A common question from prospective students to the
International Ed Development Program is whether to “do 5-and-5” or spread it
out. At Penn GSE, taking 4 or 5 courses in one semester has the same tuition
cost, meaning that IEDP’s 10-course program can be completed in two semesters
(faster!) for the cost of 8 courses (cheaper!). At first, this seems like the
obvious answer, but I chose the other one. We’re nearing the end of our second
semester now, and I’ve only completed 7 courses (well, almost, but I’m
optimistic). I’ll be back in the Fall after the summer internship to complete
my final 3 courses.
Luckily, I’m independently wealthy, so this isn’t a problem
for me. Oh wait, that’s a huge lie. No, I’m taking on additional debt to spread
out my time here at Penn: tuition and living expenses that are significant
amounts.
My decision was partly motivated by the anticipated
workload: 5 Ivy-League graduate courses at once is a lot of work. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to delve too
deeply into any of the subjects in my efforts just to keep up with the weekly
readings, papers, projects, etc. This concern has been mostly allayed by seeing
my colleagues work: yes, they are working very hard every day, but they have
just as rich and robust an understanding of the materials as I do.
Another part of the decision was motivated by my lack of
direction. Despite sounding like a fairly small niche of the education or
development fields, international educational development is a varied and
complex world. I didn’t have a clear understanding of my place in it or the
directions I wanted to go before I came to Penn. My thinking was that after my
internship (which is likely to be in Nairobi, Kenya with UNESCO), I would be
able to further hone my skills and studies to specialize in this huge field.
But this concern has also been lessened over time: I feel that there are a few
areas where I have a deeper understanding and a focus within the field. And
“5-and-5” colleagues that had just as little direction as I did in September
have their specializations and interest areas.
My main motivator was stress management. I have depression
and anxiety, and I need to carefully manage my exposure to stressors and
trigger situations. Obviously, grad school is stressful. Duh. Even some of my
classmates without a history of depression or anxiety have experienced periods
of acute depressive symptoms and high stress. I don’t want to paint a terrible
picture: we’re all mostly happy and loving and doing good work. The biggest
defense against the bad days is the close, wonderful relationships that
developed over the course of the last 9 months.
But the bad days do happen. For someone like me, having too
many bad days in a row is unacceptable, and I was fully aware of that coming
in. Managing that stress meant spreading it out, even if it cost more. I am
happy with my decision, and given the opportunity, I would make it again. But I
also have a number of 5-and-5 classmates (slightly over half of our cohort),
and they’re happy with their decisions.
So this is a very personal decision, and one that needs a
lot of care. Unfortunately, it needs to be made before the end of the Fall
add/drop period: about 3 weeks into the semester. I encourage prospective
students to discuss it with professors here, current and former students,
friends and family, and maybe even a financial advisor or therapist. Maybe make
a flow chart! I love flow charts.
See you in the Fall.
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