Is it better to go to grad school in your home state?

Not hard to become certified in another state, BUT much more expensive to go to school in another state…

I’ve been doing just that — going to grad school in my home state for 3 1/2 years now, although that’s been divided between two of our state universities. In my field, that *really* makes me weird (although quite valuable!). . . we have few U.S. citizens in the first place, even fewer in-state students. . but I sort of like being within an easy trip of home.

On the down side, it’s also a little harder to separate yourself from family stuff if you really have a bunch of work to do than it would be if you were, say, a few hundred miles away. But sometimes, the distractions are also nice.

One thing you really need to look at is what your goals are after graduation and whether any programs in your state will be able to place you on the right track for them. If you don’t necessarily have aspirations to be a nationally famous counselor or something like that, then the nationally-recognized quality of your program may not even be that important. . . although if a PA school *has* a good program, that’s even better.

Depending on funding and what’s normal in counseling, it may or may not be more expensive to go out-of-state, at least as far as tuition goes. My field generally waives out-of-state tuition if you’re a GTA or GRA that semester, so you might also want to look into that.

Traveling out of state to study is awsome, but PA has some really Great schools. I home school through a private home school that is in PA and I live in SC.

Certain schools reserve more scholarship money for grad programs so you have more opportunities to attend out of state. If you’re still paying off your undergrad, I wouldn’t suggest more debt since you could look for a TA position that will pay for your school and will provide a little extra cash for books, living, etc. in return for you teaching lower-division courses and grading papers. If you could secure an assistantship and possibly grant/scholarship cash, I’d say go for it. If you’re an older student, you may even have more opportunities for cash.

i would go in PA just because out of state tuition will kill you! but really, i would go in state because they’ll probably teach you things imortant for your state’s board