Introduction

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Frequently Asked Questions

Handbook

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Suggestions

Suggestions

From the workshop: Choosing the Graduate School That is Right for You

We are aware that good students usually have choices to make among several high quality graduate programs that are available throughout the country. Despite this richness in opportunities, many students still express confusion about how to select a graduate program, while at the same time regarding this decision as one of the most important moments in their lives. In light of its importance, we urge you not to evaluate programs passively: take a proactive posture as you look at different graduate opportunities. Here are a few tips that might be helpful.

First, you must keep in mind that every program you enter will require two major decisions from you. The first is the short-term decision about entering the program itself and the second one, usually later, is deciding on your thesis advisor with whom you will work for several years on a research project. So you need to evaluate every program, not just for its educational and environmental content, but for the composition of its faculty; further, you need to apply criteria to faculty, just as you do to programs.

Does the program provide stipend support for your entire graduate career? Does the course work meet your educational needs? Are the contemporary students in the program satisfied with their education? What suggestions do they have for its improvement? Is the program addressing any of its perceived problems?

If you are among those rare individuals who know exactly what you want to do, then choose a program in which that area is well represented. Inquire about the program and count the numbers of faculty with whom you could work. If you are even more specialized, and you have already identified a specific individual with whom you would like to work, you should contact that person, visit with him/her and try to obtain a commitment from them about reserving a place in their laboratory for you.

If you haven't made up your mind about a specific subject area, but you have a bias towards a general topic and probably have eliminated at least some, you fall into a category more common than you realize. If you cannot narrow the field to a few people, the best approach for you is to choose a program which is broad enough to introduce you to an appreciable spectrum of your chosen field of interest (after all, you might change your mind). Always evaluate a program for what it offers for the entire duration of your graduate career.

Make sure that you visit the program and talk to any faculty with whom you share a common interest. The best program will pay your expenses (or at least partial) for the visit, particularly if you are among their top candidates. The best gauge of evaluating the short term impact of the program is to talk to the students. The good programs show off their students, knowing that a satisfied student is the best possible advertisement for any program.

How good is the program? What percent of its faculty have funding from the National Institute of Health or the National Science Foundation?

What kind of a graduate program do you need? Do you prefer a strong but nurturing program in which the faculty are supportive of students, or are your prepared to take on a less supportive, more militant training environment in which only the strong survive? Talking with the students in the program will leave no doubt in your mind as to where the program falls along that continuum.

You must also evaluate the people, in addition to your programs. Has your potential mentor had graduate students before? If so, what is their assessment of him/her? Does he/she have funding from an external source? Does he/she publish regularly and in the best journals? Does the lab have too many students and postdoctoral fellows? Where have previous students gone and what are they doing now? How effective has the lab been in placing students into good laboratories for postdoctoral fellowships?

We believe that your assessment of our program will place it among the best and we invite you to inquire further about the application procedure.