Need help planning for graduate school

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Right now, I living in Boise, and going to school, and I am approximately 2 1/2 years from graduating from BSU with an Bachelor's degree. I moved here with my family from Montana about 9 months ago, and while Boise is much better than Montana in terms of opportunities, I feel mired down with family problems. Because of these problems I feel like I want to move out. Let me explain in more detail.

Shortly after the family and I moved here, my youngest sister found a boyfriend. They got really close while my sister pushed the family away. Basically, she was yelling at everybody all the time (especially my dad) and she moved out for a short time to live with her boyfriend, then came back when she found out his roommates were a bunch of drunk guys. She was very difficult to be around and repeatedly called my dad every name in the book and told him to "go back to Japan." Her boyfriend promised her that he had found a job in California, and told her that he was going to live in a penthouse suite with her. She ended up marrying this boyfriend and getting pregnant from him. She soon found out that he had been lying to her. Furthermore, he has a history of drug dealing and is a white supremacist (strange because my family on my dad's side is Japanese).

My mom recently moved to Idaho, and that has been causing a great deal of unease and stress with the family since she has basically proven herself to be a compulsive liar. Neither me nor my sisters want to see her, but she has been bugging us repeatedly to go hang out with her. My dad has threatened to move back to Montana, his feelings are so bad about what she did to him when she divorced and ran off to Egypt to be with an internet friend. She also kidnapped my sisters (since she removed them against court order) and tried to get me and my dad charged with sexual assault on false pretenses.

In my own life I am trying to attend anime club meetings and go to anime conventions, but I find my ability to get more involved with the fandom limited by the fact that I don't drive. Since my late teen years, transportation has been a major problem for me. I tried to get my driver's license on two different occasions in the past. I have been having problems with being able to focus on the road and dealing with tough situations. But that is a completely different issue.

I am also worried about my finances, since in the last two semesters I have had to use half of my college fund just to pay for out-of-state tuition. I know I need to get a job (even just something for the summer) in order to gain job experience, but I haven't worked yet (working with VR to get my undergraduate education complete).

Right now, I am so fed up with my situation that just want to move out from my dad's place and live on my own. However, I am afraid of placing too much stress on him with his dealing with my sister's pregnancy and my mother coming back. He told me he wants me to stay with him at least until I graduate from 4-year university. That is at least another 2 1/2 years off, and I don't know if I am willing to wait that long. But I probably will.

After I graduate, I would like to move away from Idaho to attend graduate school in either Seattle or Vancouver. I really love Vancouver, because it seems more homey to me, and because I am afraid of civil disorder if the United States collapses. I jsut don't know if I could handle all of the immigration procedures as well as the difficulties with gaining citizenship there (I was reading the requirements for a student visa and one of the requirements is that you must prove that you will leave once you finish your studies), but if I go, I would like to stay and get Canadian citizenship. I don't know if you need to be a citizen in order to get a public service job such as a librarian.

Which school would you suggest for someone like me, UW in Washington or UBC in British Columbia? If I decide on Vancouver, how can I go about planning

Where you go largely depends on what you are majoring in.

With that being said, a lot can change in 2 1/2 years. I changed majors 3 times throughout undergraduate and graduate school (Chemistry-->Psychobiology-->Criminal Justice).

Your family situation does sound pretty bad. If you can manage to get through college while dealing with all that, you are a very strong person.

Due to your financial situation, you might be better off staying with your dad. However, you should not have to deal with any more drama. Do you HAVE to see your mom? If she filed false charges against you and your dad, I think you might have grounds for a restraining order (but you'd better check the laws in Idaho--those can vary from state to state). Your sister's pregnancy is not your responsibility. Can you talk to your dad and make it clear that your first priority has to be school (and your second one has to be your OWN life) and you don't have time for all of this nonsense?

If you can get some kind of job, do so. Besides earning some money of your own, you'll have more of a reason to avoid said drama.

Over the next several years, when you have really settled on what you want to study, check out the grad programs for that subject at both of the schools you mentioned. Call/e-mail the department heads and/or the heads of the Graduate College. The quality of the program should be the first thing to help you make your decision.

The second thing should be the possibility of financial aid (that's what helped me make my final decision about which grad school to attend out of the four that accepted me).

After that: location, affordability of living, etc.

As for the possibility of going to Vancouver, start checking out the legalities of emigrating to Canada permanently right now. Don't leave anything like that to the last minute. Get all of the information you can re: student visas, work visas, the procedure for becoming a Canadian citizen, etc.

Hope that helps. Let us know what happens. Good luck.

the advice that i got came true "it doesn't matter what where your grad school is, the temperature of the library is always the same". if you are serious about the grad school you need to apply to more places and since you are just starting there are lots of schools that might be suitable. also it is easier to get in into univer that are in small, far-away towns.

First, I wouldn't plan grad school on the fear of the US collapsing into civil disorder. If that happens, we're all going to have more serious concerns, no matter where we live.

Second, you need to get a sense of what you want to study. Wanting to move away from home is not a good reason to attend graduate school. Rather, you need to know what you're interested in learning, and how it will be incorporated into your life after school. Once you've done that, speak with some professors in the field about departments in your area of interest. Ever school has differences, and each department tends to focus on only a handful of topics. You want to go more by their ranking within your area of interest, rather than by the school's overall reputation.

Once you've identified the kinds of programs you're interested in attending, then put together a short list, and do some research. Most of these programs will have websites, where the faculty and their research interests will be described. Find some individual faculty who are studying what you want to study, and contact them about the possibility of joining the program. If you get any positive responses, then you may have someone advocating for your acceptance when it comes time to review applications.


One final word. Don't include your family history. While I understand that it is important to you and your desire to leave, it is utterly meaningless to any graduate program. They won't care, and if you share too much, it's going to make them feel uncomfortable around you.

I understand what you are saying.

I wish to assure you (or anyone else for that matter) that I want to attend graduate school for a reason, and that reason is not to get away from my family. But I don't want to stay with my family whilst attending graduate school. I want to be a librarian. In order to do so, I have to attend grad school in order to obtain a MLIS degree, which is required for any higher-level job in the library Although I have been experiencing the above family problems for several month, I will not disclose family issues to any potential interviewer for graduate school. I originally intended to post this in the Haven forum, but I thought somebody on the Schools forum might have some advice for me on the issue of which school to attend.

Honestly (as I'm sure you know) both are great schools, both are fairly similar in size, cities are pretty similar--they are also both extremely hard to get into, so I'd just apply to both and see where the cards fall.

I'm partial to U Dub (and know a lot more about it than UBC) because I did my undergrad there, I don't know exactly where in Vancouver UBC is located, but I do know UW is pretty easy access if you don't drive even if you don't live in the immediate area.

I don't know about planning for going to a Canadian school once you actually get accepted and decide to go, but as far as the application process goes it should be pretty much exactly the same.

For undergrad, if you have any electives, consider taking them at community college and making sure they can transfer. It is a lot more paperwork. Maybe you can get a PT job now, but of course that is a lot with your studies. or you can change your status to PT (if that doesn't affect your financial aid or such) and work PT so that you are still progressing in your education and making a little money. If you have a comfortable job in an urban area, since you can't drive, it may be ideal to find a roommate(s) and live with them in/near the city where public transportation is easily accessible.