How I knew I was ready.
I was going to grad school to get a degree in a new field, to prepare for a very new and different career, so I wanted more faith I could handle the coursework.
What I Did:
Did a "trial run."
How I Did It:
I found some courses similar to what I'd take in the grad school, at a local university's adult not-for-credit offerings. I picked some that I knew would be challenging and might inform some of my later study, too. Then I did all the suggested reading just as if it were a for-credit course, to more fully test myself and my time management (had a family and full-time job while in grad school).
Lessons Learned
- professors love to teach non-credit courses because they don't have to grade -- and so are sometimes even more encouraging in those courses
- how to take courses and do the work for the love of it -- after those non-credit courses, I had more fun in the for-credit courses later as I brought the same "doing it for the fun of it" attitude there
- definitely learned I was able to handle the content and work
