MyGraduateSchool.com

Feature Article for May 2009

Pitfalls to Avoid on the Way to Graduate School

Posted May 6th, 2009

Why go to graduate school? It is a simple question, and yet there are many factors to consider when attempting to answer it. Many students are quick to answer in the affirmative when asked whether graduate school is in their future plans. But when asked why, most will have a hard time coming up with even one good reason. The first mistake to avoid on the way to graduate school is a poorly justified motivation for wanting to get there in the first place.

Know what you want and why

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The purpose behind graduate studies in most fields is to turn promising students into skilled specialists who are well suited to a specific range of careers. Accordingly, the first important thing to consider is whether a Ph.D. or some other advanced degree will help you achieve your long-term goals. Many students expect to figure this out later, either during or after graduate school. You need to work this out before you apply to graduate school, because the success of your applications will depend partly on your ability to explain why a particular advanced degree is needed for your specific career aspirations.

How much success you have in getting into a graduate or professional program will depend to a large extent on whether you pick the right programs. The programs you apply to must match your specific objectives in terms of the kinds of training you want and the type of career you are hoping to have afterward. Do not underestimate the importance of this match.

For each program on your list of considerations, ask yourself how completing it would help get you from where you are now to where you want to be in several years? To be able to answer sensibly, you must first have a fairly clear idea of what you want. If you do not have at least a general idea of what you want to do with your life, career counselling may be of help. Whatever you do to help you figure out your future career, do not just assume that graduate school is the obvious option.

Avoid being influenced by the marketing image of schools or their websites

The Internet will be your main source of information about different programs. There are thousands of graduate programs with informative websites. You can find links to all sorts of information about a program, its faculty and students, and about the university, the city, and more. Importantly, you will find the information you need to determine the kinds of specialized training available, and the names of faculty members and their research interests—these are your potential graduate advisors and the subject areas in which you might be able to do research for your Ph.D.

Exploring different graduate schools on the Internet can be an exciting process of discovery, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy it. But keep in mind that websites are a form of advertising for colleges and universities. All of them are designed to attract students to their programs, so they intentionally paint a rosy picture of the program, the university, the campus, the city, and so on. Be careful not to be lured by superficial appearances and first impressions. A lot of marketing efforts go into some of those websites. Remember, universities today are like big businesses.

Do not follow the herd

Getting into any graduate program should be viewed as a competition between you and many other applicants – perhaps dozens or even hundreds of others – only a small fraction of whom will be successful. To improve your chances of being one of the successful applicants, you should not approach the graduate-school application process the same way that most students do. Take the extra steps that most students will overlook, such as contacting prospective graduate advisors in each of the programs that interests you, prior to applying to those programs.

Not worried because you have excellent grades? That’s great, but you still need other things going for you if you want to get into graduate school. Successful applicants usually do several things that the unsuccessful applicants don’t do, and they often avoid making some of the same mistakes. Most students submit all of the required components of their application (i.e., transcripts, standardized test scores, a personal statement, letters of recommendation, application fees, etc.) and then sit back and hope for the best. The passive approach almost always ends in failure.

Think beyond your grades… way beyond

The most common misconception is that outstanding grades are all one needs to get into graduate school. Many students mistakenly assume that admission to graduate school depends on surpassing some minimum grade-point requirement. The idea makes a lot of sense – after all, it is the main qualification for admission to a bachelors-degree program at most colleges or universities. Truth is, the criteria for getting into graduate school are numerous and varied.

Grades definitely are important, but so are many other factors. Admission to graduate school is not an entitlement that comes with even the best grade point average (GPA). Success in graduate school requires much more than just academic ability, and the people who decide who gets in and who gets rejected are well aware of this fact. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss all the factors that determine the success or failure of a graduate school applicant, but many of them are perceived character attributes of the applicant – such as maturity, ability to work with others, independence, and many others.

Whether your application is successful often depends on whether you are perceived to be a potential asset to the graduate advisor (the professor who supervises your Ph.D. work). Most (but not all) professors learn through experience that they prefer working with certain types of people, and prefer to avoid certain other types of people at all costs! In most graduate programs, if the professor you want to have as a graduate advisor does not want you as his or her student, then you will not be accepted into the program. It is as simple as that. Professors are not forced to work with any student they do not wish to work with, so you need to convince them that they would be better off with you than with one of the other applicants.

The letters of recommendation you get to support your applications to graduate school will be the main source of information about you as a person. Your grades say nothing about the kind of person you are, at least not along the dimensions that matter. Are there two or three professors at your school who know you well enough that they could convince someone else that you have the right stuff?

Even if you have an outstanding GPA and the highest grades in your graduating class, you cannot afford to be complacent or overconfident in your approach to graduate school application. Your outstanding grades are no guarantee that you will be accepted into the graduate program of your choice...or even into any graduate program at all!

Start preparing early

One of the most common mistakes that students make is to wait too long to start preparing for their graduate-school applications. The result is that several compromises are made along the way, and a rushed job to make an application deadline often ends up in rejection, a missed opportunity, and a blow to one’s self-esteem.

A great deal of research is needed to find the right programs in light of your specific interests or objectives, so you need to get busy on this at least a couple of months before application deadlines. Do not underestimate the amount of time involved in properly filling out application forms (several hours) and writing a good personal statement (several days), or the typical delay between when transcripts or standardized test scores are requested and when they actually arrive at their destinations (several weeks). Give professors at least a few weeks notice prior to when you will need a letter of recommendation.

Many programs stick to their deadlines and will not consider an application if any of the required components are missing or late. It is your responsibility to make sure that all of your application materials have arrived and are in your file by the deadline. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that because a document has been sent, it has also been received.

Organization is the key to dealing with multiple items for multiple application packages. Use a checklist to keep track of those things you have taken care of for each application, and which things remain to be dealt with. You need to follow up at each end, first to make sure that materials have been sent, and later to make sure they have been received.

There are several advantages to beating the application deadline by a couple of weeks: It may allow you enough time to respond to unexpected problems that occur close to the deadline, such as unfulfilled requests for transcripts, test scores, or letters of recommendation. Getting your application in a couple of weeks before the deadline will also indicate that you are well-organized and enthusiastic about the program. Your application may receive a closer evaluation if the admissions committee begins reviewing files before the application deadline.

Financial support for graduate studies is another area where many students fail to act soon enough and miss opportunities as a result. You should act immediately to find out about scholarships and fellowships that you are eligible to apply for. Be aware that in most cases the deadline for application for scholarships and fellowships comes long before deadlines for application to graduate schools. In other words, if you're applying to enter graduate program next September, then you'd better find out what you need to know about scholarships and fellowships by this September.

The take-home message:

Being organized, starting early and being certain of your reasons for going to graduate school in the first place will be invaluable to you as you get through the application process. Going the extra mile and avoiding the pitfalls and mistakes that your competitors will likely be making will get you into the graduate program of your choice.

This article was provided by Dave G. Mumby, Ph.D. Author of the book:

For more information about applying to graduate or professional school, check out the eBook

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