Career
Center Resources
Once you’ve made the decision to go to graduate school, you
need to start the process of researching schools and determining
which program is best for you. Fortunately, you have experience
in this area – you picked Dickinson College in much the same
way. Graduate school selection is slightly different. The qualities
of college related to campus life (dormitories, cafeteria food,
Greek life, clubs, sports teams, etc.) are no longer relevant to
your selection process. Your main concerns for graduate and professional
schools should be: After considering these factors, then think about the living situation,
university life, the extra-curricular organization, etc. Graduate
school demands a great deal of time, attention and money: place
your resources in the investment that will benefit you the most. Begin your search by coming to the Career Center and checking the
Peterson’s guides for Graduate and Professional programs.
These books contain information on every graduate and professional
program in the United States. You can find out application deadlines,
degrees offered, number of faculty, number of students, funding
possibilities, areas of research, average scores on the standardized
tests, tuition, and program requirements. From this information, begin to hone your choices by talking with
your advisor or a member of the Career Center staff about which
schools have the strongest reputation in your area of interest.
If you choose to check the U.S. News and World Report graduate school
reviews, remember that all rankings are subjective and do not necessarily
reflect all schools equally. Shorten your list and break your choices
into the reach schools, medium schools, and safety schools groups.
Dickinson College students tend to apply to 3-5 programs, but there
is no magic number. Next, check the schools’ websites for the latest information
about the programs in which you are interested. Find out the department
contacts for the graduate program, read about the most recent projects
of the current students, get a flavor of the graduate culture. If
everything that you have seen thus far looks good, request an application
and get ready to write your personal statement. If you are accepted at four our of five schools to which you applied,
and were wait-listed at one, what should you do next? Go back to
your list of criteria that you considered when you first selected
the schools: reputation, financial aid, nature of the program, faculty,
etc. Obviously, you will want to pick the school that falls into
your highest category (i.e. safety, good, or reach). But what if
you have more than one school in the highest category? Reflect on
the intangibles – location, the “feel” of the
department, the environment created by your future colleagues, cost
of living, etc. Visit the campuses and spend a day checking out
the courses and the interaction between the faculty and the graduate
students. Get an idea of which place makes you feel most comfortable
and excited to begin your studies. Most schools accept more students than they anticipate coming,
so a wait-list is only activated if an exceptionally large number
of students decide not to attend. Graduate admissions offices usually
anticipate the number of students needed to fill a class very accurately.
Some schools have two or more wait-lists which they prioritize by
various admissions criteria. A school can wait until the last possible
moment to contact a wait-list candidate (i.e. August or September)
to make an offer and may never send a student notice that he or
she will not be accepted. A spot on a wait-list provides you with
no assurances and should not be counted on for admission. Most schools have a certain grace period (typically until the middle
of April) that will allow you time to confirm your place in their
class. You can use this time to contact the other schools on your
list and find out what the time frame is for their admissions committee.
While this inquiry appears harmless, make sure that you to do not
pester the secretary or admissions officer – one call should
be sufficient. A few schools are quite adamant about their deadlines
and do not like to receive a call relating to acceptance notifications;
check your literature carefully for these warnings. If you find out that the decisions will take longer than the time
allotted to you by the other school, research the school’s
policy on reserving a seat in the class. Law schools and medical
schools allow students to submit a non-refundable deposit to hold
a seat in the class without obligating them to attend. This deposit
typically increases over the summer from hundreds to thousands of
dollars (thus providing greater and greater financial incentive
to stay with them), but the literature should give you an absolute
date on which you are committed to attend. Graduate programs in the traditional academic subjects are different,
and may or may not have similar programs since an offer of admission
to one of these programs often involves funding (schools that offer
fellowships and assistantships may need to know se schools and their
appropriate departments for the specific acceptance deadlines. You can reapply for the following year. Ask the graduate admissions
representative what you could do to make your application stronger.
Find a job in the field or a related field and work for a year or
two to build your practical experience. Take additional courses
that would bolster your academic preparation (make sure that you
take these classes at a well-respected institution). Retake the
GRE, LSAT, MCAT, or GMAT – but only if you think that the
first score is truly not representative of your abilities. Remember,
the scores are most often averaged for multiple exams. Finally,
rethink your choice of schools and see if you cannot find a new
set that better fits your abilities and expectations. Too often
students limit themselves when they make their list of possible
universities. Keep an open mind, expand your search, but remember
the importance of a quality education and a school’s reputation.How to Select a Graduate Program
Career Center Resources:
How to choose among options
What about wait-lists?
What if you are accepted by one school, but have not heard from
a school you would rather attend?
What if you are not accepted into any of the schools to which
you applied?
