Now, I still have a year and a half before I graduate with my masters, but I'm planning ahead on the next step. I'm taking a prep research course and getting advice from my professor about how to succeed in PhD school. He is sure that anyone who takes the prep research course can easily be accepted to any top program in our field.
I won't apply for schools until about a year from now, but just taking a preliminary look, I'd really like to go to the University of Minnesota. Not just because Kayleen really wants to go there to be close to her family, but really because they are one of the top 5 Information Systems programs in the nation, they emphasis topics that are especially interesting to me, and I have heard nothing but good from the professors here at BYU that graduated from there. Another top choice would be MIT. Other schools that look interesting to consider (all are ranked in the top ten nationally for ISys programs): Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, U of Pennsylvania, U of Maryland, New York U, U of Texas-Austin.
I've still got a lot of time to decide, but this is an idea of where our lives are headed: after a couple more years at BYU, we'll likely be headed out of Utah to one of these schools for the following 3-4 years, and then Dr. and Mrs. Barlow will finally settle down somewhere, but who knows where?!
P.S. Why do I want to get a PhD?
(1) I like learning new things and would be able to constantly read, research, and discover things that are interesting to me.
(2) I would love to work with students in a university setting.
(3) Flexible as far as hours and vacation - able to spend time with family.
(4) Starting salaries for professors in our field are very high, and in the meantime PhD school is relatively cheap - any of these top-tier programs will waive my tuition and pay me $20000-$30000 /yr to study at their school.
4 comments:
Wow, Jord ~ how does that happen that they pay you to go to their school?!?! No matter -- I like it!! See you soon!! Love you both!
WOWSA! Those schools are far far away. How exciting! I think you'll be a rad professor.
WOW!!! You are truly CrAZy, but very smart and I know you'd be an awesome professor. I wish I wanted to learn as much as you do!
I had no idea that you were planning that! Awesome though! You're ridiculously smart. Brian and I just want to get done with bachelor's degrees and not even think about grad school if we can help it! Love you guys though!
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