As finals start and the fall semester ends, some of you are likely to be contemplating graduate school, both because you’re interested in further study and because of the greater salary additional schooling can confer on you. If you are contemplating graduate school, there are some things you should know.
The first thing you should know is that graduate school represents a very different kind of education than your undergraduate experience.
Don’t expect being a graduate student to be like being an undergraduate; you’ll have more responsibilities, be expected to take on more work and expected to be self-directed in your studies. Your graduate application, writing samples, letter of intent and interview will reflect this.
You’re expected to include materials in your graduate application packet that are professionally prepared: no misspellings, no problems with focus, well-researched, clear and concise and demonstrates a clear knowledge of the field you’ll enter. The good news is that UNM actually has a service that can help you with the writing samples and help you prepare for interviews.
The second thing you should know is that you will need letters of recommendation in your courses. This means that a professor (preferably someone with tenure) with whom you have had a class has to have been impressed enough with your performance to recommend you for graduate school.
Because you need three for most applications, you’ll need to repeat that performance for at least three people. You can develop a working relationship with your professors this way, which can result in unique internship opportunities, letters of recommendation and a generally better education.
Most individual professors will let you know if they are willing to engage you in that fashion through their demeanor toward you.
Look for professors who are willing to talk to you about the material and seem enthusiastic about your work or projects. Make sure to demonstrate to them that you have good command of the material for the class you have with them.
It’s considered polite to allow the professors to get to know your performance with the material before asking them to essentially stake their professional reputation on your academic potential.
The third thing you should know is that the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) is unlike tests you may have taken as an undergraduate. I talk to people on occasion who assume that the GRE is going to be like a regular class test and don’t study for it or take advantage of the free versions of the test online. If you happen to be exceptionally well-prepared as an undergraduate student, you might be able to get away with this, but it’s a foolish risk.
The GRE comes in two basic categories: the general exam, which is everything you learned as an undergraduate in core and some non-core courses, and subject exams, which are much more focused and much more difficult. Don’t make the mistake of not taking this test seriously — it’s designed to weed out students who aren’t very competent. High GRE scores can potentially get you scholarship money from the institution you wish to attend and can be the difference between acceptance or rejection.
The fourth thing you should know is that wherever you study, you have to have professors available who share your interests; go to the website for the school, find the department you’re interested in and find the publication lists of the professors. Read their publications and find out who you’re potentially working with.
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It’s taken for granted that you will share those interests because you chose to apply to that school, and it’s worth finding out who your bosses will be for the two to five years you’ll be attending that school.
Another thing you should do, if you can, is tour the campus and see if you can talk to the graduate students already attending the school away from their professors. They can tell you very quickly whether you’ll be miserable or happy at the school. Just don’t ask in front of the professors.
It’s important to consider, too, that graduate school can be three or more times as expensive as an undergraduate education.
Scholarships are your friend, and the better your contacts with professors can be and the better your application is, the more likely you are to be directed toward that money.
Be sure you are able to afford it; you’ll be working a full-time job (40 hours a week) by attending graduate school. It may not be possible for you to work another job and go to school. Be sure you have a plan to afford it.
Good luck.
