Frequently Asked Questions About Graduate School
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How do I decide if graduate school is right for me? [Top of Page]
Well thought-out career plan - Ideally, graduate school is the result of sorting through your passions, the requirements of the field you hope to enter, and analyzing your personal values, interests, and abilities.
Passion - If you have a passion to study a particular subject area, graduate school gives you the opportunity to go into much more depth in a specialized area. You will often have the opportunity to conduct research, teach others, and focus on topics of interest to you. By nature, graduate programs are more specialized than undergraduate education.
Credentials/Certification - If your field requires graduate level certification or credentials, then the decision is clear. You must complete a graduate program to be qualified in this area. Be sure to adequately research the career area you are considering.
Money - If the salary level in this field is much higher for people who have completed a graduate degree, you may opt to complete a master’s or doctoral program because you want the higher salary.
Postponement - If you’re trying to delay entering the world of work, graduate school probably isn’t the best option because graduate admissions faculty are looking for criteria similar to employers and you will be entering a very specialized world. If you don’t know what you want to do when you grow up, graduate school may not be the best way to help you decide because it is very demanding. Getting into a program that isn’t a good fit for you can be very costly for you and the program in term of emotional exhaustion, money, time, and energy investment. There are many successful people who have chosen graduate school for these reasons and still become happy, successful professionals, but it is not advised to plan for graduate school based on the criteria of indecision.
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How do I search for a graduate program? [Top of Page]
- Poll professors about graduate programs. Faculty are your best resources.
- Talk to currently enrolled students and alumni of programs.
- Visit the Career Center. Talk to advisors who have access to information about various graduate programs. They offer workshops on preparing for grad school and can help you through the application process.
- Use The Peterson's Guide to Graduate and Professional Programs, a comprehensive guide to all such programs in the United States. The guide includes basic information about the university, the faculty in each program, and, most importantly, contact information. A copy of Peterson’s Guide can be found in the Career Center, McHenry library or on-line.
- Compare graduate schools to one another based on criteria that are important to you. PhDs.org is great webpage that lets you enter in the criteria that is most important to you (i.e. research opportunities, campus size, faculty reputation, etc.) to find the graduate program that best fits you.
- Look in specialty guides. A number of guides can be found in the Career Resource Library.
- Academic journals: The faculty of the top programs are generating articles. Find out where the authors of articles in these journals teach.
- Practicing professionals: Where did alumni go to graduate school? How were their experiences? Use the Career Advice Network (CAN) to start making contacts in your field. Set up information interviews and ask these people questions, which will assist you in making an informed decision.
- Professional associations. They frequently publish guides to graduate programs or have grad school information and guides on their web sites. One source: http://www.galenet.com/servlet/AU
- Target the subject area and degree (Masters vs. PhD). Start with a pool of 20 or so and winnow down to 6-10 to apply.
- When narrowed to top 6-10, visit departmental web site and identify faculty at each of the schools with whose research area you have an affinity. Write to two or three faculty asking for clarification of the program, comment on something they have written, propose an area for further study. Name your current or previous research advisor/supervisor. Donald Asher’s Law: Don’t write or contact anyone whose work you haven’t read.
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What are the differences between a Master's Degree and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Phd)? [Top of Page]
A Master’s Degree usually takes one to three years to complete. It may be a thesis or non-thesis option.
A PhD takes an average of four to 7 years to complete. A thesis is almost always required. Some programs admit you directly into a PhD program from a Bachelor’s degree and some programs require admission into a Master’s Program and then consider you for admission to the PhD program.
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What do I include in my graduate admission essay? [Top of Page]
An admissions committee is evaluating your writing ability, your knowledge of the field, your experience in the field, and your sincerity. They are also evaluating whether you are someone that has interpersonal skills and will fit into their group. Having your statement reviewed by faculty at your current school may be very helpful.
- Make a strong opening statement about your interest in this area.
- Write most heavily about your academic preparation and what you want to study.
- Professionally describe your undergraduate research and name your advisor or supervisor.
- Prove your capacity to perform at the graduate level by discussing such things as the difficulty of your undergraduate curriculum and your research accomplishments.
- State why you want to study at that particular program.
- Include a statement of vision about your future.
- Answer specific questions required by each school.
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What are the criteria for getting into graduate school? [Top of Page]
The first two criteria are your undergraduate grades and standardized test scores. Secondly, your graduate admissions essay and recommendations bring in the more subjective factors.
If there are mitigating circumstances that have had a bearing on your grades, you may briefly write about that in your admissions essay. You should limit it to one or two sentences. The circumstances must be resolved or it becomes a liability rather than an explanation. Examples of these issues might be family traumas, health problems, or finding the right area of study in college.
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When should I take the GRE? Can I retake it? [Top of Page]
If you plan attending graduate school immediately after graduation, take the exam the summer between your junior and senior year. That allows you to study during your junior year, study more intensely after school is out without the distractions of school. Studying 1-2 hours/day for a month should prepare you well for the exam. If you do not achieve the score that you want, you may retake the exam; however, each school treats multiple scores differently. Some programs may use the highest score and others may average scores.
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How can I obtain financial support for graduate school? [Top of Page]
Many programs offer various forms of financial support with their offer of admission. You should ask about financial support when you contact each program.
Types of Financial Assistance
- Teaching Assistantship – Funding from teaching a course for undergraduates. Usually funded by the department offering the course.
- Research Assistantship – Funding for doing research. Sources often come from grants written by major professor.
- Fellowships – May come from external sources or from the institution. More prestigious than teaching assistantships or research assistantships, but may take longer to complete degree because of less contact with major professor.
- Waivers – Many universities offer some kind of fee waiver to attract graduate students.
- Grants – Usually comes from external sources.
- Loans – Must be paid back, but often at a low interest rate.
How to Find Financial Assistance
- Ask each institution to which you are applying about its own financial assistance options including institution-based grants.
- Check with all associations related to your chosen field of study to see if they offer assistance for graduate/professional study.
- Find out if your employer helps employees with graduate/professional study.
- Thoroughly research books that list diverse sources of funding. You can find copies of these books in the Career Center Library.
Apply for external sources using these web references
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What should I ask when visiting a graduate program? [Top of Page]
Make appointments to meet with faculty in the prospective department. Some schools may be able to pay your travel expenses. Questions you may want to include are:
- What do you teach here?
- What is your attrition rate?
- What is your placement record/rate?
- How reliable is the financial support?
- What is the average time to complete the course work, research, degree?
- What are the ethnic and gender ratios?
- May I talk with some current graduate students?
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What should I consider when requesting letters of recommendation?
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- Generally, graduate programs require three letters of recommendation.
- Make requests courteously. You may want to set up a counseling session first to find out if that person feels that they can write a strong recommendation for you.
- Choose faculty who can speak about your academic ability as a student. When the program has a strong research emphasis, a letter from someone who has supervised you in a research setting is good.
- Provide faculty with a copy of your transcript and statement of purpose.
- Allow ample time for them to complete your letter.
- Send a thank you note.
- Let your recommenders know when you are accepted into a program.
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What do I do if I don't get in? [Top of Page]
- Apply to more “safe” schools.
- Apply earlier.
- Get an intermediate degree.
- Get an internship or other short-term professional experience in field.
- Get a full-time job in the field.
- Go to summer school at the school that seems the best fit.
- Go to one class at a time as a post-baccalaureate and then reapply.
- Visit and “wow” them.
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