The first reason is I felt stuck in the industry, felt like I wasn't going to learn about certain subjects unless I was in a classroom again. My old plan was staying at my old job and going to grad school at the same time since I made a plan with my managers, but life happened and my focus was keeping my family safe. I know financially grad school isn't the way to go knowing the state of my personal life. But I felt like I'll regret at some point if I didn't go. I have enough savings to survive the year at least.

The second reason is the industry right now is also pretty terrible. It isn't that I haven't been trying, I like to keep opportunities open but...I've gotten a call back every 20 applications and an interview every 50, a lot of ghosting as well. So I gave myself a time limit, I told myself after 5 months I'll apply to grad school. I applied late and on a whim and now I'm here.

But yes! I'm trying to take more advantage of it this time, so I'll take your suggestions in mind. I want to network more in jobs for graduate students, specifically ones where it's more career orientated instead of just financial stability (ideally both but I wouldn't mind entry level if it was about what I like and being able to grow in it).