Getting ready to take your education to the next level is a satisfying and rewarding endeavor; however, it is the next level, and you should be prepared for the new challenges and environment of graduate study in the liberal arts and humanities. Professors expect a certain level of independent work and initiative on the part of graduate-level students, and once you adapt to the demands of a liberal arts and humanities graduate degree program, you will amazed by your own brain power and abilities.
While the undergraduate classroom size varies greatly, most graduate-level liberal arts and humanities courses have small, active classroom environments. Many professors will hold their graduate classes in seminar rooms, where students and professor are seated around a table in a very egalitarian environment. This set-up stimulates classroom discussion and encourages students to lead the conversation.
In fact, most graduate-level professors will assign each person a class to present on the reading and lead the discussion. The point of this exercise is to have you really engage the reading on a much more intense level than in your undergraduate. This is perhaps one of the biggest differences between undergraduate and graduate study: you must come to class extremely prepared with critical analysis of the reading—and be ready to argue your point. Although this may sound intimidating, being able to discover independently the multi-layered richness of the work is one of the most rewarding and exciting aspects of the graduate school classroom.
Of course, once the enlightenment of the reading begins to deepen your experience in the classroom, you will most likely be asked to write a research paper at the culmination of the class. Assignments throughout the semester will range from presentations to shorter papers, but don't be surprised if your grade rests almost entirely on one large, 20- to 30-page paper.
If you are willing to push your brain cells beyond where they have gone and study harder than you ever have, your graduate degree in the liberal arts and humanities will be an enormously satisfying time of your life.
Carlin Carr writes for the bimonthly magazine New England Watershed and for Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her M.A. from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and has taught English in Italy and the United States.
