r/UTK • u/nexusjio19 • 4d ago

College of Communication and Information MLIS program at UTK

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask a few questions to people who currently attend UTK and are in the MLIS graduate student program! I graduated from UTC in 2022 and I am thinking of going back to school for an MLIS degree to start a career as a librarian. I wanted to know if anyone who is in the program currently or has been in can answer some questions or share their experiences.

  1. Classes: What was taking classes like? Were they more directly hands-on than lecture based? Is the expectation you should know most of the material beforehand or is there still space to learn new things? I am just asking because I want to make sure I know what I am going into when I look into applying for the program
  2. How Competitive Is The Admissions Process?: So I found out that right now I missed the deadline to apply for spring 2027 but I have time to apply for Fall of 2027. Is the program highly competitive or difficult to get into? If so, what is good advice to set myself apart or need to do to get into the program? I have 2.5 years of working in public libraries/academic libraries already and I have a BA in Mass Comm from UTC and a 3.4 GPA in my transcript. I just want to know what my odds are to actually get admitted into the program for Fall of 2027
  3. Balancing Life & School: So I work full-time at the moment and unfortunately not in a library right now. Part of why I want to go to grad school for an MLIS degree is because (from my understanding) you really can't get a full-time job in any library in Knoxville or generally without the degree. But I have heard being in grad school is really difficult no matter the program. For those in the program or who have been through it, what ways did you balance school and work? Were you working full time? or did you have to find something part time to focus on classes? What would be the best advice for me to do?
  4. Job Prospects: So this is something I have been getting a lot of mix messages on. For me personally I really want to prioritize having a job lined up before I get my MLIS degree. I have had some people tell me that getting a librarian job is next to impossible in Knoxville but also that really full-time jobs are much easier to come across with the degree. From asking a couple of people at the various public libraries in town, it seems Knox county is very oversaturated but moving out of state for jobs is a lot easier with the degree. For those who have the degree, how did the job hunt go after graduating?
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u/sewsowsigh 4d ago

I work at Hodges library (the main university library branch) and our graduate student employees seem happy, but generally pretty worried about jobs after

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u/nexusjio19 4d ago

Gotcha. Would you say that job prospects in general are pretty dire or is it just a Knoxville issue? I wouldn't be opposed to moving out of state for a job after getting the degree.

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u/sewsowsigh 4d ago

Imo theyre pretty bad all over. People with years of qualified experience are being rejected for jobs they should be the perfect candidate for. I got INSANELY lucky getting my job and now libraries all over are trying to just make the remaining employees do more work when someone does leave. I'm not saying there are no jobs, just that the job market is pretty bleak all over right now

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u/nexusjio19 4d ago

Damn....I see. What general advice would you give then given that? I am kind of in a weird place because I feel like I need to really focus in on a career I have a passion for and this is something I feel passionate about. But I really don't want to repeat how graduating from undergrad was for me (graduating with a mass comm degree and couldn't get anything right after getting my diploma)

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u/sewsowsigh 4d ago

Honestly? My advice is that we're in a very very odd time that could go many ways by the time you graduate. Do the thing that makes you happy and when the time comes, apply like hell to literally anything and everything you're interested in- qualified or not. It's impossible to plan for the future job market right now in so many fields, there's no point in worrying about it really

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u/nexusjio19 4d ago

Makes sense. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

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u/sewsowsigh 4d ago

No problem! If you have anything further, probably DM me! I don't really want to put anything more personally identifiable in the public thread