I cannot believe I've already been at Penn State for four years. Time has simultaneously flown and dragged on forever, if that makes any sense at all. But I still remember how hellish this time of year was back in my senior year at Stockton. In Fall 2013, you would have found me worrying not only about passing my last undergrad inorganic chemistry class but about my grad school applications.
Some of y'all might be feeling just as sick to your stomach as I was back then. I know a former undergrad researcher from the Perry lab is - he's been emailing with me back and forth for a few months now with lots of really great questions. With his permission in hand, I'll be sharing his (slightly abbreviated) questions and my answers with you today.
Please keep in mind that my answers will be biased simply because 1) my opinions and life situation will probably be different from other's and 2) they will all be geared towards STEM fields, particularly biological sciences. There are TONS of other resources and blogs that discuss grad school applications [here are just a few for your consideration: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. And please, if you have questions of your own that weren't answered here or simply need some outside person to vent to about this whole process, feel free to contact me by clicking on the little icons at the very top of the page. I am here for you :)
Q “When you were deciding on grad schools, how did you even find what schools were decent? I went on some website that ranked a bunch of graduate programs in the fields I am interested in, but after I went on those schools' websites to see what they were like... I still had a list of over 30 different schools. I guess my ultimate question is: what sort of criteria did you use when you were figuring out where you actually wanted to apply?” | A I only applied to R1 institutions (AKA schools that are cranking out a lot of research and have a reputation for being able to get the money to do so). My undergrad advisor also suggested I apply to "big name places". He made the case that people only care about your most recent degree - it wouldn't matter that I went to a puny state school in NJ if I went to a recognizable name for my Ph.D. Dan [my partner] also suggests looking for programs where primary publishers in your field either went or worked. Big alumni bases are good for applying for jobs afterwards too. |