How to Choose the Right Grad Schools
There have been many psychological studies performed in recent decades to suggest that humans are subject to decision paralysis. Too much choice, and sometimes we can’t make a choice because we feel as though we will miss out regardless of the choice we make. By minimizing choices, you can, with high confidence, make decisions you believe are more likely to be right. Here are some things to think about when choosing the right grad schools in which to apply.
Choosing the right programs is essential when trying to maximize your success both in admissions and afterward. You stand the greatest chance of admission and success at a university where you and the admissions committee agree on your keen fit for the program. Of course, this assumes that you meet their other requirements as well.
A Framework
The best way to identify programs of interest is by simply doing the research. Read about them! However, there are just too many programs to search through even one department’s research at all of them. There has to be some structure to this process.
Here’s what you can do:
- Find a list of grad programs for a given field
I suggest the rank-ordered list by U.S. News and World Report.
- Identify schools that meet your requirements
These requirements could be certain names, rank ranges, geographical locations, etc. Institution, rank, and location will be the featured elements of the list. You will have to dig much deeper to identify particular GRE/GPA requirements if that information is provided at all. Use these as a guide to come up with a list of 10-20 schools.
- Visit the department websites of those programs
Skim through the research summaries of the faculty in your desired subfield. Take a deeper dive by looking at their lab page if something piques your interest. By reading about their research, you will get a much better grip on what excites you and what does not. This provides a surprising amount of direction and really helps you narrow down what you want to work on. It is imperative that you identify at least 3 faculty members whose work excites you. If you cannot find at least three, find another program.
- Refine your list
Using steps 1-3, narrow down your list to at least six programs that you are strongly considering applying to. These should span a good range of perceived likelihood of acceptance. Some should be reach schools, some should be targets, some should be safeties. Although, I’m not sure there are such things as “safeties” when applying to grad school.
As you move through the application process, you should revisit the department sites of your list and continue researching others. You’ll be surprised at what you miss! Continue to update your list as new information becomes available, i.e. official test scores and such. - Apply
The applications typically go live around August-September. Take your time with the essays. You can reference The Elements to Get into Grad School for a more detailed description of the application.
Major Keys
There are two primary keys to choose the right grad schools in which to apply:
- knowing yourself, your current abilities, and your potential
- knowing what general topic you want to study
As I mention in The Elements to Get into Grad School, you will figure out point 2 via your experiences and coursework.
You should apply to a minimum of six programs:
- one or two reach
- two to four targets
- one or two safeties
Six is enough to have more than one possibility in each classification. I recommend more than six if you have the time, money, and will power. It is not advisable to apply to more reach programs than target and safety ones combined. I made this mistake when applying to undergrad and received far more rejections than acceptances!
1. Know Your Abilities and Potential
In my opinion, the principal element of how to choose the right grad schools is to know yourself. You know what your grades are, what your experiences are, and what accolades you have. If you don’t know what your test scores are, that is a vital stat to discover. You can get an idea by taking the GRE practice test that you receive when you register. Once you have all of this information, you can begin researching programs via steps 1-3 of the framework above.
Examine the admissions statistics pages if you can find them. Many do not post this information, so third parties supply it. The admissions statistics page should give you a general idea if the school is more of a reach or more of a target/safety. For instance, if you have a 3.2 GPA and a composite GRE score of 305, you probably don’t want to apply only to programs with an average GPA of 3.8 and GRE scores of 320+ unless you have profound circumstances you can annunciate to the admissions committees. Try to limit wishful thinking and be realistic. You can save yourself a lot of time and money and end up with more admissions than rejections. By all means, shoot high because you never know what could happen. Shoot for the stars so even if you miss you may land on a planet.
2. Know Your Area of Interest
If you don’t know what general area you want to study, you probably have no business applying to graduate school yet. It doesn’t need to be ultra-specific yet, but you should know if you want to pursue, for example, organic synthesis or biochemistry.
Grad school is a 2-6 year time investment. To succeed, you must work on something that genuinely interests you. The reason I say it is essential to know what area you want to study is that it will make it much easier for you to sift through the faculty research of each university in which you are interested. For example, I knew that I wanted to study the chemistry of life with some utilization of organic synthesis in conjunction with biochemistry. This prompted me to look for professors who used organic chemistry to study life. I found them in the chemical biology (or related) subfield without having to read through the research of other subfields or departments (I did anyway out of interest).
Knowing your intended field will save you a lot of time and effort trying to determine what you are interested in. As previously mentioned, by reading through faculty research you will get a much better grip on what excites you and what does not to a finer degree. To set yourself apart, reach out to the professors you admire. Introduce yourself and mention why you admire their work and are qualified to work with them.
Minor Keys
Moreover, there are five minor elements that will help you choose the right grad schools. These stem from the first major key – knowing yourself.
1. Location of the school
Knowing where you want to be geographically could be a major factor in your success as a graduate student. If you are a big city person, you probably won’t be very happy in the mountains. Conversely, if you like nature and the wilderness, New York City may not be the best choice for you. It’s a similar situation when considering the climate.
2. Extracurriculars
All schools will have clubs, programs, events, and activities for students. Take the time to examine what opportunities a school has to offer. If you’re hoping to join a particular kind of club or organization and the school doesn’t have it, think twice about applying. You could always start your own! It’s important to have things to do outside of research that are meaningful to you.
3. Cost of living
You should factor in the cost of living at the location of your program. Cities are expensive. Especially San Francisco, New York, and Boston which have outrageously high costs of living. Generally speaking, the stipends (if applicable) correlate, and in some cases, universities subsidize housing at least partially. For Master’s programs, non-funded Ph.D.s, and professional schools, the cost of living will be even heftier of a consideration.
4. Cost of attendance
Many on-campus high-quality Ph.D. programs cover tuition and award a stipend. This tends to vary by field with natural science Ph.D. stipends often being considerably higher than social science Ph.D. stipends. The main point is tuition is mostly covered.
Granted this is true for Ph.Ds, for Master’s and professional programs, tuition is generally not covered and must be funded by other means. This means out of pocket, student loans, and external awards. These expenses will markedly add to the cost of living in any given area and must be considered carefully.
5. Cost of the applications
Not surprisingly, the applications for Ph.D. programs are expensive: $70-120 each. For this reason, you should try to secure a fee waiver for as many programs as you can. A select few are free like Georgia Tech’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Program. I applied to 11 schools and received fee waivers for three of them plus the free application to GA Tech. You can expect the application process for 6 schools including tests to cost you at least $900 assuming you secure no fee waivers. This assumes an average application cost of $90, taking the GRE once ($250), taking the subject test once ($150), and two additional score reports ($27 each).
Conclusion
There are a lot of options when choosing grad schools. To prevent decision paralysis, it is important to know yourself and your abilities and to know what it is you are interested in. Guided by these principles, factor in the location, cost of living, and cost of attendance when making your decisions. Applying to grad school is expensive and time-consuming. Give yourself the best chance of success! Apply where you are a great fit.