It’s getting to be about that time. The end of the 2015 program year is imminent. My time as a MSC student is ending soon, and it seems fitting to conclude my blog posts as well to make room for the transitions and experiences to come. About six months ago I emailed MSC administration with
ProfileErika Schulz Nygaard
I’ve been yawning a lot in class lately. One might assume this is because I am in the throes of the infamous MSC summer session—10 weeks of material executed in 6 weeks, and as many papers due in that time. This quarter has lived up to everything I heard about it, and in many ways
To wrap up my mini-series of posts on practical matters, following is a bit of helpful information regarding tuition. Important to Know: Tuition is not billed in four equal segments; rather, it is billed per credit. Fall quarter (for domestic students) contains the most credits, and therefore it is more expensive than the subsequent three
Continuing my mini-series on practical matters (from my previous post), what follows is some insight into changing one’s name with the university. Many students may never need to deal with this, but I hope this information will be helpful to those who need it. If you previously attended Northwestern and are now reentering as a
Being a student again—especially at NU where I also did my undergraduate study—has been a terrific experience. I’ve enjoyed retracing my steps on campus, revisiting favorite spaces, and using all the new online systems (registering for classes used to be a much more laborious experience). However, being a student at times involves other matters such
As a Northwestern student expecting to receive a degree, it will be helpful to understand two terms associated with graduation: Commencement: the university-wide ceremony at which speakers address all students, and the university President verbally (and thus only ceremoniously) confers degrees upon the students. For the MSC program, names of the previous year’s cohort are
Tip #4: Northwestern apps. With commencement approaching, I recently received an email about an app that can be used for schedules and other information regarding the ceremony. Figuring this might be handy at some point, I searched the app store on my phone for “Northwestern University,” and I was surprised to find several apps in
Tip #3: Travel lightly. If you arrive at the MSC program with some work experience (as most–but not all–of us do), you are probably used to having some space to call your own at your workplace. This space is likely where your personal items and coat get stashed for the day. In other words, you
Tip #2: You don’t need to buy a computer. Unless you want to. (In which case, definitely utilize your educational discount!) However, having a computer with you at all times is not necessary. Many students take notes on paper, often utilizing the PowerPoint slides provided by instructors in advance. Other students make use of tablets
Tip #1: identify a few speed reading strategies, and start practicing them. Shown here: coursepacks for just three courses. Not pictured: the myriad documents I read electronically on my iPad. As Professor Rick Morris said, “Graduate students need to be efficient.” Reading every word of the assigned articles and case studies in this program would be