transportation? Is it safe? How much will rent cost? Would I want to live here for two years?
This morning I drove to Baltimore with my parents to look at the area surrounding one of the grad school’s I’m considering - University of Baltimore’s M.S. program for Interaction Design and Information Architecture. From what I’ve read about the program, it looks like a great match for me. I’ve talked to two professors from the program, looked at the course requirements and researched where graduates work. Baltimore is a fun city, but each neighborhood is very different from the next. Having the opportunity to walk around the blocks that surround the university gave me a great sense of what my life would be like for the two years that I’d be in grad school. The university’s buildings were all close together, there were restaurants and bars close by, as well as a variety of apartment and condo buildings. While there were things to do and the area seemed safe enough, it also was not as nice as some of the areas of Baltimore that I’m more familiar with.
Although I only spent about an hour walking around, it made me realize that there are pros and cons for each school. I still need to think about whether a program that is in state and has a great selection of courses for what I’m interested in is worth going to a school in a city that I don’t see myself working in and is less well know than other universities. My other option is to consider well-known schools that are in a region I might want to work in, but where the program that they offer might not be perfect in terms of the courses or focuses offered. I would ideally like to live in the Southeast and work for a start-up or small to mid-sized digital communications company or firm. I hesitate to go to a program that is just information architecture (often housed in a library sciences program) or just interaction design (often housed in a computer science program) because I want to be able to design Web sites and Web applications from beginning to end, not just focus on one aspect. With University of Baltimore’s School of Information Art and Architecture, I know that the courses would all be relevant to my career interests. At the same time, I might be able to customize another university’s program through electives and independent study.
It’s a lot to think about, but a simple walk around a neighborhood emphasized the importance of really thinking about all of my grad school options.
