Five graduate students in the UM-St. Louis Communication Department completed their master’s degrees this spring. We invited some of this semester’s graduates to write a guest post for the blog and tell us what their experiences were like. Here’s what one of our new alumni, Mary Reiss, had to say:
When I was accepted to the graduate program, I didn’t really know what to expect. As one can imagine, I was a little nervous those first few classes. The workload seemed to be more intense than my undergraduate coursework. The professors seemed to expect more than my instructors from my undergraduate career. And, in general, the material seemed to be more difficult than anything I had studied before. However, after getting myself adjusted to this new type of schooling, I found myself enjoying school more than I ever had in the past.
As someone who studied communication in both their Bachelor and Master’s programs, I noticed a few differences between the two agendas. In graduate school, the classes are much smaller than you might expect. The largest class size I experienced in the two years that it took me to finish the M.A. program consisted of 7 people. While a class that small can be a little scary, I ended up really liking the smaller class size. Discussions are more in depth. Relationships are more personal, and professors have the option to tailor learning to the class’s interests. I also found that graduate school pushed me to limits that I didn’t know I had the endurance to pass. And for someone who likes a good challenge, there’s nothing more rewarding than accomplishing something you never knew you could do in the first place, like writing a 30 page paper on Communication Apprehension!
I also had the unique opportunity to participate in a graduate internship with St. Louis Magazine for my exit option. While working at the magazine, I was able to gain valuable work experience while applying concepts and theories that I learned about in school.
Overall, my experience in the Communication M.A. Program has been my favorite experience education has offered me yet. From the small class sizes to the intellectual challenges, from building relationships with professors to producing work that I was proud of, graduate school is an experience that I feel lucky to have had.
