<p>Hi guys. Thanks so much for the help everyone, especially jonri. I think the internships recommended all sound really interesting. I live in an apartment near the Discovery Channel and never even thought about that. I think I might apply for internships this summer with NPR, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and CBS. The NPR suggestion sounds amazing. I looked it up online.</p>
<p>I have also been thinking about perhaps getting a Masters in Communications. I really would like to be involved with broadcasting, but not necessarily on T.V. I haven’t taken the GRE, but I am a poor standardized test taker so I am not counting on anything spectacular. I have found a couple MA programs. Does anyone know of any schools with 12-month MA programs? I have been looking at the Newhouse School at Syracuse. It has a 12-month Master’s of journalism program. It sounds perfect but I probably would never get in. The University of South Carolina’s MA program in Communication is also peaking my attention. I got offered a full ride there for undergrad and wouldn’t mind going for graduate school.</p>
<p>My cumulative GPA is not terrible, but only a 3.2. However, my GPA first semester freshman year was a 2.63, so it’s been a pain pulling that up ever since. Coming from an less than average public high-school, I had a hard time adjusting to college classes. I have honestly worked very hard for my grades and GW is pretty challenging. I make mostly B+'s with the occasional A- or B-.</p>
<p>Oxford sounds nice, but I highly doubt that Oxford would even consider me based on my 3.2 GPA (not terrible but not Oxford material). Studying abroad might be an option, however, I would want to graduate from GW first. At most colleges, you can study abroad and just pay the tuition at the international university (which is usually less than 7 grand), but at GW you still have to pay the ridiculous 40,000 dollar tuition regardless. To be honest, I’m not going to be all that sad to be leaving GW…it’s not been a terrible experience but paying 30,000 a year for this university is pretty questionable. I speak french as my language for my degree and am in Arabic 2 at the moment. Going abroad doesn’t really appeal to me for some reason…but I should probably not rule it out. </p>
<p>As far as money is concerned, my parents would help me out for a year since they basically budgeted a fourth year of GW a few years ago. If I could maybe find a 12-month Masters program, I would be spending essentially less money than I would at GW for another year and have a Master’s by age 22. Perhaps that is illogical since I basically know nothing about graduate school but I might run to the library and pick up a book on different programs. Going to graduate school really appeals to me, because A) I love school and B) I could mature while obtaining knowledge for the real world. I wouldn’t want to go to any graduate program that I can’t complete in less than a year though…so maybe that’s not possible. I’m not sure. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all the advice. You all are great guides for those of us with less than adequate knowledge about the world!</p>