By Adriana Ladera (other collaborators wanted!). Last updated 21 Dec. 2022.
The process for navigating graduate school applications is admittedly lengthy and daunting, and you may even be wondering whether grad school may even be right for you. You may find this page helpful for guidance on figuring out you research interests, choosing the right graduate schools and faculty mentors, and writing a grad school statement of purpose.
In your undergraduate years, your institution takes time to lay out the foundations of understanding for you to gain basic yet working knowledge for your field of interest. Whether that be computer science, mathematics, or psychology, the completion of your undergraduate degree– as well as any internships or research programs along the way– ensures that you are trained to have a general working proficiency in your chosen field of study. So why do people do graduate school?
Graduate school, especially for a research-based graduate degree, is for when you’ve completed your undergraduate studies and are now looking to specialize and hone the interests you’ve obtained in your undergraduate career. Completion of your graduate research-based degree ensures mastery and expertise of a concentration within your field of interest.
Often, graduate students choose a graduate degree in a field that is similar to or the same as their undergraduate field (i.e. a B.S. in Psychology to a Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis on developmental psychology, or a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering to a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in engineering management). However, this does not mean that you can’t venture outside of your undergraduate field when choosing an undergraduate program.
Many graduate students also pursue fields that are adjacent to their undergraduate degree, such as transitioning from a B.S. in Computer Science to a M.S./Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering, or a B.S. in Physics to a Ph.D. in Medical Physics. Alternatively, graduate students also pursue fields that are not entirely similar to their undergraduate degree, but fields in which they have conducted undergraduate research. You may find that your fellow friend in your Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ph.D. program completed their undergraduate studies in Mathematics, but did many research internships at the intersection of math and computation. Or your M.S. class mate in Chemical Engineering conducted materials and chemistry research as they were finishing their undergraduate degree in Physics.
TLDR: Graduate school is meant for you to specialize in your field of interest, but everyone’s path to graduate school is different. If you think graduate school may be for you, keep reading!
Like fingerprints, the research journey is very uniquely beautiful for every emerging scientist. Various faculty mentors, research advisors, labs, programs, and internships can inform and shape your research path.
In fact, the lab, program, or internship environment you’re in plays a significant role in the research process. This environment not only helps you to develop the technical and soft skills necessary to become a strong researcher, but can also help you discover new interests in the field and new potential abilities in yourself. You may find that during your time in your current group, a project may have sparked your interest in a new or adjacent avenue than that of your current group. Or you may find that after spending some time with your current group, their work doesn’t necessarily align with your research interests, and you would like to move on. All of these things are completely okay! Part of the research process is trial and error, and the goal of the research environments you move through is to help you discover what you like.
Graduate school is essentially a specialized extension of your research journey. By the time you’re applying to graduate programs, you’ve (hopefully) collected a variety or concentration of research experiences, presentations, or publications that you can put together to show graduate programs that you are (I) capable of leading and conducting research and (II) have a rough idea of the area you potentially want to specialize in and are ready to commit long-term to a program that hosts your interests. Once you have your interests down, you’re ready to start looking for graduate homes and faculty mentors.
When deciding which graduate schools may potentially be your new home, the first and most important factor is to make sure that the graduate schools you are interested in have programs that match your research interests. It can be very tempting to choose a graduate school simply because it’s an Ivy League or because overall you know that the school has a low acceptance rate, but many great programs may be a good fit for you regardless of the school name. Looking for a graduate school program should take higher priority in your decision checklist than the name or overall status of the graduate school itself.
The number of graduate schools may vary depending on financial availability and fee waivers. While applying to many graduate schools seems at first as though you may be opening more doors to a potential acceptance letter, this also tends to get very expensive very quickly (each graduate school application is usually $60 - $100!). Applying to many graduate schools may also become counterintuitive, as you’re diminishing the amount of time you can dedicate to each graduate school application and show each graduate program the best version of yourself on paper. Alternatively, applying to too few graduate programs runs the risk of a higher rate of rejection. It is great to be confident in your abilities, which should be the case when presenting yourself to the admissions committee, but too often many capable applicants get rejected simply because a program doesn’t have the space to accept all the wonderful applicants it receives. In situations like this, it’s good to have a set of backup programs to be able to choose from.
All this being said, a good rule to run by is to apply to around 6-8 graduate schools. While this number can easily add up to hundreds of dollars in application fees, please keep in mind that many graduate schools and graduate programs offer fee waivers, which can be granted upon provided financial need-based or participation-based (i.e., participating in organizations like NSBE or programs like REUs) credentials. Additionally, you can choose your graduate programs using the 2-2-2 rule, that is: at least 2 reach programs in which the program is very competitive but is known to be one of the best in the field, at least 2 match programs in which you are confident you may be accepted and still thrive in, and at least 2 safety programs in which you are almost certain you will be accepted and attend in the event that your reach and match programs are no longer options for you.
For each graduate program that you choose, try to find at least 2-3 professors, or faculty mentors, whose research matches your current research interests. You can do so by going through the website of each program of interest to you, then locating the website of the faculty mentor whose key words on the departmental website match your research interests. Once you’ve located their website, skim through their featured projects and a list of their publications if available. Key things to look out for are the date of publications, the type of research they put out, as well as the current size of the group. This kind of information can tell you whether or not to pursue this faculty mentor on your graduate application.
The kind of research produced by the professor of interest is a story that can be told by the professor as well as the students listed on the professor’s site. Searching into the current students’ profiles can add an additional perspective into the lab of your faculty mentor of interest. By looking at current students’ project involvements, a variety in research topics suggests that your professor of interest is eclectic, and is willing to host several projects. A cohesive project involvement suggests that your professor likes to specialize on a few select topics of interest. Additionally, when observing the co-author list of publications, if you find a lot of overlap between students’ names, this suggests that the lab is very collaborative.
If the publications for the type of research you are interested in are a bit dated (e.g., if you’re interested in condensed matter physics, but most of the work your faculty mentor of interest has put out in this field doesn’t have any publications past 2009), then, chances are, your faculty mentor no longer does work in this field. Even moreso, if their most recent work was published 6 years ago and they don’t have a list of their current students, your faculty mentor of interest may not be hosting students in their lab anymore and may have moved on to pursue something else in their career. On the other hand, if you notice that your potential faculty mentor is constantly putting out new work and always looking for new collaborators, then it might be a good time to consider them on your application!
Reaching out to potential faculty mentors can be a bit tricky. Faculty members are very busy, so it might be hard to get a hold of your potential faculty mentor to ask them if they are taking students. Still, if you feel that it may be beneficial to you, it doesn’t hurt to email a potential advisor and ask them questions. Alternatively, you can also reach out to some of the current graduate students to ask them about their experience in the lab of your potential advisor. Other questions to ask yourself when looking for a potential faculty mentor are: Are they a hands-on professor? How often do we have group meetings? When contacting faculty and current graduate students, remember to please be mindful of their schedule, and thank them for their time if they respond to and meet with you.
Every researcher has a different learning style, so understanding this kind of information about your potential faculty mentor and potential graduate home can help you decide whether or not you think you would fit into the lab environment and the program. Remember, you will be working in this lab environment for around 2-6 years, so make sure it’s one where you’ll enjoy what you’re doing!
The graduate statement of purpose (SOP) is a narrative form that accompanies your application. It makes your application more than a list of just your experience and accomplishments, and conveys to your potential advisor and department why you feel that you belong in their program. With your research interests in mind, the SOP should clearly communicate a match between your research and that of your potential advisors and programs. It showcases your research experience, academic background, achievements, strengths, match with the program, and future goals.
Your experiences contextualize your passion and research interests to the admissions office. For research projects or internships, describe your involvement, future work, its importance in your area of study, as well as skills that you developed during this experience. Think about choosing experiences that showcase your research abilities. Be sure to highlight any awards, publications, conferences, or other recognitions that arose from this experience. For extracurricular involvements, put emphasis on your leadership and collaborative abilities. How did your extracurricular activities impact your community? How well did you work with others?
The next thing to do is demonstrate your match to your program of interest. From the program website, make sure that your research interests are contained within the main research areas in the program, and make sure that you can find 2-4 faculty members whose research interests match your own. It may also be helpful to browse the motivations of interest for faculty members and their students as well as their publications or presentations.
Additionally, you can mention your goals post-grad school. Would you like to be a professor, work in the industry, or become a research scientist? How do you envision your research ambitions contributing to your research area? Are there any involvements you envision working with or developing for your communities? A discussion of your future goals can help the admissions committee visualize your potential trajectory in STEM.