Grad School

After this semester, I will only lack 9 hours of math having all the math I need to finish a BA degree in math. I also need a literature course and the first 4 courses in a foreign language sequence. But after I get those 9 hours of math, I could just go straight to graduate school in math.



The main reason I have for wanting to do the BA before the masters degree is so I have an excuse to do the Japanese Foreign Language Initiative program and go spend 4 weeks in school in Japan next summer. So if I don't get into that program, I will probably take Advanced Calculus 1 & 2 this summer and start grad school in the fall. I'll still technically lack 3 hours, but I think they'll let me in anyway. Or I can just take 3 math classes in summer school if I have to. To qualify for the PHD program I still have to have the foreign language, so I'll still take Japanese 1-4 while I'm in grad school in case I decide to try to get a PHD later. And after that I can still do a study abroad thing. It won't help me towards any degree I'm seeking, but so what? I'll do it anyway.



Maybe I won't even worry about applying for the JLI and I'll just set myself on going to grad school this fall. It would get me where I'm going academically faster, but it would postpone my summer in Japan by a year. I think I would want to pay my own way with the money I've saved for the first year to get comfortable with the more difficult level of the classes. Then start being a graduate teaching assistant the 2nd year so I can get paid and learn to teach in case I decide to try teaching at a community college after getting my masters degree. I don't much like the idea of teaching, but I like the idea of having summers off.