Skip to main content

Choices for Grad School


College and Choices

Undergraduate was an easy choice for me. I only applied to two schools. I knew I wanted to go to the University of Illinois. I loved it. Honestly, I fell in love with the town, the school, and the people. If they had a Grad Program that fit me, I'd apply in a heartbeat. Sadly, they don't.

U of I at Springfield has a program that fits what I want to do. I'm going into Public Administration (either City Management or Non-Profit), however, location wise, I'd rather move closer to Chicago. So now I'm looking at schools in Chicago/Burbs, Northern, etc. 

I figured I'd better start now, if I get too busy with work, classes, and other activities... Plus, midterms are coming up and my deadlines for real estate homework is soon. And before I know it the deadlines will be here and time has flown by.

a Not-so-FUN-FACT: did you know there are some cities/states that don't have Cystic Fibrosis Clinics (and some the ratings and reveiws aren't good). Which is why I'm looking mostly around Chicago area, they have better ratings and reveiws. They have better equipment and machines. Actually, some states don't have CF Clinics at all (like Wyoming). However, my doctor has a private practice for CFers, so he wouldn't be on the list of CF Care-Centers, anyway.

So my priority list may look different than that of your average person:

Top 5 factors
1. Good program
2. $ tuition
3. # of hours I drive to a GOOD CF Clinic has to be 3 hours or less.
4.  Where I'd live/Who I know/The location (fun?)
5. The rating of the nearby hospital. Less face it if I have to have surgery I wouldn't want to live in a tiny town, where the hospital doesn't do surgeries.. Eastern/Charleston was a nightmare and has taught me to be prepared.

Right Now, I'm looking at DePaul, Gov. State, Northern, and U of I at Springfield. I may add more, but for now those are the schools that have programs in P.A (non-profit/City Management). A few of those schools eve n have online and long distance programs, IF (BIG IF..lol) I decide I want to stay in Pton. I know quite a few people in the burbs and Chicago. They love it and I know I would too, BUT I'm trying to keep an open mind, perhaps I will want to stay, and perhaps I will be anxious to move to Chicago. Who knows. I have roughly 9-10 months to figure it out and a few months to get applications going.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Today's BIG Appointment

 I discussed last week about my recent struggles & goals. I have been dealing with a lot all at once! Family planning (update on that in 2 weeks), my Grandma's funeral, lower lung function. Through it all I have remained very compliant with my meds! My health is VERY important to me. So this last weekend I took my vest machine, wabi sterilizer system , and packs of ensure to my parent's for the weekend. I wanted to make sure I did everything. While it was a sad occasion, it was still pleasant seeing almost all of the family together again. Actually 27 out of 29 of the cousins made it to the funeral. Grandpa is in the middle of the picture (can you find me?) LOL   On top of my medications I have been doing some dancing & walking, but no jogging or anything. I'm still counting calories on my fitbit (hitting over 3000) a day (& 40 grams of protein, 50 grams of fat at least). I knew I was feeling a bit better than before, but wasn't sure what to expec...
18 comments
Read more

How Fostering and CF impact my work

I haven't been on my blog much.... I think that is because most of my blogging is currently been done on Health Union's Cystic-Fibrosis.com (here is link to all my posts on their site: https://cystic-fibrosis.com/members/cherizkunkel/ ). I decided last fall to step away from real estate after 3 years in the business. It was tough to say good-bye, especially since I had tripled my volume and business in the last year. However, I didn't have time to add any new clients; I kept saying, maybe next week, next month I can fit more work into my schedule. The truth is fostering takes a lot of time. We have between 5-8 monthly visits at the agency, 1 court ate a month, 2 home visits from the caseworker a month, plus e have 2-3 doctors/specialist appointments for our current kiddo. We have lots of paperwork we fill out, gas mile logs, receipts to add, and more! Our kiddo also participates in gymnastics and dance two nights a week. We go to a fosterparent support group with our kid ...
2 comments
Read more

Antibiotic Free Streak Over

Clinical Trial & Uh-Ohs: A lot happened this weekend. Thursday was my clinical trial and yay!!!!! my lung function was still same. It's 55% by Docs standards, but by the trial standard it would be considered 60 still. So don't freak out and think my lung function has dropped since I wrote the Blog Post  Welcome to the 60s (read it here) . So that's good news. In 2010, I was struggling in the high 30s and low 40s. Then in 2011 I switched to Doc B, also I was done with school. I had more time to focus on meds and exercise. My extra effort and my proactive doc brought my lungs up to 58  in 2011. And Thursday I was happy to see it at the same place. No decrease in 3 years!!!!! However, I've gotten into the mid 60s before. But that was only after hospitalizations and IV treatments. Well, in the last year I have been enrolling in a couple clinical trials. Most trials are 6 months long. I'm  currently in one now. Its a 3rd phase trial and the 2nd phase trials show...
3 comments
Read more