Problem
Each member of a research group visited either the Virgin Islands or Hawaii...
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Time It Right: Laura Bajor
Flying helicopters off an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf followed by a master's degree in writing is not a conventional route to a career in medicine, but at 37, Laura Bajor is pursuing a childhood dream. Inspired by the story of Marie Curie, she nonetheless lacked the confidence to get through the rigors of med school when she was younger. Her Navy training changed that, and with "all of that adventure stuff out of my system," she's becoming a doctor of osteopathy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Up next: a four-year residency program in psychiatry.
Goal: "To be intellectually challenged and of service to society." Plus, though it's years away, "I wouldn't mind some degree of material security."
Education: B.S. in political science, U.S. Naval Academy, with heavy coursework in physics, chemistry, and electrical engineering; M.A. in writing, Johns Hopkins University.
Job philosophy: "The difference between being a Navy pilot and a doctor is like the difference between being a professional football player and a professional golfer. The first occupation is extremely intense and physically risky, and for those reasons most people are done by their early 30s. The second is intellectually rigorous, but you can perfect it over a lifetime."
Timing: "I probably would not have been successful at it in my early 20s.I wasn't the hard-core academic type."
Why PCOM? Like Bajor, about 6 percent of the students are over 30. Faculty/student diversity was also a draw, as was osteopathy itself-"looking at a person as an individual rather than just a cluster of symptoms."
Financing: Bajor could have gone to medical school through the Navy but decided against it. She paid the $35,298 annual tuition for the first two years through a combination of savings, investment income, part-time work, and financial help from her family without borrowing money. She will owe $50,000 to $60,000 in loans when she graduates.
Regret: Age. "But my patients will get a better deal having me at 37 than at 27."
Balance the Family: Jenny DeMonte
In 1994, as editor of New Jersey Monthly, Jenny DeMonte started ranking the state's high schools to boost the magazine's relevance. Five years later, she was applying to grad school in education at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. "Without knowing it, I got lured into learning, writing, and talking about education. Being an outsider only gets you so far." She also wanted more time with her two school-age daughters. Now in her 40s, DeMonte is studying the effect of writing instruction on reading achievement in disadvantaged fourth graders.
Goal: A job with a Washington think tank or in academia. "I'm after working in a place where I can have access to some of the levers that will help improve teaching and learning."
Why Michigan? She's the daughter of alums, and the job market looked promising for her husband, Arthur.
Financing: The university pays her tuition and healthcare and an annual stipend of about $20,000. "We drive 10-year-old cars and think twice about big purchases."
Grad school perk: "I look at what goes on in my daughters' classrooms completely differently."
Regrets: None. "It's a real luxury to go to a first-rate university."
Career philosophy: "There's more to life than an extra couple of thousand dollars. Academics stick around for a long time."
Manage the Stress: Jon Jackson
"Don't do it." That's the advice Jon Jackson's friends gave him about law school. His jobs since college-business strategist at a consulting firm and cofounder of a real-estate management software company-made Jackson a more likely candidate for an M.B.A. But the more he dealt with lawyers ("although they gummed up the mix at every turn"), the more he was drawn to the field. He'll take the California bar exam this summer, then begin a one-year clerkship with a Ninth Circuit appellate judge in San Francisco
Goal: To love what he does and where he does it. He plans to accept an offer as a litigator specializing in intellectual property at one of the two Los Angeles law firms where he was a summer associate, in hopes of becoming a partner.
Education: B.S. in industrial engineering (Stanford, 1996).
Why UCLA? There was a $15,000 difference between New York University, where he considered going, and UCLA. L.A.'s weather sealed the deal.
Why now? After four years, the excitement of starting a new company had given way to routine.
Aha moment: A panel discussion during his first semester on landmark Supreme Court rulings. "Son of a gun!" he says. "Who'd have thought I'm actually interested in intellectual things?"
Financing: He's been a teaching assistant and had small scholarships to offset the $25,457 in-state tuition and $2,000 in monthly living expenses. He will owe $110,000 when he graduates. Starting salary at the law firm: about $135,000.
Regret: School is 3 miles from the beach. Jackson took up surfing this year and wishes he'd stressed less the first two years. "You come in more anxious than you need to be."
Advice: Treat school like a 9-to-5 job. So many fellow students "are banging their heads on a Sunday night," he says.
Have a Clear Goal: Michelle Jo-Arencivia
Michelle Jo-Arencivia, the daughter of Cuban exiles, dropped out of high school at 16 and worked as a receptionist. Then she wised up: She got her GED, put in three years in community college, quit her job, and graduated from Florida International University as a business major. After five years as a wine lobbyist (total package: $75,000), she enrolled in Thunderbird, a B-school in Arizona. Now 29, she'll get her M.B.A. this spring.
Goal: To be the first Latina CEO of a Fortune 1000 company.
Field that most interests her: Consumer products like beverages, cosmetics, and foods ("they're tangible").
Why Thunderbird? Its reputation and international focus. Jo-Arencivia has attended seminars in South Africa and Asia and spent a semester in the Czech Republic.
Aha moment: Reading I'd Like the World to Buy a Coke, the biography of Roberto Goizueta, the Cuban-born ex-CEO of Coca-Cola.
Financing: A merit scholarship and a domestic diversity grant from Thunderbird plus a William Randolph Hearst award pay half of the $34,950 annual tuition; she will owe $60,000 in college and grad school loans.
Advice for prospective M.B.A.'s: "Dream big."
Go After Fellowships: Roderick Jackson
Roderick Jackson grew up in Canton, Miss., where he took apart remote-control cars to learn what made them go fast. "I was actually being an engineer," he says. "I just didn't know it." A Georgia Institute of Technology grad, Jackson worked for auto parts manufacturer Delphi, studying nights toward his master's in mechanical engineering. In 2004, a professor urged him to go for his Ph.D.; he gave up a $60,000 salary plus the general contracting business he owned with his father and moved with his wife, Nadrienne, into a one-bedroom rental. Now 30, he is evaluating plastic solar cells as a solution to global energy needs.
Goal: Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. ("Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"), he plans to teach engineering to boost minority interest in the field.
Why now? "There's a significant difference in the financial standing of a full-time graduate student and a full-time professional. The worst thing would be to be 45 with kids."
Financing: Georgia Tech pays Jackson's $10,122 tuition and fees. He "diligently applied for fellowships" and got $26,000 from the Office of Naval Research. Nadrienne works full time as a teacher.
Advice to others: The key is to weather the first semester back in school. You have to constantly remember why you came.
Go With Your Instincts: Joe Wang
If not for a stint with the Peace Corps in Kirgizstan, Joe Wang, 25, says he'd probably be consulting at a New York bank. He was in the Kirgizian capital during the Tulip Revolution of 2005, and the violence has haunted him. But calmer moments in the Peace Corps "made me think how interesting the world outside of America is." The experience pushed him away from an M.B.A. and toward international relations. He's halfway through a two-year master of science in foreign service program at Georgetown University.
Goal: A career as a diplomat. "I want to help countries through the trouble spots in their history, affect foreign policy, and stabilize the world."
Aha moment: Wang got his B.A. in economics from the University of Connecticut in 2003. While working toward his master's in 2006, he thought: "'Why am I here?' I didn't want to be crunching numbers for the rest of my life."
Why Georgetown? "Connections are 40 percent of an international career," and Georgetown students are "the elite of their countries."
Financing: Although his parents will help with next year's tuition, Wang tackled the first year himself. He took out federal and private loans to pay the $52,495 tab for tuition ($31,512) and expenses.
Advice: "Join the Peace Corps." He wishes he'd stayed another year.
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