Are you planning on attending graduate school? If you are I would like for you to join me in the journey to get there. Getting into grad school can be a daunting experience. First of all, grad school is much different than undergrad. During your undergrad years, you are just a number to the university. You are categorized as a A student or a C student. A student that gets $3,000 scholarship or no scholarships. While there are students that out shine their peers in undergrad, for the most part everyone is the same. You are just a small fish in a big sea.

Graduate school is a little different in that Universities expect you to produce. Depending on your field it could be research, inventions, or some form of service. In undergrad your going to school. In grad school you have a job. At least this is what I’m told.

The other day I attended a grad school info session, where an adviser gave some advice and also a student who has gone through the process of getting into Med school. Overall the session didn’t offer an exceptional amount of information; however, it was worth attending. The reason it was worth attending is that it got me thinking about what I need to be doing. I realized that I need to start working on preparing for grad school. If not I am going to be rushing the process, and risk needing to take a year off in between grad and undergrad. (For some people taking a break works. But it does not fit my goals.)

Tips / Realizations

It’s expensive - No, I am not talking about grad school.  I am talking about getting to grad school.  If you get into grad school chances are you can get most if not all of it paid for.  However, it’s not going to be cheap getting there.  Here are a few things you will need to spend money on: applications, tests (GRE, MCAT, LCAT, etc.), test preparation material, travel expenses for school visits, and the most costly, time.

Apply to Multiple Schools - It would be pretty stupid to only apply to one school.  What if you are rejected?  Then your stuck.  You don’t have a job and you’re not in school.  At that point, panic mode will be flipped on.  To avoid this we will apply to multiple schools.  Here are the numbers that I was told.  Send 3-4 applications to your dream schools.  (For me this would be MIT, California Berkeley, and Stanford).  Apply to 5-7 programs where you think you will be very competitive.  These are the programs you think you can realistically get into.  Then choose 2-3 programs that you would be angry if you get a denial letter.  (Note: I think it is a good idea to apply to “back-up” programs.  But if I had to resort to my least desired programs, I would probably consider getting a job in the related field and trying to build up my resume.  Then try to apply again after a 1-2 years.)

When do I Start? - That is a good question.  I am starting now, and I am currently finishing up my 2nd year and have 2 more years to go.  To me this feels like a great time to start.  I have plenty of time to get everything done.  This summer I can do all the necessary research.  For example I can have all of my schools I’d like to apply to picked out and have all the deadlines figured out.  Just doing those two things during the summer will reduce much of the stress.

Now should you start earlier?  You could, but I think your first two years of undergrad should be more focused on finding your place at your university, finalize your major, discover that one student organization that you are really going to work with, meet new people, meet professors, and just have fun.

As an example, just last year I was a history major.  I could have started searching for graduate programs then, but now I have changed my major to Math.  I would have wasted a lot of time if I had begun last year.  (However, I have heard that Medical School may require you to begin preparing a bit earlier.)

Make a Time Line - Making a time line is just a productivity skill.  But while preparing for graduate school it is extremely important.  If you just do a bit of research you will quickly find out why.  Every university/school/program wants to do it their own way.  For one program your application may need to be turned in by Dec 31 the year before you attend and for another it will need to be turned in by September the year before.  If you are trying to keep track of the deadlines of 10 schools, good luck doing it without a time line.  On the time line you should put a lot of details.  Not only put the date the application is due, put a date when it needs to be mailed so it gets there in plenty of time.  A great way to make this time line is by using Google Calendar.  You can have multiple calendars, use one color for each school or use one color for each type of process, like green for application deadlines and red for campus visits.

Let’s Have Fun

Getting to and going to Grad school is going to be a very exciting experience.  I really hope you join me on this adventure.  Send me a message by using the contact page, because I really want to hear your stories too.