Quick tips for researching grad schools
Now that we are in September a lot of you are researching grad programs and are trying to find out as much as you can about the programs you are interested in applying to. One place to start is to search for the “Office of Graduate Studies” and the university that you are interested in. This will usually be the one stop shop for all of the graduate programs and degrees that a university offers, and you should be able to browse through the different areas.
Even if you think you know what degree you are interested in it is a good idea to browse these sites and see what else the university might offer. For first-gen students we often don’t have a ton of exposure to the different types of degrees, programs or departments that might be available, so taking some time to check out what is offered, what those programs are, and what would be required is a good way to help you familiarize yourself.
Second, for any program that you are interested in, you should look through that department for something called a “graduate handbook.” The graduate handbook will spell out exactly what you need to do to earn a degree from that department. You can look through to see what they expect you to do each semester, classes and other requirements. You can also take a look at the courses you will need to take in the Fall and then look at the class schedule for the current Fall semester to get a decent sense of what days and times the course will be. This can be a huge help if you are going to need to plan child care or work around classes.
Lastly, if you have question or need information the best way to get it is to call the department directly. Most programs will have someone called a “graduate coordinator” who acts as the administrative expert for a particular program. That person, or the chair of the program, should be your point of contact for any questions you have. Calling, or going in person will be your best bet to get a response, emails are easy to overlook and can easily without a response, but calls or visits are much harder to ignore!
Don’t forget, that while getting information from the website is fine, it’s always possible that the site can have conflicting, confusing, or even wrong information. For many departments we professors or our administrative staff have to update the site ourselves, which can usually be a low priority task, meaning info could be outdated. If something is confusing, ask a person, don’t rely on the website.
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