This is what grad school looks like.

I definitely haven't had a walk-in-the-park semester in either of my master's programs, but since spring break, it's been baaad. And it's only going to get worse from here on out. Until May 13 at 3:30 p.m., that is, when I break free from my very last final -- biostats -- and it's finally summer!

(Well, until I get my wisdom teeth out, take four classes, intern fulltime and work halftime, etc. But I don't even want to think about that yet.)

I get a lot of questions from friends, family and blog readers about what exactly it looks like to go to school for public health and journalism. What do I do? What are classes like? What are assignments like?

Let me give you an idea, in the spirit of all heck breaking loose here.

Community Health Theory & Practice 2

Last semester, this was very much a behavioral theory class. Now, it's all about program planning and grant writing. I'm currently about nose-deep in an implementation plan, timeline and budget for the (fake) program I'm creating to reduce the rate of C-sections in a major local hospital system. One component is on the policy level: instating a rule that says no more elective C-sections. The other is a maternal education component that supplements traditional prenatal classes and gets women to attend. Eventually I'll turn all of my work into a grant proposal for the final project.

Program Evaluation

Focusing on a breast cancer education program for Somali women I worked alongside during my year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I just finished creating an evaluation plan for looking at how one of the main program components -- one-on-one home visits by community health workers -- is being implemented and whether things are happening as they're supposed to be. And now I'm working on an outcome evaluation plan that details how exactly I'm going to figure out whether the objectives of the program are being met (i.e., whether breast cancer knowledge is increasing). Next step: creating a mock report to disseminate my mock findings.

Biostatistical Methods 2

What is there to say about biostats? Well, I do a lot of math. I use the statistical software SAS until I'm about ready to punch the computer. I mostly compare groups to see whether they're different from one another and try to take the data I have and predict things I don't have. Simple linear regression? Multiple linear regression? Logistic regression? Got 'em covered. I just wrapped up a nine-page homework assignment and am gearing up for two more and a final.

Computer-Assisted Reporting on Health

Reporting as in news. I'm currently digging through the Internet in hopes of finding data sets about how far along women are when they're having their babies and how they're having them (C-sections? inductions?). I'll then take those puppies, throw them into Access and/or Excel and play with the numbers until I find an interesting trend or lead on a story. I'm working with a classmate on our final project about why women aren't carrying their babies to full term and how exactly they're getting around that. I have another number-crunching story due next week which I, um, may not have even thought about yet. Oops.

Star Tribune Practicum

I've talked about my health reporting at the local paper, and this is it. There aren't a lot of assignments for the class itself, but right now I'm wrapping up one of them: a critique of a major story or project the paper has undertaken (I chose one on organ donation) that includes interviews with the reporters and editors who worked on it. And I'm plugging away on my required journal, which I'll turn into a reflection paper at the end of the semester.

Finally, over spring break I took Designing and Conducting Focus Groups -- our final assignment (done!) was to write a few-minute introduction to a focus group and develop the questioning route that we would use. Mine was about what types and sources of prenatal education women receive. I guess there's a pregnancy/baby trend here in my work!

That's all! No sweat, huh?

What do you potential grad students think? Is this what you expected grad school to be like?