Change is an inevitable part of life. Yet some people—those who seek to continue their education as well as obtain a sense of permanence or stability as they navigate what could be a potentially challenging experience—might want to consider staying somewhere familiar for graduate school.
A place where they already have a firm understanding of the campus, faculty, and department in which they plan to continue their education. Someplace where they have already developed and grown positive relationships and a rapport with their instructors and peers so that they can start their graduate studies on the right foot. That place, for some students, is the University of Massachusetts Boston: an institution that is already home to thousands of students and can continue to serve those who receive their undergraduate education from the university and want to further their studies in a familiar and understanding environment.
One of the best decisions the university could make in order to retain their undergraduate student population, as well as incentivize undergraduate students to stay at the university for graduate school, would be to increase the number of accelerated undergraduate into graduate programs—otherwise known on campus as “4+1” programs. These are a special set of programs that allow undergraduate students at UMass Boston to apply to certain graduate programs at the university in the second semester of their junior year. Accepted students begin graduate coursework during their senior year so that they can graduate with both their undergraduate and graduate degrees within five years.
While each program has individual standards for admission, all the programs offer the unique opportunity for UMass Boston students to graduate with advanced degrees and a considerable advantage over their cohorts in an ever-competitive job market. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on your perspective—the current job market has developed to a point where simply having a bachelor’s degree does not make an individual a competitive candidate for employment.
Employers are always looking for prospective employees who go the extra mile in terms of advancing their educations and skill sets to stay up to date and in synch with the current demands of an ever-changing global economy.
Having an advanced degree accompanied with a publishable thesis, extensive laboratory research experience, or teaching experience can help individuals stand out from their competitors in the job market. So can letters of recommendations from professors who can attest to a person’s ability to do graduate-level work as well as succeed in further areas of study or employment. These traits could be the difference between obtaining employment or continuing the often-disappointing search for adequate employment in an ever-constrictive job market.
Another benefit of applying to accelerated programs at UMass Boston is that most, if not all, of the programs do not require applicants to take the dreaded Graduate Record Examinations, otherwise known as the GREs. The GREs come from the long line of unnecessary standardized testing peddled by “non-profit” organizations who seek to make a quick buck by imposing an examination on students—an exam that doesn’t always determine whether or not a student is capable of succeeding in graduate school.
Not having to go through that expensive, pointless ordeal, and instead being mainly assessed on one’s undergraduate record (which admissions committees will have a better understanding of, given the fact that all applicants will have completed their undergraduate educations in their respective departments) will serve as a much stronger indicator of one’s capability to do graduate work.
Currently, there are only three such accelerated programs: applied economic, applied sociology, and chemistry. While there is no doubt that these are vital disciplines in which to have accelerated programs, they should by no means be the only accelerated programs available to undergraduate students. If there is to be an increase in the number of accelerated programs, it should not come as a surprise that the emphasis will be on programs in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, given the demand for professionals in those areas.
This emphasis should not rule out the possibility of increasing the number of accelerated programs in the liberal arts or health sciences, both vital areas where significant work is done on improving the human condition in unique ways. Department heads in each respective subject should look into increasing or establishing accelerated programs in their departments as a way of growing and developing the intellectual communities that they represent.
Department heads should begin by presenting the deans and provost of their respective colleges some of the wide variety of benefits that come with giving undergraduate students an opportunity to continue to build on the work they have done in a more challenging and professional setting. The chance to work with faculty as equal colleagues instead of obedient subjects is one that many students look forward to at some point during their academic careers.
In essence, by providing qualified undergraduate students with the opportunity to further their educations by enrolling in accelerated programs, the university can continue to grow and expand as an academic community dedicated to providing individuals with the chance to grow as leaders and scholars as well as serving as an excellent institution of higher learning for individuals throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.