allons-y

This fall I'm returning to school for the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education's SMART MS degree.  SMART stands for Statistics, Measurement, Assessment and Research Technology.  My thoughts on going back to school are a bit of a mixed bag.

The positive:

• It looks as if there are some interesting courses that will help me at my current job.  The data processing and analysis course is designed for those who want to get SAS BASE certification, and formal coursework on psychometrics and program evaluation are directly applicable to my current position.
• I can get a degree from an ivy league university.
• It might mitigate some of the professional isolation I feel working in an office with no other data people.
• I might be able to do some really cool research.
• It's a chance to prove I can do really well in an academic environment.
• If I do go on for a PhD I'll have to spend one less year as a poor PhD student.

The negative:

• If I can't write it off as a business expense it will be expensive - even with Penn paying my tuition.
• Another master's degree isn't exactly going to help my resume.
• I'm not a great student, and school can be a lot of pressure.
• There might be group work.  Ugh.
• One course has to be taken outside of the quantitative methods division - it might be even squishier than social science statistics.
• Time: between my job, dogs, garden and circus, this will eat up some precious free time.
• There might be public speaking.  Ugh.

All in all, I'm going to give it a semester.  I'll do my best and see what comes of it.