Back to School?

I had coffee with my college roommate Katherine today. (I had to get in at least one last iced green tea latte from Starbucks before it gets cold.) It was so nice to see her. She's so easy to just hang out with and talk about everything going on. We definitely don't spend enough time together, so it's always refreshing to hear about what's new in her life.

We ended up talking about our futures and where we see ourselves in the coming years. The option of going back to school came up and I said how much I'd love to be able to do that, but between losing my salary and adding in tuition and other school fees, I just didn't see how it would be possible. She asked if I would be able to get a part-time job during that time... and it really got me thinking. Of course it wouldn't be easy taking on 18 hours a year of graduate level work plus a part-time job, but I think it would be doable.

I started looking into it more when I got home. I was looking up financial aid options and, of course, teacher assistantships are the main option. I'm not sure what sort of a teacher that I'd make, but at the same time, that would be some valuable experience and give me options for the future. Of course, being a TA wouldn't include much pay ($9000/year plus tuition costs), but I did that math and that's the same as making $15/hour at a part-time job (and let's be honest, it'd be difficult to find something part-time where I'd be making more than that, especially in this economy).

I think it's a little too late to look at next year. I'd have to take the GRE next month (yah, right!) and apply by January, which would include a whole heck of a lot of writing samples, etc. But I'm seriously considering looking at the year after that. That gives me a year and a half to get everything together and study and write! That's still pretty daunting, and would take a lot of discipline, but this may be the last time in my life where I have the option of doing this.

Don't hold me to this. I haven't even talked with Jarrod about it yet. But it's on my mind and I felt like writing about it. So it's definitely something I'm considering. But it would affect a lot of things over the coming year. I wouldn't graduate until 2015. I mean, that's a long way off. Hmm... lots to think about...