So, You’ve decided to apply to grad school.
You’re ready to take a giant leap forward, invest in your future, pursue your interests in-depth, network, get academic recognition in your field, and make your mark on the world.
Feeling excited? Perfect.
But here comes the tricky part: applying for the schools!
Let’s take a closer look at some of the graduate school application mistakes you should avoid:
Do not wait until the last minute
I can not stress this point enough. Looking back at all the graduate school application mistakes I made during my application process; this is the biggest one.
You should be aware of a fundamental fact at least one year before you start applying for universities.
And that is, the deadlines for applications, course requirements for programs, interview processes, and even the number of references required for applying are subject to change.
The application process is not near static. It is a fully dynamic process. So you better ready to deal with those changes. In order to do that, you should prepare yourself beforehand. However, I learned this the hard way.
I spent one year after completing my undergraduate degree working as a research engineer. It was always too hard to find time for my application process within this period. That eventually led me to do all the required exams for applications (GRE, IELTS) near the end of the year.
When I was looking for graduate courses, some deadlines were from January 15 to January 30. But when I was checking the same courses after a couple of months, the deadlines were shifted to earlier dates. (Some of them were shifted to December). I later realized, most of these universities consider applications on a rolling basis. Which means they evaluate the applications as they come.
So, suppose they find a satisfactory amount of applications before the deadline. In that case, they shift the deadlines to early dates so that they close the application evaluating process earlier and start application interviews.
So, it would be a better idea to set yourself a personal deadline, preferably two to three months before the deadlines of the courses you are planning to apply.
Think like an employee, not a student
Treat a graduate school application like you would treat an entry-level job application. A graduate application and a job application are extremely similar because you’re expected to have certain backgrounds and skills in both cases.
If an employer is hiring you for a job, they don’t expect you to know everything out of the gate because you are straight out of school.
The experiences you have is doubtful to relate to the job you’re about to do.
But you can demonstrate your ability to learn by having experiences that showcase your ability to do professional-level work in or around the area you want to study.
For example, if you want to study computer science, you don’t have to be a computer science undergraduate.
You can have a math degree, or you can have a chemistry degree, or even you can have a business degree.
But in all of these cases, it’s very helpful for you if you have a programming background. It doesn’t matter what computer language you are familiar with.
You can learn all of these things online nowadays, so no need to worry much about “Exact experiences”; it’s the “relevant experiences” that matter, and relevant experience can come in many forms.
In fact, some jobs let you build the experiences you need to go into a specific graduate program.
So don’t think it’s limited to your job description or a course credential that you have.
You can pick these skills on your own time being self-taught and present those in the interview.
The same rules apply when applying for a graduate degree program.
Do not randomly apply to graduate programs
Do your research first!
It’s completely unhelpful if you just apply to the program and you hope to be competitive to get it.
You’re always going to lose out to someone applying with a specific degree, with a specific lab and with a specific project in mind.
Especially in research-based programs, it’s often helpful to contact the professors you want to work in to make sure that your skills and interests align with the interests and goals of their labs.
And if they do, then you can start applying, and you can notify them that you’re applying.
Then they’ll go and vouch for you and look for your application.
Among the thousands of applications they get, you’re more likely to get noticed like this than just by having a high GPA or a good experience on your resume.
Because you’ve already spoken to an insider, and you’ve gotten to know how they work, and they’ve gotten to know you.
So they’re much more likely to want to work with you at the end of the day.
This is the most common way of getting into a graduate program, especially if you apply for USA or Canada as an international graduate student.
If your previous institution is not found on the topmost institutions on the world rankings, applying directly and being accepted to a program is tricky for obvious reasons.
But, it would be best if you never let this fact hold you back. In a situation like this, you can “Brand yourself” by emailing prospective professors.
If you have done enough in your field of study to be qualified for a graduate program, do not let any external factors let you down.
But, always make sure to do your research first.
It’s okay for you to take your time – Do not rush
When we’re going through our undergraduate degrees, most of us don’t think about what we will do next.
You’ll think about grad school, but you might feel that you dont have the research experience for applying.
That’s okay if you finish your degree and it takes you a year or two to get the background experiences necessary to get into the graduate program of your choice.
Most students work in a lab (Full time or part-time) to get some knowledge in the areas of study they want to get a graduate degree with.
Spending a couple of years like this will be worth it because it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
You’ve spent 15 to 16 years of your life already in school, so another couple of years isn’t harming you.
Sometimes, a short term job could attain the experiences you need to get into a good graduate program.
So, it’s always okay to take your time. Everyone’s journey is different.
Do not forget to plan your personal life upfront
If you’re applying to a graduate program after being out of school for a few years, you can run into some issues that you will have to look out for and adjust over time.
The elephant in the room is the loss of income or the drop in income that most people experience when they go into graduate programs.
First, if you’re in a funded program, you’re in luck!
Most probably, Your income is likely to go down than you would have earned when you are working full-time.
Also, if you’re not in a funded graduate program, not only are you not earning, you’re also paying money to the university to take these courses.
So both of these situations can place a heavy financial burden on you.
You have to consider whether the cost is worth the reward that will come when you finish the graduate program.
Not only that, your work schedule will probably change too.
You will work long hours and sometimes weekends when things are not going your way, which will happen quite frequently!
These new habit additions to your life would cause issues between you and your partner or between you and your family.
So make sure that you are prepared for what’s coming when you go into graduate school and what your partner may be facing.
One of the best ways to address this is to have a clearly defined goal that you are trying to get out of your graduate program.
That will keep you focused and on track, and it can help explain why you’re willing to do so much today to get more out of it tomorrow.
Final words
Applying to graduate school is not the easiest task out there. As we all know, prevention is always better than cure! So, it would be best if you thought things through before you start applying for graduate programs.
Having clearly defined goals before starting your application process will keep you away from these graduate school application mistakes.
As always, be proactive, be kind and try to help one another!
Images courtesy : People vector created by vectorjuice – www.freepik.com , People photo created by cookie_studio – www.freepik.com
