Stephen Trinkwald
Equinox Staff
If you’re considering enrolling in a graduate program at Keene State College, you may want to enjoy your social life while you still can.
Like the undergrad programs here at KSC, the programs are offered in both full-time and part-time options. Full-time programs can be completed in one or two years, depending on the program.
Current KSC senior Jessica Jahne will be entering the special education graduate program next year, one which she said she expects to be pretty intense.
Jahne said her social life would be put on the back burner once in she’s in the graduate program. “I think it will probably be non-existent because the program’s pretty intense. It’s about 40 hours a week in the school plus night classes during the week,” Jahne said.
KSC senior Kristy Mastropietro said she also expects to be very focused once in the graduate program, leaving little time for friends. “With this program it’s really intense so there’s not much social life to have anymore because it basically is a full-time job on top of having another job so that I can pay for it. So my social life is kind of limited after this,” Mastropietro said.
Jodie Dresser is a current grad student and an assistant coach for both the women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams. Dresser said that with her responsibilities as a student, an assistant coach and working, she has shifted her focus away from other things. Dresser said she chose to take on the larger workload in an effort to get through the program as quickly as possibly.
“I went from having a social life to not having a social life basically,” Dresser said.
“When I signed up, I kind of had the mindset that I wanted to get my certification as quickly as possible and kind of blow through the program as best as I could, so I went full-time … It’s kind of a heavy hitting program, and so it really is very time consuming and the workload is much different than undergrad,” Dresser said.
Current graduate student Mimi Rhines, who went to New England College for her Bachelor’s degree, said KSC is known for having a great educational program. Rhines said that’s what drew her to the program. “I’m from the area and it has a really good reputation and I knew people who went to the program and they told me the professors are awesome. And Keene State [College] is really well known for education so that made sense,” Rhines said
Rhines said that despite the heavy workload, she tries to stay involved with what’s going on in the KSC community. Rhines said that so far the program has lived up to the reputation that drew Rhines to KSC. “Overall it’s just a really great program. The professors are great, they are really flexible with that schedule. So it’s nice because they know you can only do as much as you can handle,” Rhines said.
Jahne said she chose the program because of the familiarity of the campus and professors.
“I figured that since I’m already here at Keene State [College] and into the routine of how professors run their classes it would be easiest to just stay,” Jahne said.
Matropietro said that along with being a one-year program, familiarity also played a role in her decision.
“I really like the program here. It’s a really good educational program and I talked with a lot of advisors about the program, the follow-up program, and it just kind of seemed to fit,” Mastropietro said. Mastropietro said that the heavy workload will reduce her role in the KSC community. “I’m inside the schools for the whole day. Being in student teaching that I just did last semester I wasn’t really involved in Keene State because I am heavily off campus. So I feel like it will kind of be the same way,” Mastropietro said.
Jahne said she expects not to be involved in what happens outside of the classroom at KSC once she enters the program. “I don’t think I’ll really have a role, I feel like I won’t really be that much of a part of the social life that happens on the weekend,” Jahne said.
While the school’s reputation is drawing in students, the heavy workload involved in completing the program is keeping these students focused on being the classroom and internships.
Steven Trinkwald can be contacted at
strinkwald@keene-equinox.com