How do you know when the right timing is for grad school?

You will not like my answer: it depends. It depends on your reason for grad school. To get an advanced degree that opens doors for job opportunities outside academia? Then the timing is based on some mix of practical questions (e.g., cost, loans) and your ambition. To plunge yourself into the study of a question you could spend a lifetime pursuing? Then the timing is based on your readiness to set aside a normal life, and defer ordinary pleasures (security, family, stability) perhaps for a decade or more.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.