There's a recurring internal debate that happens in my brain once or twice a week. It's all about graduate school and applying for entrance into a MLIS program.
At least one-third of the part of my brain that is designated for these thoughts wants to go to the best damn program I can get into. The other two-thirds really only cares about the location of the program.
I've looked at the U.S. News & World Report library and information studies program rankings and scoured ask.metafilter.com–which, by the way, has a significant population of helpful librarian types–and I've started to figure out the schools that would be a better fit for me (more technology-based, less traditional library stuff). However, when it comes down to it, all I want to do is live in a city outside the Pacific Northwest that has a lot of cool stuff. Yes, it's not the most mature way to approach graduate school, but it is the honest approach.
Another point, related to me by a recent master's graduate (in teaching), is that it is best to keep in mind that I'll probably end up with a job somewhere near my school after graduating. Lucky for her, she got a job in Portland instead of near her Baltimore-based college, but many of her classmates were not as fortunate.
So, the first batch of grad school deadlines will be approaching in the fall and here are the schools I'm considering applying for, along with some comments about each of them:
Drexel - Good tech reputation, but apparently it has recently been ranked 1st for "Campus Is Tiny, Unsightly, or Both" by U.S. News & World Report. I'm pretty unfamiliar with Philadelphia, but I have visited there once for a day and didn't see enough to get a fair impression of the city. I like cheese steaks, though.
University of Texas at Austin - Don't know too much about the program, but it's ranked in the top ten for what it's worth. The city is known to be great to live and work in, but you know, there's the HEAT. Every time the sun is out and it's in the high 90's, I will probably hiss and slink back into my dark, dry and air-conditioned cave.
University of Pittsburgh - For some reason, I keep hearing good things about Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania in general. Supposedly, if you're an Oregonian you'll like Pennsylvania: at least this is what people from the East Coast say. Anyway, the program is notable and has a good tech emphasis to it. The city, though very industrial, is supposedly one of the nation's top ten tech towns according to Wired Magazine. What does that mean for me? I'm not sure, but it's probably good for the job search and at least there will be lots of free Wi-Fi.
Rutgers - Excellent program, but in New Jersey. Enough said, or am I not giving Jersey a fair evaluation?
University of Michigan - Reputable MLIS program in a liberal college town. It's cold, but I think I can handle snow better than I can handle the sun, and I prefer death by freezing to death by dehydration.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Probably the best program in the country, and in another nice college town, but that's about all I know.
Clearly, I should be doing more research into the programs and the cities and eventually I should whittle these down to two or three choices. I mean, I'm going to be living in one of these places for two or more years, so I guess I should put a little bit of effort into it, right?
If I were you, I'd steer clear of Michigan and Illinois, simply because you've already done the "nice liberal college town" thing and you sound like you're looking for some variety. Go to a big city!
(Says the guy who spent nine years in Eugene.)
I did more research today, and I confirmed that Drexel and Pitt both have the sort of programs I'm looking for, and Rutgers has one of the shorter, lower-cost programs of the lot. Also, Michigan is hell of expensive ($15,000/term). So it's looking like it might be the urban East Coast for me.
Jersey: Jerseyites
Pennsylvania: M. Night Shyamalan and the Amish.
That's a tough call. Or maybe you should focus strictly on each university's programs instead of their surroundings. I'd aim for Philadelphia. Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!
Hey man is your RSS feed working? Because I'm pretty sure I have you in my google reader but I haven't seen any posts come up. Randomly I came by and lo, there were posts to read!
Anyway, I keep hearing that New Jersey isn't as bad as all that, but I can not verify this personally. Check out tomatonation.com — she's from NJ and has written about it fondly (/defensively) in the past.
On the other hand, my BFF's BabyDaddy is from Philly and love-love-loves it.
Brandon: If I end up in Philadelphia, I promise to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and dance around, arms raised in triumph.
Vague: I will have to check, but it could be that after I made the switch to Wordpress, the old RSS feed may have stopped working. You may need to resubscribe.
I think every state endures its own share of ribbing, but Jersey, being in the shadow of NYC, might get more than most. Well, if I end up at Rutgers, you will all get to hear my first-hand impressions.
When I stayed in NYC a local passed along this bit of wisdom: "North Jersey, and everyone who comes from there, suck. South Jersey is all right. You can trust a person from South Jersey."
I'm liking the Rutgers idea. I couldn't tell you a thing about the school but you'd be a short drive from NYC, the Quick Stop Convenience Store, the Sopranos house AND who knows how many locations used in the filming of Garden State.
Jersey gets it tough for not being New York City, but look at it this way: it's really close to New York City.
It's like being Ted Kennedy: close to greatness.
I resubscribed and it's working. Yay!
What's not to like about Ann Arbor? Winter temperatures in the 20s. A communist local food co-op that is your only chance of groceries if you don't have a car that once got sued by the state for not paying wages. Protests all week every week. Crappy take-out. Proximity to Detroit. Drunk undergraduates.
On the other hand, there's one Italian grocery store that cells avocados for $.50 and it's really nice in the summer when all the graduates leave.
I'd go either for Rutgers or UT-Austin.
I think I'm suffering from some form of not-being-able-to-write anymore syndrome. That's "choice of groceries", "sells avocados", and "all the undergraduates leave." Time for sleep. But not before I add: crappy overpriced sushi to the list of what to hate about Ann Arbor. Oh, yeah, and the Ann Arbor art fair. Hell, just go here: http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/
Ann Arbor sounds a bit like Eugene, except without Detroit. I figure I'll aim for big city life, or at least a city that will be vastly different than Eugene. I know that once I'm out there for a couple of years I'll probably be dying to return to Oregon, but it's good to know what life is like outside these walls.
Also, blame the misspellings on Cinco de Mayo. Woo!
Yes, bad Cinco de Mayo, bad!
I definitely started missing Oregon the minute I left for undergrad. Sadly, the road out of Oregon is much easier than the road back in. When I left undergrad the only job offers I had were in the midwest. My guess is that you'll have a much easier time getting back with your degree in library science. Since my future job propsects depend on large research universities, it may be a while before I'm able to dig my way back.