Five Tips For Applying To Grad School
By Caroline Redmond
Applying to graduate school can be a confusing process and you might be struggling to figure out where to begin.
But don’t fret! Melissa Lyon, the Career Connections Center’s Assistant Director for Career and Professional Development, wants to give you these useful tips for applying to grad school to help you get started with the process!
1. Decide What Is Best For You
What do you want? Reflect on your purpose for going to graduate school, and what you need in a program to feel like it is a good fit. Is location important? Size of a cohort? Access to resources? Etc. Only pursue programs that will fit those values.
2. Do Your Research
Each program will be different, with different requirements. It’s up to you to know what each program is looking for and what documents are required, what tests to take, etc.
3. Stay Organized
Stay organized. Applying to grad school is like taking a whole other class- there are many deadlines and documents to keep track of. Don’t make it easy to be turned away from a program because you didn’t submit something on time!
4. Perfect your personal statement
Tailor your personal statement. Your personal statement should answer the question of why you will be a good fit for this program. It should reflect the research you’ve done on the institution. If there’s a specific question, make sure you answer it!
5. Ask questions
Talk to professors, current students, alumni of the program, people you know, etc. to learn more about the institution, the skills you need to be successful, and whether or not it will be a good fit. Don’t be afraid to ask for tips to applying to grad school!
Think you’re ready to start applying to grad school? Come out to the Career Connections Center’s Graduate and Professional Schools Fair at the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom on October 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to talk representatives from a wide variety of schools from law to medical school with everything in between! Can’t make it to the fair in person? There is also a virtual version of the fair!
For more information visit http://bit.ly/GAPFair