In this job market, staying in school is never stupid.

Well, that's one of my reasons for wanting to go to grad school, even though I'm heinously behind on...pretty much everything I should be doing to apply.

But I've been researching, and for me my final choice of school is gonna come down to funding, and my current school has pretty great funding for graduate students, buuuuuuuut I also get this feeling that I might be looked down upon for not challenging myself and changing schools.......

It depends a lot on what field you're in and how far you intend to go. In general, if you intend to get a PhD then getting your Masters from the same school as your Bachelor's typically isn't bad. But generally you get your MA and PhD from the same school anyway.

From what friends have said, if you're in a science field staying in one school doesn't hurt. But in my case, history, changing schools is pretty much mandatory if you want to do anything but teach at a community college. Though I do know of a Hist, prof who was a 4M; Marquette University (Milwaukee) High School, BA, MA and PhD. And then went on to teach there.

dunno, don't care. heartchu.

Some schools won't allow you to go to their grad program if you were there for undergrad (I know NYU is like that), but it sounds like you've done your research and know you are able to go to your school.

As I'm sure you've heard by now, doing graduate work where you did your undergrad is often referred to as "intellectual inbreeding." It is true to a certain extent. When I went to grad school there were a couple of guys in the department who had undergraded there. More than a few of them were bored because many of the grad classes they were in were just a more in-depth, faster paced version of the senior seminar they did.

I can't tell you how much it'll affect you professionally to go to the same place, but there is definitely something to be gained from moving outside your comfort zone. New professors offer different ways of looking at things...one guy at one institution might have a completely different approach from another dude at another college just on the other side of town, even though they hold the same position. Further, if you're a senior now, I'm sure that you're so far up your favorite professor's butts that you know what they're going to say before they do.

Lastly, if you are really behind in the app. process, I wouldn't worry about it too much if you're a good candidate. All the apps just sit in a pile until the big dogs sit down together to review them. They'll make room for you if they really want you. A good app that makes it in the day after the deadline still beats a shitty one that came in two months before the deadline.

On top of that, if you can't hustle enough to get the app in to the school you really want to go to, you wouldn't do well in grad school anyway. Grad school is all about learning how to shoot from the hip and doing something in a day that would have taken all week earlier in your life.

As I'm sure you've heard by now, doing graduate work where you did your undergrad is often referred to as "intellectual inbreeding." It is true to a certain extent. When I went to grad school there were a couple of guys in the department who had undergraded there. More than a few of them were bored because many of the grad classes they were in were just a more in-depth, faster paced version of the senior seminar they did.

I can't tell you how much it'll affect you professionally to go to the same place, but there is definitely something to be gained from moving outside your comfort zone. New professors offer different ways of looking at things...one guy at one institution might have a completely different approach from another dude at another college just on the other side of town, even though they hold the same position. Further, if you're a senior now, I'm sure that you're so far up your favorite professor's butts that you know what they're going to say before they do.

Lastly, if you are really behind in the app. process, I wouldn't worry about it too much if you're a good candidate. All the apps just sit in a pile until the big dogs sit down together to review them. They'll make room for you if they really want you. A good app that makes it in the day after the deadline still beats a shitty one that came in two months before the deadline.

On top of that, if you can't hustle enough to get the app in to the school you really want to go to, you wouldn't do well in grad school anyway. Grad school is all about learning how to shoot from the hip and doing something in a day that would have taken all week earlier in your life.