Written by Brandon Teola
My 7 Tips for Applying to Graduate School: From Someone Who Doesn’t Know if They Have Succeeded Yet Here are some suggestions I have for applying to graduate school! We all have different ways of processing things and organizing information, so take these as mere suggestions that may be helpful when thinking about applying to graduate school or when working on your applications. 1. Don’t Judge a Book (Program) by its Cover! One suggestion I have is not choosing a school to apply to based on its university name or program title. While they can certainly give you important information, it is important to explore the descriptions of the programs, learn about the faculty in the program, look at course descriptions, and examine the financial aid considerations of the program. All these elements are important, and looking into them is something I recommend doing when deciding on the programs you will be applying to. This connects with my next tip! 2. Research! Researching the programs the summer or academic year before you are considering applying to is something that was vital for me, and the information I got from researching these programs with a simple Google search provided me with information that I couldn’t get from the program’s main page. Learning about the campus culture, the surrounding location, job opportunities and career futures for alumni of the program, and even the food scene are all things that helped me make my decisions and narrow down the programs I was going to apply to. Doing all of this early on and getting a head-start on this pre-application work connects with my next tip! 3. Starting Everything Early! I recommend starting your applications early! Whether it means reaching out to prospective professors or supervisors for recommendation letters, drafting supplemental essays, or learning as much as you can about the program, all of these things can help make your process one that is less stressful and not reminiscent of the insanity that was college applications. It is difficult to manage this when you have friendships to prioritize, work to attend, classes to go to, and days where you want to take mental breaks. Thus, starting early and balancing it out in small parts will make the application process feel more manageable when you have so many other things that you are juggling in life! 4. Create a Spreadsheet! On that note, one piece of the process that you may want to start early on is a spreadsheet! There are many templates out there to help track your application progress that are open for you to use from blogs, YouTubers, etc. On my spreadsheet, I included four different tabs: 1) General (included all the information I found important like program name, faculty I am interested in working with, financial information, prompts for essays, etc.); 2) Application Portals (links to all of my application portals); 3) Recommendation Letters (keeping track the number and contact information for all of references and having the application deadlines so I knew the different dates that I could communicate to them); and 4) Application Checklist (a checklist for all of the supplemental materials I needed like resumes, supplemental essays, letters of recommendation, etc.). This spreadsheet worked for me, but this organization style may not work for everyone. There are other alternatives (planners, one big document, a mind map), but my main suggestion is to find a single space where you can track all the information you need in a medium that works for you! 5. Talk with Mentors/Professors! Talking with mentors, especially people who have gone through the graduate program application process before, is one suggestion I have when going through the application process. They can hopefully give you helpful advice, even if they completed the process when it was much different and less competitive. Talking with professors or supervisors who are specifically writing your letters of recommendation is a great way for them to get to know you as they prepare your letters! 6. Get Advice from Your Friends! Friends are also amazing people that you can turn to for advice or to rant about how stressed you are during this process. Even if your friends do not have experience with the graduate school application process or undergraduate college application process, they can still provide you with valuable advice. Your friends know you so well, so they can help you make decisions about choosing schools based on your dreams, desires, and dislikes. Just like how you may turn to your friends for any type of decision, you can turn to them when thinking about graduate school! Now here comes the most important tip! 7. Take Breaks! This is so important! Planning ahead definitely goes into this, too. Making sure to take time to rest, watch your favorite shows, spend time with friends, and eat some good food are all important things that I recommend you do during this process. It can be really stressful to think about and to plan, so taking time to take mental health breaks and prioritize your well-being is so important! I hope these tips were helpful! Look forward to more graduate school posts in the future!
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January 2024
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