fUTURE LEADERS continued from page 44 Be aware of the sacrifices. I left behind an active social life. A girlfriend. Friends. Income. Even if your program offers you a full assistantship, there's a good chance you're going need to take out loans. recommend fi nding out what those payments are going to be when you're done. These loans don't go away until they're paid in full. Are you ready for that? How flexible will your job market be once you graduate? Are you willing to relocate? Or are you heading back to where you came from? During your graduate school experience, how did your view of your field, professional or academic, change? Graduate school taught me that most of the people outside of your program don't care that you're in graduate school. It also taught me that I really didn't know as much as I thought I did. I found graduate school very humbling. What advice would you give to a student as he or she navigates the classroom aspect of a graduate education? You probably don't write as well as you think you do. Graciously accept the feedback, learn from your mistakes, and don't take it personally. What would you say is the most valuable part of your entire graduate education? I couldn't possibly narrow it down to one thing. Personally, I made great friends and had one of the best times of my life. Professionally, it showed me how little I knew about writing and the field in general. I also started learning the value of networking. Did you feel that the various aspects of graduate school prepared you for your career after graduation? I was under the impression graduate school would give me the knowledge CirCle 23 on produCt information form on paGe 79 44 Parks & Recreation AUGUST 2011 www.NRPA .ORG base to become an executive. Graduate school probably won't do that for the average person. However, graduate school can introduce you to the skill set required at the next level. You get exposure to high level tasks in a controlled environment. On a side note-I also might be one of the only people who will admit to Research Methods being tremendously useful. I always use information from that course. Did you encounter any surprises that you were not expecting after graduation? It took awhile before it fi nally sunk in that one of the greatest sacrifices of graduate school is that you're not working full time. You can gain a lot of professional experience in the time it takes to get a master's degree. What did you expect your relationship to be like and how did it turn out? I was expecting a standard student-professor relationship. What actually happened was the complete opposite. I truly felt the professors in the department valued my presence. I loved going to class. I loved meeting with Dr. Yoder about projects and research. I loved hanging out in the office after class. I never expected to make life-long connections with anyone on the faculty. MICHAEL BRADLEY is a doctoral candidate at Oklahoma State University studying human dimensions in natural resource management with emphasis in place attachment and ethics. He is a member of the NRPA Young Professionals Network and a frequent contributor to Parks & Recreation.