What Is Graduate School and Should You Apply?

The purpose of graduate school is to develop expertise in a specific academic subject.

What Grad School Is and Why You Might Go

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College alumni who excelled throughout their undergraduate experience often possess a love of learning that can make them a good fit for a graduate program, higher education experts say.

Graduate school students need to meet a higher academic standard than undergraduates, experts say. To thrive in a graduate program, they also need purpose, focus and passion.

"Grad school is a lot more focused and specialized than college," Michelle Vakman, director of admissions at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies in New York, wrote in an email. "Students don't often change majors, and classes are targeted toward a specific field or area of study."

Grad programs appeal to students who are fascinated by a specific academic subject and committed to working in a field where a graduate degree is valuable, experts explain.

"The main difference between undergrad and grad school is that the student has an opportunity to focus on the subjects he (or) she enjoys the most," Helen Godfrey, a senior career development specialist at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business who has a master's degree in counseling, wrote in an email. "The coursework is more intense but the student will find that he (or) she really enjoys the topics so it can be an invigorating challenge."

Graduate students are expected to not only absorb information and gain knowledge, but also to conduct their own research, make unique discoveries and produce compelling scholarship, says Tamara Underiner, an associate dean for professional development and engagement at the Arizona State University Graduate College.

"In college you acquire knowledge," Underiner wrote in an email. "As you progress through the levels of higher education, you master and then become the producer of knowledge. It's this growing sense of agency, accompanied by experience, that allows wisdom to grow."

Should You Go to Grad School? How to Decide

Although this type of advanced education can be fulfilling and valuable, it is not appropriate for everyone.

"If a student is not sure what they want to do, graduate school is probably not a wise idea, because it does not provide opportunities for career exploration like the bachelor’s degree does," Jillene Seiver, a senior lecturer in psychology and an associate chair in the school of psychology at Eastern Washington University , wrote in an email.

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People who found the academic workload of bachelor's degree courses to be extremely challenging may not be prepared to handle the rigors of grad school. But college alumni who excelled throughout their undergraduate experience often possess a love of learning that can make them a good fit for a graduate program, higher education experts say.

However, even individuals who thrived in college ought to reflect on whether a graduate credential will help them in their career before applying to graduate school, according to experts.

What's key for success in grad school is a sense of purpose, says Jody Britten, a co-founder at SheLeadsEdu, an organization that provides career advice and training to women working in the education sector.

Grad school students are most successful "when they know what they are very passionate about ... . If they're going to grad school because they feel like they need to go to grad school or they don't know what they're going to do or they just want a pay raise, that's when it doesn't pay off," says Britten, who has a Ph.D. in education. "That's when we don't see them completing their degree."

What Are the Different Types of Graduate Programs?

There are numerous graduate credentials, including some that can be obtained quickly and others that require substantial time.

Universities sometimes offer short, nondegree postbaccalaureate certificates and diplomas that can be completed within a few months. In contrast, master's programs last for at least one academic year while doctoral programs generally require multiple years of study.

A master's education builds on the knowledge gained via a bachelor's. A master's degree typically precedes a doctoral degree, since the latter is ordinarily the most advanced credential available within an academic discipline.

There are two types of doctorates. Applied doctorates focus on using existing knowledge to solve real-world problems and prepare future industry leaders. Research doctorates address open questions within a particular academic discipline and train future scholars.

"Graduate school can mean many things," Pierre Huguet, CEO of the H&C Education admissions consulting firm, wrote in an email. "There's a big difference between starting an M.S. or M.A. program, going to law or business school and embarking on the five- to seven-year journey that is a Ph.D."

Here are a few examples of graduate degrees and how long full-time programs typically last:

  • Master of Science, or M.S., degree: one to two years
  • Master of Arts, or M.A., degree: one to two years
  • Master of Business Administration, or MBA, degree: two years
  • Master of Fine Arts, or MFA, degree: two to three years
  • Juris Doctor, or J.D., degree: three years
  • Doctor of Medicine, or M.D., degree: four years
  • Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph.D. degree: six years

The word "terminal" is sometimes used to describe degrees, but the meaning of the term depends on the context. Generally speaking, terminal refers to a degree that indicates mastery of a particular subject, which is typically the most advanced academic qualification available in a field. Although experts sometimes disagree about which degrees fall into this category, there is consensus around the idea that doctorates qualify. Sometimes, though, when a degree is described as "terminal," it is simply because that degree is or could conceivably become the final step in a student's educational journey.

Grad School and the Job Market

A graduate degree is mandatory or highly beneficial for certain careers .

"If you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, for example, you will need to continue your education past college," says Huguet. "Additionally, certain post-graduate programs, such as MBAs , often provide students with important networking opportunities that can be as important professionally as the education students receive at business school. If you want to go into academia or conduct advanced research, you will most likely need a Ph.D."

However, grad school isn't necessarily ideal for "natural entrepreneurs," Huguet says. "I know many students who founded successful businesses while in college, and chose to work for themselves full-time after graduating. For these kinds of individuals, I believe graduate degrees ... are a waste of time and money."

Prospective grad students should think carefully about their career goals before applying to grad schools, Huguet recommends. "Begin by asking yourself what kind of career you’d like to pursue, and then do some research to see what kinds of degrees are necessary for your dream job. In some cases, advanced degrees are not necessary, but can lead to higher salaries and better positions."

Prospective doctoral students should also assess the job market within their potential field of study.

"A Ph.D. in biology may lead to more options down the road than a Ph.D. in German Literature, for example," Huguet says. "If your goal is to teach German at the college level, go for the Ph.D., but understand that your degree may not be particularly useful outside of academia."

How Does Graduate School Compare to College?

A common misconception about graduate school is that it is similar to college. But higher education experts say that graduate courses tend to involve more self-directed learning than undergraduate courses.

"Too often, college students or people who only have had a college experience somehow think that graduate school is going to be more of the same, and it's not," says Thomas Plante, a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University in California and an adjunct faculty member at the California-based Stanford University. "It's going to look very different. So students might be tired of sitting in small plastic seats in large lecture halls and listening to professors drone on and then taking tests and things like that, and they don't realize that often graduate school is not that way at all."

Plante says graduate courses tend to involve small classes as opposed to large lectures, and grad students typically engage in academic research outside of the classroom.

Luz Claudio, a professor in the environmental medicine and public health department of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, says graduate school typically requires significant motivation and personal accountability, since students frequently work independently.

"There's generally no 'homework,' quizzes and few exams in most graduate programs," Claudio wrote in an email. "So students need to learn to be motivated to study because they want to learn instead of being motivated by the threat of exams or grades."

Many graduate programs require students to create and submit a faculty-approved dissertation, portfolio or thesis in order to qualify for a degree.

"In the graduate school setting, the teacher becomes more like a mentor and the student is more like an apprentice," Claudio says.

Searching for a grad school? Access our complete rankings of Best Graduate Schools.

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Debunking Graduate School Myths

  • Academics  

There are many good reasons to get a graduate degree – job preparedness, career advancement, a true passion for your subject. But how do you know the grad school facts from grad school myths?

We asked Keith Hassell , executive director of graduate admissions & retention at Sacred Heart University, to give us the real truth about graduate school.

“Graduate school is a good idea while I figure out what career I want.”

While putting off today what you can do tomorrow might seem like a winning option right now, attending grad school is not a wise procrastination strategy. Why? Because graduate school is quite different from college. Instead of taking a variety of classes in different subjects, you’ll be concentrating on one topic and perfecting a specialty. If you decide you don’t enjoy business analytics or public health, it’s not as easy to change course.

Going straight to grad school might be the right choice for some, but the good news is you don’t have to take that path. You can start right away, give yourself a year or two in the workforce to make sure your path is clear or jump back into your studies at mid-career. Graduate school programs are often designed with flexibility in mind.

“I will get paid more money with a graduate degree.”

It depends.

While this is often true, it is not a certainty. And a graduate degree program can be a significant investment in both time and financial resources.

Hassell encourages those considering a graduate degree to do their homework, researching the pros and cons of each potential path before applying. That advice extends beyond the paycheck. A graduate degree is required for entry to some fields, is valuable for promotion in others and is a personal path for skill-building in still others. Students should make sure that a particular program will provide their desired return on investment.

Graduate school admissions used to depend heavily on entrance exam scores. I don’t think that’s true anymore.

You’re right.

In the past, students hoping to get into graduate school worried about their results on the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE. While it’s still true that medical school hopefuls need to ace the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and future lawyers need to score well on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), most programs don’t require entrance exams. A more holistic approach—one that often takes career experience into account— applies now, Hassell said.

In addition, graduate degree programs often welcome students with a variety of undergraduate degrees. Ask your admissions counselor to recommend programs that might be enhanced by the skills and experience you gained with your bachelor’s program, Hassell said.

“I can’t take on a graduate degree program. I’ve got a full-time job.”

The good news here is many graduate school programs are tailored to students who are working professionals, Hassell said. Many meet just once or twice a week and in the evenings after typical work hours or on the weekend.

At Sacred Heart University, there are many hybrid programs, augmenting in-person class time with online and independent work that students can complete around their existing work schedules. Some programs are completely online, allowing students the flexibility to work at their own pace. Hassell recommends fully researching how a degree program is delivered to see if the style matches your schedule.

“I can’t afford grad school. There’s no financial aid.”

Some believe grad school is out of their reach because of the financial burden of taking classes. Those facing student loans from undergrad studies may be worried about taking on more debt.

Good news. There are resources specifically for graduate education. Hassell suggests speaking with an admissions counselor to learn more about graduate assistantships and other campus work opportunities that might offset costs. Graduate students can often apply to be teaching assistants or work in the department offices. Workplaces sometimes include tuition benefits for employees seeking professional development, and discounts are sometimes offered for those seeking specific skills, such as police officers earning advanced emergency management skills or veterans preparing for post-service careers.

Consult with the university’s student financial assistance office to work through options. SHU financial assistance staff are well versed in the opportunities available and are happy to walk graduate students through the process.

Want to know more about graduate programs at Sacred Heart University?

Sacred Heart University offers the kind of forward-thinking instruction required for success in today’s marketplace paired with the flexibility and support you need to accomplish your goals.

To learn more about our graduate programs, talk to our team of admissions counselors , each of whom specializes in specific programs, either virtually or in person. Email [email protected] , call 203-365-7619 or schedule an appointment today.

Want to hear more from SHU? Subscribe to our newsletters to get the latest updates delivered right to your inbox.

Social Sciences

7 big differences between college and graduate school.

Many students begin graduate school believing that it’s basically an overgrown version of their undergraduate education. I mean, you’re a student – right? How much different could taking classes and writing papers possibly be?

The truth is, there are some big differences between college and graduate school. Being aware of the changes you’ll be expected to make can help the transition to graduate school feel less daunting. Here are seven of the biggest differences between life as a college student and life as a grad student.

  • In Grad school, you’ll spend (a lot) more time on each individual course

It’s not uncommon for undergraduate students to take 5 or 6 classes a semester in college. In graduate school, five classes would be nigh impossible. A full course load is generally 3 courses – and for good reason.

Each graduate class will require a lot of reading, more than you ever thought possible in college – and more than might actually be possible in a week. You’ll have to learn to prioritize the most important readings and actively skim the rest.

Moreover, the structure of the courses will be different. There are virtually no lecture classes in graduate school; all or nearly all of your classes will be small seminars with 15-20 students or less. Even as few as 2-5 students in a class is not uncommon.

You’ll be expected to be prepared for seminars and to speak up and participate in the intellectual conversation. Your professors will be interested in hearing your insights. Higher quality is expected from your papers, presentations, and group projects. You’ll devote much more time to each class than you did in college.

  • You’ll develop a laser focus on your topic of interest

Undergraduate education is primarily about breadth. In graduate school, your education will be focused on developing depth in a particular subject area. Coursework in graduate school is designed to help prepare you for your comprehensive exams and for writing a dissertation.

Develop a clear idea of what you want to study before you start graduate school, because you won’t have the same freedom to explore different disciplines as you did in college.

This is good news for anyone who knows exactly what they want to study and is ready to polish their knowledge in that field (which – at least theoretically – should be everyone in grad school). You’ll spend a great deal of time reading deeply within your field and participating in high-level discussions with scholars in your area.

The caveat, of course, is that this is not the time to explore brand-new avenues. While there is some flexibility and plenty of room to grow in grad school, for the most part your job is to specialize and become an expert within a specific field. You’ll want to build upon the knowledge you’ve gained in college.

  • You’re expected to be(come) independent

In college, you were likely shepherded through the process of selecting a major and a class schedule. Graduate programs expect you to be much more independent – both in selecting your classes and in directing your research program.

Your classes themselves will also be more self-directed. While many undergraduate professors provide constant deadlines for big projects (e.g., by asking you to turn in a topic and an outline before turning in a final research paper), most seminar classes in graduate school will simply set a single deadline for the final paper. Moreover,that final paper may be your only ‘official’ assignment for the entire semester.

It’s your job to pace yourself and figure out what internal deadlines you need to set in order to get all your work done without overwhelming yourself into uselessness.

In research, too, you’ll be expected to be more independent. While you will get more guidance toward the beginning of your program, by the end of your first year you will be expected to have some fresh ideas about potential research or scholarly projects with potential to contribute knowledge to your field.

  • You’ll be judged by completely different standards

In college, the most important thing was performance in your classes. If you did well in classes, you received good grades, and you were considered a “good student.”

In graduate school, classes are just the beginning – and frankly, one of the least important aspects of your program. Good grades are commonplace and expected.

You’ll come to understand the oft-noted phenomenon whereby a “C in grad school is like an F in college.”

You’ll also be expected to get involved in research and/or scholarship early on in your program. The quality of your ideas and your research will be a far bigger part of how your advisor and other professors perceive you within the program than your performance in classes.

  • You’re highly visible

Even at a small college, you might have been one of a hundred other students in your major, while at large universities there are thousands of students in every department.

It’s important to remember that unlike in college, you can’t just fade into the background if you want to succeed in graduate school and beyond.

In graduate school, you’re part of a much smaller cohort within your department, and as a result you’ll be much more ‘visible’ to your peers and faculty. The faculty in your department will form opinions about you based on the way you act, think, and speak in classes and at departmental events and meetings.

This is good – and necessary! These same faculty members become part of your network and you’ll want them on your side down the road when a hiring committee calls them for their opinion. You also want to be at the forefront of their mind just in case the perfect job for you crosses their desk or email inbox.

  • You’ll be more involved with your department and less involved with the rest of the university

Many college undergraduates become highly engaged with the life of their campus – joining campus groups, cheering the football team on Saturdays and hanging out at campus hotspots.

While some graduate students are more active than others, in general graduate students are less involved in the social life of the campus and more involved in their department as the hub of their experience in graduate school.

Most of the people you interact with on a daily basis will be other students and faculty members within your department, to the point where you may find yourself completely unfamiliar with faculty and practices in other departments at the same school.

Graduate student organizations do exist, but typically they meet less frequently and tend to focus on different things than typical undergraduate social clubs. And while some graduate students live on campus, most will live outside the campus ecosystem.

In any case, the halls of your department will quickly become your home on campus, for better or worse.

  • In graduate school, everyone wants to be there

Compared to college, the biggest difference in graduate school is that everyone wants to be there . Many graduate students think of their schoolwork as their job (and chances are, it is or will be) and this difference in mindset changes everything .

Your peers will stimulate and challenge you, and they won’t come to class in their pajamas. Faculty within your department will actually be interested in what you have to say. And because of this fundamental dynamic, you’ll learn more and discover that you have more to offer than you might previously have imagined.

This point should also be something that you think hard about before you decide to attend grad school: are you sure it’s what you want to do? If not, there’s no rush: wait until you know exactly what you want to study and make sure you can confidently answer the question, “Why do I want to go to grad school?”

If it’s where you want to be, you’ll find yourself in good company.

In the end, graduate school is a completely different animal from undergraduate college. From studying to socializing, you’re entering a new world. But if you choose to go to grad school to study something you’re passionate about, you’ll likely find it much more rewarding than college.

Tell us what you think: What do you think is the biggest difference between graduate school and undergrad?

Tags: college , grad student , graduate school , phd , survival strategies

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2014 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Surviving Grad School . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Comments & Discussion

College was too stressful and expensive for me. But I loved grad school because it was free and incredibly fulfilling.

  • I never liked undergrad because I was constantly stressed about paying my tuition and student loans.
  • But grad school was different, and it was free. 
  • Grad school also allowed me more freedom and a better social life.

Insider Today

Parties with the iconic red cups, big tailgates, and no cares in the world: this is how college is often depicted in movies. While my college experience included these moments, those aspects were only a small fraction of my college experience . 

Despite loving school, I didn’t particularly enjoy my time in college. A large part of that was the financial implications. Since I had taken out student loans, I felt a lot of anxiety about the cost of college .

If I could do it again, I would have worried about money less and branched out more instead of rushing to get my degree. But my reality was that college meant a lot of work — inside and outside the classroom. I worked various jobs, including in fast food, to support myself. I spent a lot of solitary nights in the library studying. I was homesick , and I hated the bureaucracy around required classes.

Because of my less-than-stellar college experience, I wasn’t expecting much from graduate school , which I attended about five years after receiving my Bachelor’s degree. But I found that graduate school was incredibly fulfilling. 

Graduate school let me narrow in on one specific passion

Graduate school had a specific focus, which allowed me to hone in on my interests. My focus was creative writing, specifically poetry. 

I was able to do exactly what I wanted and concentrate on my craft. The classwork and homework felt purposeful. Each assignment was an exercise that would bring me closer to a thesis that I could be proud of and that could ultimately be transformed into a book for the next stage of my career. 

My program was fully funded, so money wasn’t as much of a concern

My graduate program was small, and because of that, it offered full funding for students who were residents of the state, which I was. Lifting this financial burden allowed me to fully enjoy my time without worrying about the cost. 

The program was also designed with professionals in mind, and the classes began in the evening. This allowed me to keep my full-time job and attend school at night. My graduate school program also allowed me to teach a college course to undergraduate students . This opportunity, which was paid, reaffirmed my desire to work as an educator in some capacity throughout my career.  

While college had me burning the candle at both ends, graduate school allowed me to be more intentional with my time. Instead of working several minimum wage jobs at once, like I did in college, I had a much more regular schedule. 

Though I was still busy, my schedule gave me a lot of time to socialize 

Graduate school actually gave me more time with friends. Though the stereotype is that college is all about partying, it was only in graduate school that I really got to enjoy hanging out with friends since my life had more structure, and I carefully planned my free time.

My obligations were more predictable, allowing me to build a more robust social life . 

Plus, since I had common ground with my cohort, we could do things inside and outside the classroom together, like go to poetry readings, which were part of our syllabus.

Ultimately, even though some things were unexpected, I wouldn’t change my experience

I graduated with my Master’s degree in 2020, so the pandemic impacted the last semester. While I couldn’t wait to finish college at the time, I was very sad that graduate school was over, and it was difficult to process the end, especially during that uncertain period. 

The differences in my undergraduate and graduate experiences showed me how vastly dissimilar expectations and reality truly can be — and it reaffirmed why it’s important to keep an open mind. 

Graduate school ended up being better than I could have imagined because of various unexpected pluses, and I’ll always think fondly of that period.

is there homework in grad school

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If you’re considering grad school for your future, you are probably asking yourself many questions:

Debra Satz

  • Is grad school the best option for me now? 
  • What are the benefits and challenges? 
  • What’s the difference between undergrad and grad school? 
  • Should I seek a master’s or doctoral program? 
  • Which grad programs should I apply for? 
  • What’s involved in an application to grad school? 
  • What are admissions committees looking for? 
  • Who can help me? What resources are available? 
  • What are some alternatives to grad school?

These are all important questions to consider, and they should be considered carefully. This guide is organized around the main aspects of the decision-making process and application, which can help address many of your questions. 

Because these decisions and your application for graduate school are complex and time-consuming, this guide was prepared to provide critical information and advice. This guide  also contains questions to ask yourself and exercises to help you prepare your application for graduate programs. Be as honest as possible with yourself, and talk about your answers with close friends and family. You may need to adjust the wording of your answers for your application, but it’s important to begin with an honest self-assessment as you prepare your application.

Using this guide and working on these exercises can help you get started in the right direction. Additional resources and tools are incorporated within this guide. However, remember to also seek help from other people: faculty, advisors, grad students, postdocs, peers, and career counselors. This guide is meant to provide an overview and does not cover everything. Your specific situation can only be addressed by close friends and mentors who know you personally. 

As you address multiple decisions, this can be a stressful time period. But it may help to realize that you are not alone, and that many others have approached these decisions and have  successfully embarked on new adventures. So, remember to find friends to encourage you in this process. We wish you the best in these new adventures.

Undergraduate vs Graduate (PhD) Programs

The experiences of an undergraduate and graduate student can appear deceptively similar. They are both at a university doing coursework and research. However, there are significant differences. Not understanding the depth of these differences can hinder your chances of being admitted and succeeding in grad school.

Undergraduate Programs You are a student “at school X” • Focus on courses and grades  • More objective evaluations of performance from exams and homework • Feedback is relatively frequent • Most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic

You apply to a university or college • Your interests can be very broad • You apply to a discipline or major • Extracurricular activities are valued

Graduate (PhD) Programs You are a student of “Dr. Z” (research advisor) •  Focus on research •  More subjective evaluations and longer periods without concrete feedback •  Collaboration and independence are valued together, which will likely appear to be counter-intuitive— most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic •  Relationship-driven

You apply into a specific graduate program •  Your interests need to be much more specific •  You apply into a specific field within a discipline •  Some programs require you to apply to work directly with a specific professor •  Extracurricular activities are valued less, unless they demonstrate critical skills related to your field

Master’s vs Doctoral Programs

While a typical 4-year undergraduate program refers to pursuing a bachelor’s degree (often a BS or BA degree), a graduate program can refer to pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree.

Master’s Programs (MS or MA) •  Master’s programs usually provide much less financial support.  •  Master’s programs usually last about 2 years, but there are shorter and longer programs, with the range usually between 1 to 3 years. •  All master’s programs require coursework, and only some require research that leads to a thesis (a write-up of your research). •  Requirements for master’s programs are usually less than those for doctoral programs.

Doctoral Programs (PhD) •  Doctoral programs usually provide financial support. •  Doctoral programs have a wide range of typical lengths, from 4 to 8 years. The length of the program is very specific to the field. •  In some doctoral programs (e.g. some engineering programs), you earn a master’s degree before earning a PhD. But in many other programs, the master’s degree is not required before pursuing a PhD. •  All doctoral programs require research that leads to a dissertation (longer than a master’s thesis, a write-up of multiple years of research). •  For some doctoral programs, if you are not able to complete all of the requirements, you might be allowed to exit with a master’s degree.

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is there homework in grad school

How Graduate School Works: An Insider's Guide

When you’re applying for a graduate program , you’ll have a lot of financial and tactical questions on your mind, like cost, credits, and time to completion. But you’ll also have some really practical questions.

The questions we get the most include:

  • What will the classes be like and who will be in them?
  • What type of work will I be required to do?
  • What will my life be like when I’m earning my Master’s?
  • What will working with others in the program be like?
  • What should I know before the first day?

Along with the academic, reading, and research challenges that face a typical Master’s degree student, there is the simple challenge that you can’t always know what’s around the corner.

You can ease that uncertainty by getting some insider tips on graduate school to help guide you smoothly into and through your program.

Consider this the Cliff Notes guide from someone who’s been there

What Will the Classes Be Like?

The first fear of grad school many people have is the unknown of what to expect on the first day.

What will a typical class structure look like? Will you be put on the spot? And what about the other people in the room - how well will you get along with your peers?

And, while every program is different, there are some common things to expect.

The In-Person Environment

At the Master’s level, most courses will have 10-20 students. This leads to a fair amount of interaction with your professor and your peers.

Typically, the course will include a variety of methods from group discussions to presentations to writing assignments.

graphic describes masters degree coursework

Every course is different in terms of the amount of time spent on lecture and discussion. You should expect a mix of the two, because all schools recognize the value of interpersonal contributions and debate. It’s likely the discussion will feel like just that - a discussion between peers rather than a forced answer from the back row of a lecture hall. Remember, you will be surrounding by people who, like yourself, want to advance in their understanding of the subject at hand.

This is in contrast to undergrad classes, which can be dramatically larger and is often focused more on a lecture technique.

The Online Environment

Online coursework continues to grow in availability.

The upside is students who have more flexibility in their schedule and an expanse of animated, video, and interactive material to more fully engage them. The downside is a decrease in the high-touch, high-personal environment that happens in person - but online learning can include a multitude of dynamic elements that it makes up for it.

For those who have never taken an online course, there are discussion boards, online text or video chats, lecture video replay, peer-to-peer interactions, and student-to-faculty sharing opportunities than in he classroom. You can access instructors immediately through chat, discussion thread, or email, without having to wait for office hours.

What matters most when choosing a master’s program? Compare features, benefits and cost to find the right school for you.

What will life be like while i’m pursuing my degree.

Yes, your life will be busy during this period of time.

A Master’s degree program carries a significantly heavier effort than a Bachelor’s course of study. You may have several hours of work to accomplish each day, on average. Even with a light course load, you may find yourself spending 15 or 20 hours a week on your studies.

To fit such a workload into your life, you’ll need to plan and balance carefully.

By assembling a time summary for yourself in week one, you can plan the rest of your semester by blocking off time as needed. For example, if a professor tells you that the coming week will have a lot of reading, then you’ll know you need to set aside seven hours instead of five.

4 Keys To Getting the Most Out of This Time

Your academic commitments will soon require much of your time. The following tips will help you stay focused on productivity, organization, and healthy habits.

  • Identify your sweet zones. Learn when you work more effectively and efficiently. For instance, you may find that early mornings are better for writing while evenings are better for reading. Or, vice versa. Not sure where to start? Learn how productivity guru Michael Hyatt sets himself up for a productive day.
  • Establish effective time management skills. Know how long it will take you to complete a task, and reserve time on your calendar for those activities. Make appointments with yourself to complete important milestones—and keep those appointments.

graphic displaying image of a calendar

  • Make time for the important things. You can’t always be head down on coursework. Don’t neglect social times - meet with friends, spend time with family, and enjoy fun activities. Those things can prove to be a great support system.
  • Keep up-to-date to-do lists. Use an app like Todoist, or old-fashioned pen and paper, to keep a list of important items you need to accomplish, both in your master’s work and personal life. This little trick can help you stay organized with less free time. ​

graphic displaying a 7 week planner

PRO TIP: This won’t always be fun. There’s a reason that most people don’t get a Master’s degree. To ensure you’re prepared for what’s ahead, do some soul-searching. Dig down deep and think about what you want to do and what you love to do - and ensure the Master’s program aligns with those things.

What Will You Need to Know Before the First Day?

One thing to remember about your first few times on campus or online: your admissions officer is probably your best resource as you get on board. If you have questions, just ask. Admissions officers either know the answer or will direct you to someone who does.

  • Learn the Campus. Some schools that are focused on in-person classes will have an in-person orientation and campus tour. But these days, more and more coursework is being completed online, including some programs that are 100% online. That’s why you might even see some evidence of online open houses that will welcome you and orient you right from the comfort of home.
  • Familiarize Yourself with the System for Online Work. A program that requires any amount of online work will typically have some sort of secure software for you to log in, learn, perform tasks or homework, and submit your work. At Franklin University, for example, we use BlueQuill, a custom learning system.
  • Identify Where to Go with Questions. For enrollment questions, the best person to ask will be someone in the admissions department. If you have questions about your course work, contact the instructor or even a peer in the class. Some schools may have a financial aid officer, a student liaison, or a concierge—depending on what language they use for their staff positions.

How Will You Work With Others?

In a Master’s degree program, it's important to work with the people around you.

Often, you’ll be assigned group projects that must be presented back to the larger group. Working effectively in these groups, while balancing everyone’s schedules and personalities, can seem daunting at first. But it doesn’t have to be.

To get the most from working in a group of students, approach the group assignment while “turning up” your skills in these areas:

  • Communication - Who is doing what? When does it need to be done? How will it be delivered? Make sure everyone understands the group goals and tasks.
  • Collaboration - What is the best way to divide and conquer? Who is great at what, and how can the group leverage each skillset at the table?
  • Specialization - Is everyone in your group from the same major? Maybe there is someone with a financial educational goal and someone with a marketing undergraduate degree; let each one handle an area of the project that suits their strengths.

A Word of Advice

Earning your Master’s is a grind. It’s challenging work that requires much from you.

According to Sara Burris, Associate Director of Graduate Admissions at Franklin University , “For a Master’s degree program, you have to ask yourself if you’re passionate about your program.”

Burris speaks from experience. She’s helped hundreds of students find their way into the right programs, and she’s also seen students who chose the wrong one.

“Six or seven classes in the program, you're going to run into a challenge. It might be a challenge at work, like your boss moves you to an office on the other side of town or completely changes the hours of your shift. It might be a challenge in life, like your kid gets really sick. And in some cases, a major change like that will derail students’ efforts and they’ll drop out. But not the passionate ones. If you have a passion for the program you’re in, you'll stick with it. So choose your passion.”

Bring On the Adventure

There’s no time like the present to take what you know and translate it into action. Now that you’ve heard an insider’s view on navigating into a Master’s program, take that new confidence and start your journey .

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Do Graduate School and Work Mix?

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  • Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Fordham University
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There is no one answer to this question. Why? There are many ways to attend graduate school - and many graduate programs with differing cultures and rules. Take the graduate program that we attended: Working was frowned upon and sometimes forbidden. It was a full-time doctoral program and students were expected to treat their graduate studies as a full-time job. Students who held outside jobs were few and far between -- and they rarely spoke of them, at least not to faculty. Students who were funded by faculty grants or institutional funds were not permitted to work outside of the institution. However, not all graduate programs look at student employment in the same way.

Full-Time Graduate Programs

Students who attend full-time graduate programs, especially doctoral programs , generally are expected to treat their studies as a full-time job. Some programs expressly forbid students from working while others simply frown on it. Some students find that working an outside job is not a choice - they cannot make ends meet without the cash. Such students should keep their employment activities to themselves as much as possible as well as choose jobs that will not interfere with their studies.

Part-Time Graduate Programs

These programs are not designed to take up all of the students' time - although students often find that part-time graduate study takes a lot more time than they anticipated. Most students enrolled in part-time graduate programs work, at least part-time, and many work full time. Recognize that programs labeled "part-time" still require a great deal of work. Most schools tell students to expect to work about 2 hours out-of-class for every hour in class. That means every 3-hour class will require at least 6 hours of preparation time. Courses vary - some might require less time, but those with heavy reading assignments, homework problem sets, or lengthy papers may require more time. Working often isn’t an option, so at least begin each semester with open eyes and realistic expectations.

Evening Graduate Programs

Most evening graduate programs are part-time programs and all the comments above apply. Graduate students who enroll in evening programs usually work full time.​  Business schools often have evening MBA programs designed for adults who are already employed and want to advance their careers. Evening programs schedule classes at times that are convenient for students who work, but they aren't any easier or lighter in load than other graduate programs.

Online Graduate Programs

Online graduate programs are deceptive in the sense that there rarely is any set class time. Instead, students work on their own, submitting their assignments every week or so. The lack of meeting times can trick students into feeling as if they have all the time in the world. They don't. Instead, students who enroll in an online graduate study have to be diligent about their use of time - perhaps more so than students in brick-and-mortar programs because they can attend graduate school without ever leaving their home. Online students face similar reading, homework, and paper assignments as other students, but they also must set aside time to participate in class online, which may require that they read dozens or even hundreds of student posts as well as compose and post their own responses.

Whether you work as a graduate student depends on your finances, but also on the type of graduate program you attend. Recognize that if you are awarded funding, such as scholarships or assistantships , you might be expected to refrain from outside employment.

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Whether you’ve just finished your undergraduate degree or you want to pivot your career, grad school may be the next logical step in your educational and professional development.

But how do you apply to graduate school so you have the best chance at receiving that coveted acceptance letter? Read on to learn how to submit the perfect graduate school application to impress admissions officers. For information on due dates and a printable timeline, check out our  grad school application checklist .

How Grad Schools Evaluate Your Application

The exact criteria for  graduate school admissions  vary depending on the school and program. Still, there are certain qualifications, including GPA and grades from specific undergraduate courses, that all admissions officers consider. Most graduate programs look for a minimum 3.0 GPA.

A Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score of at least 318 is considered strong and can help your application. A professional resume with work experience related to your program is often helpful or required. Programs typically ask for letters of recommendation and a  graduate school admissions essay  as well.

Are You a Good Fit for the Program?

Whichever program you apply for, you must first make sure it’s a good match. Consider the following questions before submitting your application:

  • Do you love the field of study the program you’re applying to focuses on?
  • Do you have an undergraduate degree or work experience in an area related to your graduate school program of choice?
  • Will earning this degree help you advance your career or earning potential?
  • Do you have the resources to pay for graduate school, either through your own funds or through loans, grants and scholarships? For more information about this, see our guide on  how to pay for graduate school .

Taking time to reflect on these questions can help you decide whether graduate school is right for you. You can also reach out to professors, students and alumni to get a better feel for your prospective program. You might even schedule a tour of the campus before applying.

Do You Have Relevant Internship or Research Experience?

Internships and relevant work experience may not make or break your graduate school application, but they can help set your application apart from the rest. Once you’re in a graduate program, you may be required to complete an internship or research work to graduate.

What Does Your Statement of Purpose Demonstrate?

A statement of purpose or personal statement tells admissions committees more about you. This essay should touch on your interests, especially as they relate to the graduate school program. The statement of purpose should also describe what you can bring to the program and why you want to be a part of it.

What Do Your Letters of Recommendation Demonstrate?

Letters of recommendation are important for graduate school because they show that credible academics and professionals think highly of you and believe you would be a good asset to the program you’re applying to.

An effective letter of recommendation is written by someone who knows you well academically or professionally, such as a professor, mentor or work supervisor. It should include titles of relevant research articles you’ve written, academic awards and honors and relevant academic activities like projects, presentations or research studies.

What Do Your Undergraduate Transcripts Show?

Simply put, official undergraduate transcripts verify that you attended the school you said you did and maintained a GPA that’s consistent with the program’s requirements. Undergraduate transcripts also allow admissions officers to see whether you took courses relevant to your prospective course of study.

How Are Your GRE Scores?

Most graduate school programs require students to take the GRE as part of the application process. An overall score of 318 or higher is considered a good score, so you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to study and retake the test if needed before your grad school application is due.

Is Your Prior Academic Experience Relevant?

While you don’t always need an undergraduate degree in the same field as the graduate program you’re applying to, admissions officers typically consider relevant undergraduate coursework, research projects and work experience when reviewing applications.

Statement of Purpose Tips

Your statement of purpose gives you the chance to show some individuality and let your personality shine through. You should aim to leave a memorable impression and craft a well-written, concise statement of purpose to boost your application. See our tips below for writing a statement of purpose.

Follow the Prompt Carefully

Be sure to answer all of the questions in the prompt to give admissions officers all the information they need. Additionally, make sure to follow any guidelines for things like style, font and file format. While these factors may seem small, incorrect formatting can lead to your application being disqualified.

Get Personal

This is your chance to tell your story. Write a statement of purpose that only you could write. Does your passion for medicine date back to an injury or illness you had as a child? Did you grow up watching Law & Order and feel inspired? These details remind graduate admission committees that you are a well rounded person with much to offer.

Discuss Your Goals

Aside from how your own personal and career goals relate to the program, you should also touch on how you can contribute to your school or program of choice. Do you plan on collaborating with colleagues or contributing to your institution’s research goals? Make this known in your statement of purpose.

Know Your Audience

What is the culture of the school or program you’re applying to? What does the institution value? Spend some time on its website and social media accounts to find out. You can even reach out to current students and alumni to get a better idea so you can tailor your statement of purpose accordingly.

Proofread and Revise as Needed

Don’t just write your first draft and send it off. After writing it, take some time to sleep on it, then come back and read and revise with fresh eyes. You should also have someone like a professor or tutor read your statement of purpose and provide feedback.

Interview Tips

The interview is a big part of the graduate school application process if your program requires one. Make sure to come ready and prepared.

Do Your Research

Read up on the university and program you’re applying to so you can sound knowledgeable and interested during the interview. Answer questions such as, how big is the program or school? What have its graduates gone on to do? What are the program requirements?

You can also read up on any academic articles or research professors in your program have created.

Prepare Questions for Your Interviewer

Remember, this isn’t just about the school interviewing you. You’re also interviewing the program to determine if it’s a good fit for you. What career and network opportunities are available to students and alumni? What about grants and scholarships? Will you be paired with a mentor or an advisor?

Practice With Mock Interviews

Practice makes perfect. Look into common graduate school interview questions, and practice with a professor, classmate or friend. You can even practice solo using these  20 Graduate School Interview Questions .

Bring a Professional Portfolio

Depending on the nature of your work, it may be helpful to bring in a professional portfolio, such as if your speciality is print graphic design. Other subject areas like writing or research lend themselves to online portfolios, which you can send to your interviewers ahead of the scheduled interview.

What Does a Grad School Application Look Like?

In addition to your transcripts, test scores, statement of purpose and portfolio, your graduate school application will require some basic background information about you.

Biographical Information

  • Full legal name
  • Any previous legal names used
  • Age and date of birth
  • Social Security number

Ethnicity Information

Ethnicity information about applicants and current students is used by the university to see if it is meeting diversity quotas and to share with stakeholders. You may select one particular ethnicity, or choose options like “other,” “multiracial” or “decline to state.”

Military Status

Scholarships, grants and special services can be available to active-duty and reserve military service members and veterans.

Contact Information

  • Current mailing address
  • Current phone number
  • Current email

Program Selection

  • The program you’re applying to
  • Any speciality or concentrations available as part of your program

Academic Interests

  • Specialities in your program that you want to focus on
  • Research topics or projects you want to pursue

History of Education

  • Undergraduate degree and major
  • Academic achievements and awards

Standardized Test Information

  • *GRE scores (Check with your program as some may no longer require or accept GRE scores )
  • Scores from any other required tests

Financial Aid

Deadlines for financial aid often coincide with deadlines for admissions. Make sure to submit the FAFSA to ensure you qualify for as many financial aid resources as possible. Visit the  Federal Student Aid  website for more information, and check out our guide on  how the FAFSA differs for graduate school .

Previous Employment

  • Relevant work history related to your program
  • Internship or research experience related to your program

Do you speak the primary language spoken in the area where your campus is located? Do you speak more than one language? These are things admissions officers will want to know.

Supplemental Information

  • Certifications or special licenses or training
  • Special Awards

Reference Information

  • Contact information, like phone numbers and emails, for professors, mentors and work supervisors who are willing to provide a reference

Upload Documents

When submitting your online application, make sure to upload all required documents so your application will not be disqualified.

Application Fee

  • Graduate school application fees can range from around $60 to more than $100. You must pay this fee before you can submit your application.

Confirm and Submit Form

  • Finally, make sure to confirm that all your information is correct and all necessary documents are uploaded before you submit your application.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com on Feb. 3. 2023. Author is Ryah Cooley Cole, and Editor is Brenna Swanston.

is there homework in grad school

Are You Down With or Done With Homework?

  • Posted January 17, 2012
  • By Lory Hough

Sign: Are you down with or done with homework?

The debate over how much schoolwork students should be doing at home has flared again, with one side saying it's too much, the other side saying in our competitive world, it's just not enough.

It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework.

This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read. Every day for 30 minutes, more if they had time or the inclination, with parents or on their own.

"I knew this would be a big shift for my community," she says. But she also strongly believed it was a necessary one. Twenty-first-century learners, especially those in elementary school, need to think critically and understand their own learning — not spend night after night doing rote homework drills.

Brant's move may not be common, but she isn't alone in her questioning. The value of doing schoolwork at home has gone in and out of fashion in the United States among educators, policymakers, the media, and, more recently, parents. As far back as the late 1800s, with the rise of the Progressive Era, doctors such as Joseph Mayer Rice began pushing for a limit on what he called "mechanical homework," saying it caused childhood nervous conditions and eyestrain. Around that time, the then-influential Ladies Home Journal began publishing a series of anti-homework articles, stating that five hours of brain work a day was "the most we should ask of our children," and that homework was an intrusion on family life. In response, states like California passed laws abolishing homework for students under a certain age.

But, as is often the case with education, the tide eventually turned. After the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, a space race emerged, and, writes Brian Gill in the journal Theory Into Practice, "The homework problem was reconceived as part of a national crisis; the U.S. was losing the Cold War because Russian children were smarter." Many earlier laws limiting homework were abolished, and the longterm trend toward less homework came to an end.

The debate re-emerged a decade later when parents of the late '60s and '70s argued that children should be free to play and explore — similar anti-homework wellness arguments echoed nearly a century earlier. By the early-1980s, however, the pendulum swung again with the publication of A Nation at Risk , which blamed poor education for a "rising tide of mediocrity." Students needed to work harder, the report said, and one way to do this was more homework.

For the most part, this pro-homework sentiment is still going strong today, in part because of mandatory testing and continued economic concerns about the nation's competitiveness. Many believe that today's students are falling behind their peers in places like Korea and Finland and are paying more attention to Angry Birds than to ancient Babylonia.

But there are also a growing number of Stephanie Brants out there, educators and parents who believe that students are stressed and missing out on valuable family time. Students, they say, particularly younger students who have seen a rise in the amount of take-home work and already put in a six- to nine-hour "work" day, need less, not more homework.

Who is right? Are students not working hard enough or is homework not working for them? Here's where the story gets a little tricky: It depends on whom you ask and what research you're looking at. As Cathy Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework , points out, "Homework has generated enough research so that a study can be found to support almost any position, as long as conflicting studies are ignored." Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth and a strong believer in eliminating all homework, writes that, "The fact that there isn't anything close to unanimity among experts belies the widespread assumption that homework helps." At best, he says, homework shows only an association, not a causal relationship, with academic achievement. In other words, it's hard to tease out how homework is really affecting test scores and grades. Did one teacher give better homework than another? Was one teacher more effective in the classroom? Do certain students test better or just try harder?

"It is difficult to separate where the effect of classroom teaching ends," Vatterott writes, "and the effect of homework begins."

Putting research aside, however, much of the current debate over homework is focused less on how homework affects academic achievement and more on time. Parents in particular have been saying that the amount of time children spend in school, especially with afterschool programs, combined with the amount of homework given — as early as kindergarten — is leaving students with little time to run around, eat dinner with their families, or even get enough sleep.

Certainly, for some parents, homework is a way to stay connected to their children's learning. But for others, homework creates a tug-of-war between parents and children, says Liz Goodenough, M.A.T.'71, creator of a documentary called Where Do the Children Play?

"Ideally homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school — an organizational triumph," she says. "A nag-free activity could engage family time: Ask a parent about his or her own childhood. Interview siblings."

Illustration by Jessica Esch

Instead, as the authors of The Case Against Homework write, "Homework overload is turning many of us into the types of parents we never wanted to be: nags, bribers, and taskmasters."

Leslie Butchko saw it happen a few years ago when her son started sixth grade in the Santa Monica-Malibu (Calif.) United School District. She remembers him getting two to four hours of homework a night, plus weekend and vacation projects. He was overwhelmed and struggled to finish assignments, especially on nights when he also had an extracurricular activity.

"Ultimately, we felt compelled to have Bobby quit karate — he's a black belt — to allow more time for homework," she says. And then, with all of their attention focused on Bobby's homework, she and her husband started sending their youngest to his room so that Bobby could focus. "One day, my younger son gave us 15-minute coupons as a present for us to use to send him to play in the back room. … It was then that we realized there had to be something wrong with the amount of homework we were facing."

Butchko joined forces with another mother who was having similar struggles and ultimately helped get the homework policy in her district changed, limiting homework on weekends and holidays, setting time guidelines for daily homework, and broadening the definition of homework to include projects and studying for tests. As she told the school board at one meeting when the policy was first being discussed, "In closing, I just want to say that I had more free time at Harvard Law School than my son has in middle school, and that is not in the best interests of our children."

One barrier that Butchko had to overcome initially was convincing many teachers and parents that more homework doesn't necessarily equal rigor.

"Most of the parents that were against the homework policy felt that students need a large quantity of homework to prepare them for the rigorous AP classes in high school and to get them into Harvard," she says.

Stephanie Conklin, Ed.M.'06, sees this at Another Course to College, the Boston pilot school where she teaches math. "When a student is not completing [his or her] homework, parents usually are frustrated by this and agree with me that homework is an important part of their child's learning," she says.

As Timothy Jarman, Ed.M.'10, a ninth-grade English teacher at Eugene Ashley High School in Wilmington, N.C., says, "Parents think it is strange when their children are not assigned a substantial amount of homework."

That's because, writes Vatterott, in her chapter, "The Cult(ure) of Homework," the concept of homework "has become so engrained in U.S. culture that the word homework is part of the common vernacular."

These days, nightly homework is a given in American schools, writes Kohn.

"Homework isn't limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren't saying, 'It may be useful to do this particular project at home,'" he writes. "Rather, the point of departure seems to be, 'We've decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). … This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools — public and private, elementary and secondary."

Brant had to confront this when she cut homework at Gaithersburg Elementary.

"A lot of my parents have this idea that homework is part of life. This is what I had to do when I was young," she says, and so, too, will our kids. "So I had to shift their thinking." She did this slowly, first by asking her teachers last year to really think about what they were sending home. And this year, in addition to forming a parent advisory group around the issue, she also holds events to answer questions.

Still, not everyone is convinced that homework as a given is a bad thing. "Any pursuit of excellence, be it in sports, the arts, or academics, requires hard work. That our culture finds it okay for kids to spend hours a day in a sport but not equal time on academics is part of the problem," wrote one pro-homework parent on the blog for the documentary Race to Nowhere , which looks at the stress American students are under. "Homework has always been an issue for parents and children. It is now and it was 20 years ago. I think when people decide to have children that it is their responsibility to educate them," wrote another.

And part of educating them, some believe, is helping them develop skills they will eventually need in adulthood. "Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school," reads a publication on the U.S. Department of Education website called Homework Tips for Parents. "It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. … It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time."

Annie Brown, Ed.M.'01, feels this is particularly critical at less affluent schools like the ones she has worked at in Boston, Cambridge, Mass., and Los Angeles as a literacy coach.

"It feels important that my students do homework because they will ultimately be competing for college placement and jobs with students who have done homework and have developed a work ethic," she says. "Also it will get them ready for independently taking responsibility for their learning, which will need to happen for them to go to college."

The problem with this thinking, writes Vatterott, is that homework becomes a way to practice being a worker.

"Which begs the question," she writes. "Is our job as educators to produce learners or workers?"

Slate magazine editor Emily Bazelon, in a piece about homework, says this makes no sense for younger kids.

"Why should we think that practicing homework in first grade will make you better at doing it in middle school?" she writes. "Doesn't the opposite seem equally plausible: that it's counterproductive to ask children to sit down and work at night before they're developmentally ready because you'll just make them tired and cross?"

Kohn writes in the American School Board Journal that this "premature exposure" to practices like homework (and sit-and-listen lessons and tests) "are clearly a bad match for younger children and of questionable value at any age." He calls it BGUTI: Better Get Used to It. "The logic here is that we have to prepare you for the bad things that are going to be done to you later … by doing them to you now."

According to a recent University of Michigan study, daily homework for six- to eight-year-olds increased on average from about 8 minutes in 1981 to 22 minutes in 2003. A review of research by Duke University Professor Harris Cooper found that for elementary school students, "the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement … hovered around zero."

So should homework be eliminated? Of course not, say many Ed School graduates who are teaching. Not only would students not have time for essays and long projects, but also teachers would not be able to get all students to grade level or to cover critical material, says Brett Pangburn, Ed.M.'06, a sixth-grade English teacher at Excel Academy Charter School in Boston. Still, he says, homework has to be relevant.

"Kids need to practice the skills being taught in class, especially where, like the kids I teach at Excel, they are behind and need to catch up," he says. "Our results at Excel have demonstrated that kids can catch up and view themselves as in control of their academic futures, but this requires hard work, and homework is a part of it."

Ed School Professor Howard Gardner basically agrees.

"America and Americans lurch between too little homework in many of our schools to an excess of homework in our most competitive environments — Li'l Abner vs. Tiger Mother," he says. "Neither approach makes sense. Homework should build on what happens in class, consolidating skills and helping students to answer new questions."

So how can schools come to a happy medium, a way that allows teachers to cover everything they need while not overwhelming students? Conklin says she often gives online math assignments that act as labs and students have two or three days to complete them, including some in-class time. Students at Pangburn's school have a 50-minute silent period during regular school hours where homework can be started, and where teachers pull individual or small groups of students aside for tutoring, often on that night's homework. Afterschool homework clubs can help.

Some schools and districts have adapted time limits rather than nix homework completely, with the 10-minute per grade rule being the standard — 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, and so on. (This remedy, however, is often met with mixed results since not all students work at the same pace.) Other schools offer an extended day that allows teachers to cover more material in school, in turn requiring fewer take-home assignments. And for others, like Stephanie Brant's elementary school in Maryland, more reading with a few targeted project assignments has been the answer.

"The routine of reading is so much more important than the routine of homework," she says. "Let's have kids reflect. You can still have the routine and you can still have your workspace, but now it's for reading. I often say to parents, if we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man or woman on Mars and that person is now a second-grader. We don't know what skills that person will need. At the end of the day, we have to feel confident that we're giving them something they can use on Mars."

Read a January 2014 update.

Homework Policy Still Going Strong

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What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

  • How long will it take to complete?
  • Have all learners been considered?
  • Will an assignment encourage future success?
  • Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
  • Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

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Graduate College

8 tips for balancing grad school and full-time work.

Strategies to make the balancing act a bit steadier

Every February, my graduate program welcomes newly admitted students to an open house event to sit in on classes, meet faculty and current students, network with other prospective students, and preview what life in the program will look like come the fall semester. This past February in particular, prospective part-time master’s and doctoral students asked me questions about balancing a full-time job on campus with graduate school.

Although I ponder this issue often as an academic adviser and doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park, my answer is never as thorough or comprehensive as I would like it to be. “How do you balance full-time work and graduate school?” is a hard question. The answer is subjective, personal and dynamic. Yet while I strongly believe that there is no one-size-fits-all, formulaic approach to succeeding at both work and grad school, I’d like to share eight strategies -- which I’ve discovered by trial and error, picked up from other students, or read about in op-ed pieces like this -- that have made my balancing act a bit steadier.

No. 1: Know the ebbs and flows of your work environment.  Wherever you are working, analyze when you are busiest, both over the long haul and on a daily or weekly basis. If you don’t have a strong sense of the rhythm of your workload or are starting a new job, don’t hesitate to ask colleagues or your supervisor.

In advising, for example, my busiest times are those in the middle of the fall and spring semesters -- March through early May and October through early December. Thus, when I review the syllabus of each class, I set arbitrary deadlines for myself and carve out time to work on assignments during periods when I know I will have less hubbub at work. I have a document that maps out a yearly schedule of times when I am typically busy with tasks at work and times when I can focus more on assignments and readings.

No. 2: Work smarter, not harder.  By that I mean: take advantage of the tools and resources that are available to you, approach assignments strategically, and work throughout the semester rather than a few weeks before the assignment is due.

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For instance, in my Google Drive, I have a “Graduate School” folder, in which I create a subfolder for each class I take. Within those subfolders, I create a separate document titled for each forthcoming assignment I will have that semester and its due date -- for example, “Sept. 24 Policy Brief” or “Dec. 10 Literature Review” or “May 11 Research Paper.” To each document, I add the assignment’s prompt and any initial thoughts I have as to what topic I may want to explore for the assignment, and what theories, conceptual frameworks, researchers or literature could be relevant. Throughout the semester, I add quotes, sources and ideas to these assignment documents. By the time my draft deadline begins creeping up, I have a significant amount of content to work with -- sometimes even a complete draft.

Another helpful tool is a  citation manager . You can upload and organize articles by class, topic area or assignment and within each one, highlight relevant quotes and take notes. In addition, my calendar and my to-do list have been my constant companions throughout graduate school. I have a Google calendar associated with my work email where I keep track of meetings and student appointments (this calendar is shared with my coworkers) and a calendar attached to my personal email, where I keep track of class deadlines and block off chunks of time to complete readings and assignments.

Similarly,  Evernote  is an online to-do list that allows you to create “notebooks” within which you can create notes using different templates (weekly schedule, to-do list and so forth). I have a notebook called “Work,” with reminders and training notes to be turned into training documents; one for “Travel,” with a note for each trip and vacation; and one for “Grad School,” with a note for each month of the semester with a separate section for each class. One of the most helpful functions of Evernote is that you can attach photos or files and link URLs to your notes. I like to link my Google assignment documents next to each to-do item for easier access.

No. 3: Work your classwork into your professional work, and vice versa.  One of the most rewarding aspects of working full-time while completing graduate school is being able to put theory into practice and bringing real-world examples and issues to class discussions. Take advantage of your anecdotal evidence and professional experience to guide your writing and research. Use assignments to develop projects or policies you may actually be interested in addressing at work, to learn about a job you might be working toward in the future, or to explore a topic you are passionate about.

In my class on student leadership development, for example, we were asked to design a program to teach students about leadership development theories. I used the opportunity to create a class with an emphasis on building leadership skills and efficacy in underrepresented minority students. While the class itself never actually took place, I communicated several of the student development frameworks and ideas to our program’s faculty members, who then implemented them into their existing courses.

You can also incorporate themes and ideas you learn in class into your work. In every class, I try to think critically and intentionally about how class content is represented in my everyday tasks. The perspectives I gained from my class on college access and choice have made me a better adviser -- one who is more empathetic to the barriers students face when beginning or transferring to college and trying to complete it. Allow the barriers between your practice and learning to become more fluid. Your experience will not only help you in your graduate studies but also make you a more well-rounded professional.

No. 4: Reflect deeply after each class.  What about this class did you enjoy? What aspects challenged you? What do you want to know more about? Such reflection can help guide your curriculum (if you have more flexibility as a doc student) as well as tell you more about what kind of worker you are and help you set goals based on what you like.

After each semester wraps up, take some time to think about what you learned and how the course content contributed to your growth as a student and as a professional. This has been especially helpful for me as I think about my intended dissertation topic and methods. At the end of each semester, once the dust has settled, I write down which aspects of the class were challenging for me or came more easily to me, which topics I found really interesting and engaging, and which topics left me somewhat uninspired. Not only has the amalgamation of these reflections helped me assess where I need to improve or where there may be holes in my coursework, it has also given me a default skeleton cover letter and teaching philosophy statement.

As you reflect on course content, think also about the research methods in the articles you read throughout the semester. I read an article in my Leadership in Higher Education course and was so struck by the textual analysis the researchers conducted that I decided to take a class on the topic the following semester.

No. 5: Create small wins or achievements to help motivate you.  Midsemester is prime time for a slump in motivation. I usually hit a wall around week nine, and one of the best ways to motivate myself to keep going has been to plan things to look forward to or to reward myself after small achievements. Organizational theory tells us that small goals or achievements are effective tools for motivating employees, and the same goes for overscheduled students.

For instance, I might plan an “out of office” day, or arrange a weekend getaway to a nearby city, or make reservations at a restaurant with actual metal cutlery and a friendly, calming ambience. It can be incredibly difficult to balance work, grad school and time with family and friends, but using planned downtime or outings with loved ones as a way to motivate myself has been extremely helpful for completing assignments when I’m feeling overwhelmed or burned out. I also have weekly reserved time for relaxing. Every Friday evening after I’ve finished work for the day, I stay away from my computer and assignments and take time to recuperate.

No. 6: Collaborate with different people.  In your professional life and on future research projects, you will have to work in concert with a multitude of people. The best place to start adapting to different work styles and learning to collaborate efficiently with others -- while the stakes are low and mistakes are encouraged -- is in graduate school.

For both class and work projects, try not to select the same co-worker or friend in your cohort for every project. Instead, branch out! You are cheating yourself if you work with the same people project after project. While it is important to build rapport with other students who may share similar research interests, and a strong support system is vital for surviving graduate school, you can learn so much from working with different colleagues. As an added benefit, others in your classes and cohort are probably working in multiple departments on the campus, giving you the opportunity to expand your network for future work-related needs.

No. 7: Be strategic about what and how you read.  It took me years to accept that it simply would not be possible to read all the weekly required readings for my classes and work 40-plus hours a week. The advice I’ll share here is the same I give to the freshman students I teach in a one-credit “introduction to the university” course: read selectively and strategically. When reading for understanding or to participate in class discussions, the most informative pieces of a research study are usually the abstract, the first paragraph of the introduction, the first paragraph of the literature review, the first sentences of the methodology section, the discussion section and the conclusion. For crafting a discussion post, I read those same sections but pay particular attention to the introduction, discussion and conclusion, and I note several quotes that either boil down the main points of the study or contribute distinctly to the topic at hand. When taking down quotes, I always add an in-text citation in my notes to save time later when I post a discussion thread or write a paper.

For an annotated bibliography or a literature review, I typically spend more time reading and taking notes from an article than I do when reading for understanding alone. This is where tools like Google documents and citation managers are helpful. You can highlight and take notes within citation managers, and start adding to your future assignments in Google documents as you read, giving you a jumping-off point when you sit down to complete the presentation or paper.

No. 8: Ask your coworkers and professors about their grad school experiences.  Many of the tips I’ve picked up and the strategies I’ve learned have originated from conversations with my professors and co-workers. Not only have I learned good ways to balance graduate school and work life, but I’ve also heard stories of tactics to avoid. For example, a co-worker told me that to finish their dissertation, they lived off protein bars for several months, writing from noon to midnight and sleeping from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m. -- a schedule I’m not sure I would ever recover from.

In my experience, professors and co-workers are happy to share their wisdom and to reminisce about their graduate school days. In addition to breaking the ice, if you are in a new position or program, or creating an opportunity for bonding, discussing grad school is also an opportunity to share some context about your professional development and continuing education. That may open opportunities to get involved in new creative projects at work.

In conclusion, what does balancing work and grad school look like to you? Does it mean completing all stipulated tasks and assignments, earning a 4.0 GPA, conducting original research, publishing at regular intervals in top periodicals, and being promoted within your organization during your time in your graduate program? My goal each semester has been (as advisery as this may sound) to do my best. Sometimes that has meant that I didn’t get the grade I had hoped for or didn’t attend the University Senate meeting I had wanted to attend. Other times, it has meant earning a promotion at work, serving as a teaching assistant for a favorite former class and presenting at conferences. I have tried to give myself grace throughout my graduate program to alleviate some of the pressure that comes with trying to do it all. Do not compare yourself to other graduate students -- this is your journey.

As you prepare to enter a graduate program this fall or to continue your graduate studies, start thinking about what strategies you will adapt from your undergraduate experience or the office to graduate school. Of all the tips listed above, the key to balancing academics and work has been planning ahead and staying organized. But always be sure to keep a pulse on your mental and physical health. Even the most effective strategies will not be successful if you don’t take care of yourself first.

Liz Wasden is an academic adviser and doctoral student in the higher education program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

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How to Survive Grad School – 6 Ways to Avoid a Meltdown

The decision to go to graduate school is an exciting, rewarding and, sometimes, scary one. Graduate education can open doors to better professional opportunities – and an increased salary – and make you better at what you do. Though graduate school can seem overwhelming, with the right strategies, it will be manageable, leaving you to enjoy your educational experience. This article will help you survive, and dare I say, enjoy grad school.

Choose the right program and school

Most likely, you will be balancing a professional career with your education, and you might be juggling family commitments as well. Schools often offer a variety of programs for working professionals – including night and weekend classes, convenient fully online degrees or hybrid programs. Consider your commitments when deciding on the educational environment that is right for you and your professional goals. Connect with the school or university to answer your questions and find out if the program is a good fit.

Prepare for the time commitment in advance

Talk with the school or university to discuss the expectations of your specific program. Workload will vary by school, program and class length. It often ranges between approximately 10 – 20 hours a week. Plan ahead. It’s a good idea to create a tentative homework and class schedule in advance and do your best to stick to it. Once enrolled, review your syllabus and upcoming deadlines at the start of the class and adjust your study plan accordingly. Actively use time management techniques, and see where you can gain back some time for personal activities. Discuss any obligations with family or friends and adjust as needed.

Talk to your family and friends

Though you’ll be the one in school, the people close to you will also be affected by your decision. It’s a good idea to have a conversation with them before you begin graduate school to help them understand that a significant portion of your time will be dedicated to your studies. Explain to them why you’ve made this decision. Ask them for any support you might need and respect whatever they can – or can’t – offer. If you have children, it’s best to plan ahead with any caretakers. When you do spend time with family and friends, make sure to show both your appreciation and that you are still invested in your relationships with them.

Remember why you’re in grad school

There will be days that it feels like you can’t keep juggling your responsibilities, even when you’re using good time management, and you’ll want to give up. In those moments remember why you wanted to go in the first place. You researched the school, the program, the cost, the time needed and you still chose to go. Remind yourself of all the reasons you’re in grad school and the benefits of completing the program.

Accept that you can’t do everything

While you’re in school, you won’t be able to do everything you did before. Part of time management is prioritizing activities and knowing when it’s okay to let something wait. You might see your friends less, maybe the dishes and laundry will pile up or maybe you opt to stay in instead of going out. You might feel guilty for relying on your significant other or spouse more or saying no to friends. The best approach is to be honest with your friends and family before starting school and throughout your program, so that you can avoid hurt feelings or misunderstandings. Be appreciative of the support they offer. And remember to be kind to yourself when you can’t get to everything.

Ask for help when you need it

There will be ups and down in any program. Some classes will be harder than others. Your work or familial obligations may increase unexpectedly. Emergencies may arise. Whatever the situation, you can still be successful in grad school. Address these difficulties right away and adjust your plan to accommodate. If circumstances feel exceptionally overwhelming, contact your professors to discuss your situation. Your school most likely has support resources – talk to your advisor, counselor or success coordinator, for example, for strategies and suggestions when you feel like you’re struggling. They’re there for you, so connect with them right away if you’re experiencing any difficulties.

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Graduate school homework/exams

<p>What are homework/exams like in graduate school? I want to know specifically for graduate programs in education. I’m doing my undergrad in mechanical engineering right now so all of the homework/exams here are just problems with extensive calculations. I doubt this is the case for graduate education program.</p>

<p>It depends on the program, really. So far homework is fairly nonexistent with the exception of statistics classes - I’m in an interdisciplinary psychology and public health program. In stats classes we may have a problem set to do every week. In my other classes there are generally anywhere between 1 and 3 assignments, written - a midterm and a final paper, or two midterms and a final paper, or three papers, or something similar. They’re typically a couple pages long…3-10 pages for midterms and mid-semester written assignments; 15-30 pages for final papers.</p>

<p>Of course this will vary wildly by program, as I said.</p>

<p>So basically it’s going to be papers and essay midterm/finals for non technical majors.</p>

<p>You do a lot of reading. regardless of the program. Homework assignments vary but you get just enough to effect your grade if you slack off. Graduate school is mostly self study. The professors lecture to guide you and they give reading and work assignments to make sure you’re keeping up with the pace. If you don’t do extra study and explore the content yourself you will be a B- student which is close to failure in grad school.</p>

<p>I’ve experienced Law School, Economics Grad Courses, and am currently in an MBA program.</p>

<p>I noticed that 3 classes (9 credits) is considered full-time in grad school which is less than undergrad. Is this because the material is significantly more difficult or because there is more material to be covered or a combination of both?</p>

<p>Both.</p>

<p>(10 char)</p>

<p>Both, and you may be expected to be doing research or TA at the same time.</p>

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The ‘Homework Gap’ Is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do?

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A program that provides discounted broadband internet service to low-income households is expected to run out of funding by the end of April, a concerning development for school districts with families that relied on the subsidy.

With the Affordable Connectivity Program , eligible families can receive a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service. For those on qualifying tribal lands, the discount is up to $75 per month. The program also provides a one-time discount to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers.

Nearly 23 million households have enrolled in the program since it launched in 2021, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which runs the program. However, the agency stopped accepting new enrollments as of Feb. 8 and said it will disenroll all households from the program at the end of April, unless Congress provides additional funding.

Schools are increasingly relying on technology for teaching and learning, from learning management systems to multimedia curriculum to internet research. In some cases, schools are turning inclement weather days into remote learning days . So it’s even more imperative that students have sufficient internet connectivity and devices to access learning materials while at home.

‘It’s a huge equity problem’

Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so-called “ homework gap ”—a phrase used to describe the inequities between students who have digital devices and reliable internet connectivity at home, and those who don’t and struggle to complete online assignments as a result.

“My fear is that, with this funding running out, we’re going to have either more families not having access to those services, or more families having to go someplace with open Wi-Fi that maybe isn’t as secure as it should be,” said Chantell Manahan, the director of technology for Steuben County schools, a 2,600-student district in rural northeast Indiana. The program’s expiration could also mean more “families away from home, sitting in parking lots like they were during the pandemic, and that’s not a good place for our students and families to be.”

In 2024, [internet access is] not a luxury anymore. This is a necessity to participate in modern society.

The expiration of the Affordable Connectivity Program doesn’t just affect students, but parents, too.

“Many schools rely on online communications platforms to communicate with parents and guardians about their student’s progress, school activities, and other important information. If families lose affordable internet access, this [communication] channel may be compromised,” said Julia Fallon, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association.

Sometimes, a school-issued device is the only one available to use at home, so parents also use it to look for jobs, do online coursework, or attend telehealth appointments, Manahan said.

“It’s not just a K-12 education problem. It’s a community problem. It’s a huge equity problem,” she added.

Will Congress provide more funding for ACP?

The Affordable Connectivity Program first launched as the Emergency Broadband Benefit, which was part of a pandemic relief package signed by former President Donald Trump in 2020. The next year, the program was codified as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden.

But the program has run through much of the initial $17.4 billion allocated by Congress, including $14.2 billion from the infrastructure law and $3.2 billion from its emergency predecessor.

Photo of African-American boy working on laptop computer at home.

In January, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the Senate and the House of Representatives that would provide $7 billion to keep the Affordable Connectivity Program operational.

It’s unclear how much traction the bill will receive, but several FCC commissioners and advocacy groups have applauded the bill and urged Congress to pass the measure.

Districts look for other solutions

In the meantime, district leaders are having tough conversations about how to provide adequate internet access to students and families who relied on the program.

In Steuben County, Manahan said the district might go back to solutions it used before the Affordable Connectivity Program, such as partnerships with local businesses and organizations that would let families come in and use their Wi-Fi for virtual learning.

The district has Wi-Fi hotspot devices it can lend to students, too, though Manahan is unsure how many of those devices the district can keep after funding runs out. The devices were originally funded through ESSER and the Emergency Connectivity Fund , both of which are also expiring this year.

High angle shot of a man assisting his students at computers

Fortunately, Manahan said, the FCC’s E-rate funding will now cover putting Wi-Fi on school buses .

“It’ll be much more cost-effective for the district to be able to outfit all the buses,” she said. “We know there are some places where we might be able to park those buses and have internet access available.”

Along with school bus Wi-Fi, the district could also extend the reach of the Wi-Fi on school buildings so students, families, and staff can use it in the parking lot, she said.

“I can only hope that if we do see both ACP and ECF sunsetting that they’re going to divert those funds to other programs [that would provide] internet access into all our homes,” Manahan said. “In 2024, it’s not a luxury anymore. This is a necessity to participate in modern society.”

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A deep dive into whether -- and how -- homework should be graded

is there homework in grad school

Homework has been a source of contention since it was first assigned in U.S. public schools in the 1800s. By 1900, it had become so unpopular in some circles that an editorial by Edward Bok, the influential editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, had this headline: “A National Crime at the Feet of American Parents.”

“The child is made to study far, far beyond his physical strength, and consequently his mental good,” Bok wrote, arguing that kids under age 15 should be outside playing with friends after school and should go to sleep after dinner. Homework was banned for a while in public schools in Boston, the entire state of California and other places, and from 1900 to 1940 progressive education scholars tried to get it abolished everywhere.

They ultimately lost, but debate over the value of homework for students, especially young ones, continues today, along with a relatively new wrinkle: Should homework be graded? It’s part of a revolution in grading that has quietly been underway for years in some districts but that gained attention when more districts began looking at changing grading systems during the coronavirus pandemic.

This article looks in depth at the controversy over grading homework. It was written by Rick Wormeli, a former National Board Certified teacher in Virginia who now consults with schools and districts on classroom practice and grading systems. He is the author of “ Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, Second Edition. ”

Teachers second-guess letter grades as they search for a fairer way

By Rich Wormeli

Some school districts in our area are considering proposals to revise their policies for reporting homework completion and students’ timely adherence to deadlines so that these reports do not count in final, academic grades of subject content. A few in these communities are pushing back on this idea, declaring that such policies do not teach responsibility, with at least one observer calling the suggested policies, “dumb,” and, “a formula for disaster.” (See, Mathews, “ Abolishing grades on homework will hurt the neediest kids ,” Washington Post, Dec. 26, 2021, and his follow-up piece on the same topic on April 3, 2022). To these individuals, I offer a deeper dive, as the new policies are legitimate.

Everyone in a student’s academic life agrees that grades should be accurate reports of student proficiencies regarding what is being taught: One student’s grade in science reflects her understanding of photosynthesis, and another’s grade in Algebra reflects his skills in graphing inequalities. With accuracy like this, we can provide helpful feedback and make effective decisions regarding students’ current and future learning.

If we include reports of elements not indicative of the proficiencies we claim to report, we distort the truth about students’ learning. We are an ethical profession, however; we don’t lie to students or their parents. It makes sense, then, to remove any practice that falsifies grade reports and to do more of those things that assure truthful reporting.

With integrity paramount, we cannot conflate the report of doing things (compliance) with the reporting of learning things (mastery or proficiency), as doing so distorts the accuracy of the report of either one individually. During the years of my teaching in Loudoun and Fairfax County schools, some students demonstrated 75 percent proficiency in the previous year’s material, but the previous year’s teachers recorded an A or 100 percent on their report cards because these students completed homework on time, maintained organized notebooks, and worked collaboratively. These elements counted 25 percent of the grade. They were helpful things, of course, but they were not evidence of what teachers claim to be reporting.

Study provides rare control group review of standards-based grading craze

In addition, we do not want to give students a false sense of competence in their learning as this creates embarrassment later when they, their parents, and future teachers think students are competent, but it turns out to be a mirage. These individuals are left gawping at what others in their courses easily understand and do. This can happen when we buffer grades with elements such as “completed homework,” and adding extra points to an assignment’s score because the student brought in extra canned food for the canned food drive.

So, what does this mean for modern grading practices? It means we report elements like homework completion and timely adherence to deadlines separately from subject proficiency on the report card. We are careful not to blur the lines between reporting students’ compliance with tasks with students’ proficiency in Latin declension or proper weightlifting techniques.

Work on homework assignments is not evidence of final level of proficiency. Instead, it provides feedback and informs where we go next in instruction. No professional in any field would accept weaving in reports of their first, inexact, attempts in learning with the final report of their solid competence at the end of their learning journey and proven licensure, as it would create a false report of current proficiency. If we wouldn’t tolerate this inaccurate reporting in working world evaluations, what makes it legitimate in our schools? The grade at course’s end should be an accurate report for the subject proficiencies demonstrated at that point, not a report of the road students traveled to get there.

Consider, too, that homework assignments are used as coaching and practice tools for students as they learn content and skills. Any assessment of learning along the way such as we get when looking over students’ practice work is a one-moment-in-time progress check as students grow towards demonstrable competence. Here, we provide timely feedback, and students self-monitor their learning rather than depending exclusively on others to tell them how they are doing. As a result, students own their learning, and learned helplessness and making excuses fall away.

We don’t want to invoke self-preservation here, which happens often with adolescents. If our first steps with a topic are allowed to significantly alter the final report of our competence in that topic, we self-preserve, protect ego, and essentially give up, letting you think we can do it but that we choose not to, or were irresponsible. For many of us, it’s better you think me competent than give you proof that I’m incompetent and don’t belong. Interestingly, teachers are actually more demanding of students by maintaining students’ hope in their learning potential. Invoking self-preservation with high stakes homework, however, lets students escape the burden of their learning and growing maturity.

To provide gravitas and help educators and communities avoid deflecting on this issue, consider the many court cases speaking to this concern, with brief statements from two of them included here (taken from Guskey and Brookhart, “ What We Know about Grading ”):

  • Smith v. School City of Hobart (1993): “A federal judge rules that grade reductions for nonacademic reasons result in, “clear misrepresentation of the student’s scholastic achievement, … Misrepresentation of achievement is equally improper … and illegal whether the achievement is misrepresented by upgrading or downgrading, if either is done for reason that are irrelevant to the achievement being graded. For example, one would hardly deem acceptable an upgrading in a mathematics course for achievement on the playing field.”
  • Court[s] … have relied on grade accuracy to mean “the extent that it permits someone to estimate the extent of a student’s knowledge and skills in a given area” (Chartier, 2003, p. 41)…[I]ncluding factors such as ability, effort, improvement, or work completion in grades may not be legally defensible.”

Finally, let’s look at the research on teaching accountability and whether counting practice (homework) and penalties for late work in academic course grade teaches students self-discipline and responsibility. Consider (from Guskey’s “Five Obstacles to Grading Reform”):

[N]o research supports the idea that low grades prompt students to try harder. More often, low grades prompt students to withdraw from learning. To protect their self-images, many students regard the low grade as irrelevant or meaningless. Others may blame themselves for the low grade but feel helpless to improve (Selby & Murphy, 1992).

To those expressing concerns about teaching responsibility, I invite you to study the research and many resources on how adults cultivate such maturity in their students. Policies such as one grade lower for each day late and counting homework completion in the final performance of proficiency don’t hold up under scrutiny. Tom Schimmer, author of “ Grading from the Inside Out ,” and former teacher and principal, wrote :

One of the biggest misunderstandings of standards-based grading is that the non-achievement factors don’t matter; they do. Achievement grades are the reason students will ultimately gain entry into college; their habits of learning are the reason they will graduate from college. It is not okay for students to turn work in late. But it’s equally not okay to distort achievement levels as a result of lateness.

He also wrote that having such a factor contribute “to a student’s achievement grade would be inequitable and even unethical.”

Students are behind in math and reading. Are schools doing enough?

All of us want students to develop self-discipline, perseverance, time management, consideration for others, and to start projects the week they are assigned instead of five weeks later, the night before they are due. If we look closely, though, we find that none of the research on how to teach these skills calls for counting homework in the final academic grade or by recording unrecoverable zeros and F’s when work is not completed or not completed on time.

What we find instead are robust and practical insights for building executive function skills, fostering independence, asking students to self-monitor their own learning, building agency (voice and choice in learning), and facilitating students’ growing self-efficacy.

For example, consider these major executive function skills promoted in “ Smart, but Scattered for Teens” : response inhibition, working memory, emotional control, flexibility, sustained attention, task initiation, planning/prioritizing, organization, time management, goal-directed persistence, and metacognition. Do we see anything here that would contribute positively to homework completion and student success? Yes, all of them. Let’s overtly teach these skills instead of scolding from afar in the mistaken assumption that lowering grades helps students mature.

Reporting homework separately is making sure homework “counts,” putting homework completion on its own radar, and giving it increased importance, not less. This is raising expectations, not lowering them. It’s a teacher cop-out when we assign unrecoverable zeros and F’s to work not done on the timeline we declared, as students don’t have to do it now. The message is clear here: This work is skippable and not important. If it’s worth assigning, however, it matters: It’s not busy-work, it’s not skippable. The consequence for not doing your work is giving up other activities and doing the work.

Admissions officers and military recruiters over the decades share repeatedly that they like to see work habits such as homework completion and timely adherence to deadlines reported separately for all four years of high school. This allows them to trust the academic grades as more accurate indicators of students’ real learning and to gauge the candidate’s mettle for their upcoming program. To reinforce the life lesson that hard work often results in higher achievement, report homework completion separately from academic performance and ask the student to note the correlations: higher completion rate yields higher performance, lower completion rate yields lower performance.

Also note that sometimes we get students who do little or no homework, yet they perform among the highest in the class. There is no cheating here; the students have after-school responsibilities that are simply more urgent: Taking care of aging parents or younger siblings, working after school in order to help the family pay for food and rent, or getting extra assistance in another course. When such a mismatch happens, we have to question the value of students doing those homework assignments: Did they really matter to students’ success, or were they merely busy work, making school about compliance, not learning?

Mathews, in his 2021 Post column on the subject, quotes Wakefield High School teachers’ criticism: “ [T]he Spring 2020 virtual learning experiment during the [coronavirus] pandemic taught most of us that students do not, will not, complete work if it is not for a grade,” and he repeats the statement in his April 3, 2022 , update of the controversial topic. But let’s consider the spring of 2020 when schools first closed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Remember the panic we were feeling? We were in free fall, wondering which end was up. Students were navigating the loss of normalcy, removal of expected rituals and experiences, fears over others seeing their home lives via Zoom, inappropriate learning conditions at home, caring for parents and grandparents, increased opioid and alcohol use in self or family, wild mood swings, dramatic changes in sleep, isolation/loneliness, going through puberty, limited access to technology/resources/food, jobless parents due to economic downturn, transportation challenges, limited skills in executive function, depression/anxiety, and were dealing with increasing biases, racism, and political hostilities.

On top of this, Arlington County educators and other teachers around the nation were on a steep learning curve, barely ahead of their students on how to make virtual instruction work. Many of us were not very effective at it; we didn’t have the tools and know-how to make learning engaging via the camera lens in spring 2020. It’s a credit to teachers and students that everyone did as well as they did. Using that time of angst with all that was happening on both sides of the camera as conclusive proof that students will only do homework when it is graded, however, doesn’t make sense: It’s a flawed understanding of proper research practices to make such a claim.

In that same April 3, 2022 update, Mathews says that providing feedback on homework, not grades is a, “a lovely image, but … is at odds with modern adolescence. The distractions of teenage life are at war with the notion that students will do better if teachers remove deadlines.” Actually, none of the standards-based learning advocates, as Mathews cited, including Joe Feldman, Emily Rickema, and Ken O’Connor, advocates for removing deadlines. Deadlines still matter, and students are taught diligently how to meet them. Punitive and distorted grade reports, however, are not the way to teach it.

Second, let’s do a deeper dive into what we know about today’s adolescents before we make such generalizations based on what a few teachers say. Adolescents do respond well to classrooms of agency, developmentally appropriate instruction, complex, demanding instruction, and hope. This means we require students to do the heavy lifting to analyze their practice work against standards of excellence and use that knowledge to inform next steps in learning while being assured that these assignments are only progress checks, not the ultimate judgment of competence. When early attempts at mastery are not used against them, and accountability comes in the form of actually learning content, adolescents flourish. No research in our profession concludes that knowingly falsifying grade reports is an effective way to help students mature and deal with the distractions of teenage life.

Let’s implement the practices that lead to student success. Coercive efforts such as counting homework completion and timeliness in an academic grade are about control, not learning or student maturation. Work completion and timeliness are deeply important virtues, of course, but conflating them with academic performance provides a false sense that students are learning and maturing. Homework completion should count 100 percent, and timeliness of assignment submissions should count 100 percent. Yes, quote me correctly, both should count 100 percent — of their own columns on the report card. They should count 0 percent, however, of the report of what students know about mitosis or coding in Python.

Accountability can be defined as entering mutual ethos with one another: I’m looking out for your success as much as you are looking out for mine. As teachers, that means we come prepared to teach diverse students substantive content and skills, and we hold ourselves accountable to powerful ethics as professionals. We study the role of homework in student learning, and we don’t undermine its positive effects by conflating what should be practice with high stakes, final designations of competence. In this, our students are well served.

Teachers say parents, laws are changing how they teach race and gender

is there homework in grad school

The truth about homework in America

by: Carol Lloyd | Updated: February 9, 2023

Print article

Homework-in-America

Not excited about homework? We can hardly blame you. But how families handle homework in America can have a huge impact on their child’s short-term and long-term academic success. Here’s a glimpse at how American families approach homework, and some tips that may help you decide how to handle homework in your home.

Model how much you value your child’s education

Think of your child’s nightly homework as a time to model how much you value your child’s learning and education. Get in the habit of asking your child what homework they have each evening, looking over their homework when they’re done each night, praising their hard work, and marveling at all that they are learning. Your admiration and love is the best magic learning potion available.

Set up a homework routine American parents who want their children to graduate from high school and go to college take learning at home seriously. They turn off the TV and radio at homework time. They take away access to video games and smartphones. They make sure the child gets some exercise and has a healthy snack before starting homework because both are shown to help kids focus. When it’s time for homework, they (try to) ensure their child has a quiet place where they can focus and have access to the grade-appropriate homework basics, like paper, pencils, erasers, crayons, and tape for kids in younger grades and calculators and writing materials for kids in older grades.

Helping with homework when you don’t read/speak English

So how can you help with homework if you can’t read your child’s homework because it’s in English — or because the math is being presented in a way you’ve never seen? If you can’t understand your child’s homework, you can still do a lot to help them. Your physical presence (and your authority to turn off the TV) can help them take homework time seriously. Your encouragement that they take their time and not rush through the work also will help. Finally, your ability to ask questions can do two important things: you can show your interest in their work (and thus reinforce the importance you place on learning and education) and you can help your child slow down and figure things out when they’re lost or frustrated. A lot of learning happens when children have a chance to talk through problems and ideas. Sometimes, just describing the assignment or problem to you can help the solution click for your child.

What’s the right amount of homework?

It’s often in first grade that kids start receiving regular homework and feel stressed and lost if they don’t complete it. If your child is having trouble adjusting to their new routines, know that it’s not just your child. Families all across America are having the same issues in terms of figuring out how to create quiet, focussed time for a young child to read, write, and do math inside a bustling home. In first grade, your child will likely be asked to do somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes of homework a night, sometimes in addition to 20 minutes of bedtime reading. ( The National PTA’s research-based recommendation is 10 to 20 minutes of homework a night in first grade and an additional 10 minutes per grade level thereafter.) If your child is getting a lot more than that, talk to your child’s teacher about how long your child should be spending on homework and what you can do to help.

Comparing U.S. homework time to other countries

If you’ve come from another country and recall your childhood homework taking less time, you may think it’s because you’re foreign. The truth is, most parents who grew up in the U.S. are feeling the same way. In the past few decades homework for younger grades has intensified in many schools. “The amount of homework that younger kids — ages 6 to 9 — have to do has gone up astronomically since the late ’80s,” says Alfie Kohn, author of the 2006 book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. So if you feel surprised about the quantity of homework your child is bringing home, you’re not alone.

According to an international study of homework, 15-year-olds in Shanghai do 13.8 hours of homework per week compared to 6.1 hours in the U.S. and 5.3 hours in Mexico and 3.4 hours in Costa Rica. But here’s the thing: academic expectations in the U.S. vary widely from school to school. Some American elementary schools have banned homework. Others pile on hours a night — even in the younger grades. By high school, though, most American students who are seriously preparing for four-year college are doing multiple hours of homework most nights.

Not into homework? Try this.

Homework detractors point to research that shows homework has no demonstrated benefits for students in the early elementary grades. “The research clearly shows that there is no correlation between academic achievement and homework, especially in the lower grades,” says Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and the author of the 2015 book, Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy Successful Kids .

On the other hand, nightly reading is hugely important.

“One thing we know does have a correlation with academic achievement is free reading time,” says Pope. “We know that that is something we want schools to encourage.” Since the scientific evidence shows the most impact comes from reading for pleasure, don’t skip bedtime reading. If your child is not being given any homework, make sure to spend some of that extra time reading books in either English or Spanish.

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Watch CBS News

More than half of college graduates are working in jobs that don't require degrees

By Megan Cerullo

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

February 23, 2024 / 5:00 AM EST / CBS News

More than half of Americans who earned college diplomas find themselves working in jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree or utilize the skills acquired in obtaining one. What's worse, they can get stuck there for the entirety of their careers.

If a graduate's first job is in a low-paying field or out-of-line with a worker's interests, it could pigeonhole them into an undesirable role or industry that's hard to escape, according to a new  study  from The Burning Glass Institute and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work. The findings come as more Americans question the eroding value of a college degree, and as more employers are  dropping higher education degree requirements  altogether.

"What we found is that even in a red-hot economy, half of graduates are winding up in jobs they didn't need to go to college to get," Burning Glass CEO Matt Sigelman told CBS MoneyWatch. Examples of jobs that don't require college-level skills include roles in the retail, hospitality and manufacturing sectors, according to Sigelman. 

Another study from the HEA Group found that a decade after enrolling in college, attendees of 1 in 4 higher education programs are earning less than $32,000 — the median annual income for high school graduates.

Choice of major matters

A college degree, in itself, is not a ticket to a higher-paying job, the study shows. 

"Getting a college degree is viewed as the ticket to the American dream," said Sigelman, "and it turns out that it's a bust for half of students." 

The single greatest determinant of post-graduation employment prospects, according to the study, is a college student's major, or primary focus of study. It can be even more important than the type of institution one attends.

Choosing a career-oriented major like nursing, as opposed to criminal justice, gives graduates a better shot at actually using, and getting compensated for the skills they acquire. Just 23% of nursing students are underemployed, versus 68% of criminal justice majors. However, focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects is not a guarantee of college-level employment and high wages, the study found. 

Internships, relevant experience helps

There are also other ways to boost one's shot at a fruitful career that makes a college degree a worthy investment. For example, securing an internship while pursuing one's undergraduate studies reduces the risk of underemployment by almost 50%. 

"In addition to what you chose to study, having an internship is really needle-moving in terms of your likelihood of landing into the kind of job you went to school to get," Sigelman said. 

Sticking to jobs within the field in which you want to work also increases your chances of eventually getting a high paid position. Upward mobility is tricky if you start your career on the wrong foot. 

Many college graduates remain underemployed even 10 years after college, the study found. That may be because employers seeking college-level skills also tend to focus on job candidates' recent work experience, placing more emphasis on the latest jobs held by candidates who have spent years in the workforce, versus a degree that was earned a decade prior. 

"If you come out of school and work for a couple of years as waiter in a restaurant and apply for a college-level job, the employer will look at that work experience and not see relevance," Sigelman said. 

  • Higher Education

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Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.

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    A Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score of at least 318 is considered strong and can help your application. A professional resume with work experience related to your program is often helpful or required. Programs typically ask for letters of recommendation and a graduate school admissions essay as well. Are You a Good Fit for the Program?

  11. Are You Down With or Done With Homework?

    Some schools and districts have adapted time limits rather than nix homework completely, with the 10-minute per grade rule being the standard — 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, and so on. (This remedy, however, is often met with mixed results since not all students work at the same pace.)

  12. What's the Right Amount of Homework?

    The National PTA and the National Education Association support the " 10-minute homework guideline "—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students' needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

  13. Grad Students, what is the workload like compared to your ...

    If that's the case, is there homework assigned? Are there exams? Any information is greatly appreciated! Sort by: Add a Comment Einarath • 7 yr. ago • Edited 7 yr. ago Did my undergrad in Physics at a good school. I personally found it much more difficult, and much more work than grad school (did my MSc, now doing my PhD).

  14. 8 Tips for Balancing Grad School and Full-Time Work

    No. 1: Know the ebbs and flows of your work environment. Wherever you are working, analyze when you are busiest, both over the long haul and on a daily or weekly basis. If you don't have a strong sense of the rhythm of your workload or are starting a new job, don't hesitate to ask colleagues or your supervisor.

  15. How to prepare for grad school 2022+

    Make sure the exhales are slightly longer than the inhales. Breathing this way sends a message to your nervous system to relax. Or try this one: starting at your feet, tense isolated muscle groups for a few seconds, then release them. Work your way up to tensing and releasing your calves, your thighs, and so on.

  16. Workload comparison from undergrad to grad school : r/AskAcademia

    In grad school, 9 hours (3 classes) is a full-time courseload. There are programs that get you to do more than that, but they almost always have a requirement that you not have any outside employment. 12 grad coursework hours and a half-time job isn't quite setting yourself up for failure, but it's close to it.

  17. How to Survive Grad School

    Plan ahead. It's a good idea to create a tentative homework and class schedule in advance and do your best to stick to it. Once enrolled, review your syllabus and upcoming deadlines at the start of the class and adjust your study plan accordingly. Actively use time management techniques, and see where you can gain back some time for personal ...

  18. Balancing Work and Grad School? Your 4-Step Survival Guide

    After all, most of us already work 40 (or more) hours a week—throwing classes, homework, and finals into the mix can seem like a schedule only Superwoman could juggle. While we can't promise that...

  19. Graduate school homework/exams

    So far homework is fairly nonexistent with the exception of statistics classes - I'm in an interdisciplinary psychology and public health program. In stats classes we may have a problem set to do every week.

  20. Grad School Search

    View our grad school rankings & resources to find the best grad school for you. Easily compare grad schools by program, location & more at The Princeton Review. US Virginia ... Homework Help . Homework Help; Find a Tutor; Pricing; Subjects; Try a Free Session; AI Homework Essay Feedback; Grades 9-12. Digital SAT . Digital SAT Home;

  21. Students enroll graduate school better job, higher income

    Today's grad student: Most of Third Way's survey respondents were adult learners over the age of 25 (81 percent); 66 percent were white, around one-third (36 percent) were parents and many had a full-time (49 percent) or part-time (22 percent) job. Four in 10 (43 percent) students borrowed between $20,000 and $60,000, 18 percent borrowed between $60,000 and $100,000, and 10 percent ...

  22. The 'Homework Gap' Is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do?

    "Many schools rely on online communications platforms to communicate with parents and guardians about their student's progress, school activities, and other important information. If families ...

  23. Should we really be grading homework?

    There is a grading revolution that looks differently about how to evaluate homework than is traditionally used in schools.

  24. 5th week of grad school. I'm overwhelmed : r/GradSchool

    • 2 yr. ago by jace95 5th week of grad school. I'm overwhelmed Dear graduate students and otherwise familiar individuals: I am in my first semester of a PhD program in Philosophy and it's all remote work. The initial adrenaline rush of "omg yes i made it now i'm gonna do my absolute best" has worn off and i'm struggling to keep my composure.

  25. The truth about homework in America

    "The research clearly shows that there is no correlation between academic achievement and homework, especially in the lower grades," says Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and the author of the 2015 book, Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy Successful Kids.

  26. Biden-Harris Administration Approves $1.2 Billion in Loan Forgiveness

    There are now 7.5 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan, of whom 4.3 million have a $0 payment. The SAVE Plan is the most-affordable repayment plan for low- and middle-income borrowers and puts many on a path to earlier forgiveness. The SAVE Plan protects borrowers from runaway interest and balances larger than what they originally took out.

  27. Biden administration is forgiving $1.2 billion in student debt for

    There are currently 7.5 million borrowers enrolled in SAVE, the Education Department said on Wednesday. About 4.3 million of those have a $0 monthly payment. More from CBS News.

  28. I know there is homework in grad school, but I'm really sick ...

    This is it. I feel like a master's is my limit. Please help me handle the next 2 years of my master's, tell me how to handle these last 2 years of my…

  29. Half of College Graduates Are Working High School Level Jobs

    A new report found that 52% of students who recently obtained a bachelor's degree are underemployed and this impacts how money much they'll make in their careers.

  30. More than half of college graduates are working in jobs that don't

    Another study from the HEA Group found that a decade after enrolling in college, attendees of 1 in 4 higher education programs are earning less than $32,000 — the median annual income for high ...