What about graduate school?

Black Collegian, Oct 1996 by Rovaris, Dereck J

By now you have heard quite a bit about life after college. You may even have planned for "the real world." However, if those plans do not include additional study, the real world is unlikely to be very kind. The current national climate is both demanding and restrictive, demanding more and more training where additional qualifications can be obtained, while simultaneously restricting access to this training. Budget cuts, removal of affirmative action plans, and an increase in the number of graduate and professional school applicants have made an even greater challenge, a challenge that you can handle, indeed one that you must handle.

Today, many students enter college with very clear plans for life after their undergraduate years. Some envision professional careers in business, medicine, or law. Others dream of careers in education, research, or service related fields, such as social work, psychology, and speech pathology. Still others will pursue a host of varied disciplines and professions. Today's equation for success requires that all of these people obtain training and education beyond a bachelor's degree, regardless of their post baccalaureate plans.

Often this training will occur in the highly structured arena of professional schools of business, medicine, law, and the like. However, for so many other students, their advanced training will be obtained in their respective graduate school programs. Graduate school is no longer just "a good idea." It is fast becoming an entry level requirement for many of the more desirable professional positions. Further, the critical shortage of African-Americans with advanced degrees, especially PhDs, requires an immediate remedy.

If you have decided to attend graduate school, you have chosen well. If you have not already done so, you should contact your favorite faculty member to discuss the graduate school process. It is not a process that can be taken lightly, and like anything else worth having, it requires a great deal of work. Nevertheless, it is not an impossible task, especially if you plan. Starting early is crucial, and consulting good resources is helpful. Several such resources include the following: Educational Testing Service's GRE/CGS Directory of Graduate Programs; the Council of Graduate School's Graduate School and You: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Student; and Daniel Cassidy's, The Graduate Scholarship Book. These are all quite good, but perhaps the most comprehensive source of graduate school opportunities are in the multivolume set of books commonly referred to as "The Peterson's Guides." Peterson's Guide to Graduate and Professional Programs can be found in most college library reference rooms. Using these materials will be invaluable.

Upon completing your initial investigation of graduate school opportunities, you may yet be confused about the application and admission process. Although the process includes an assortment of tasks, it is fairly standard from school to school. It does require diligence and dedication; therefore it cannot be approached cavilously. It also requires you to begin the process early! Do not procrastinate!

You should begin thinking about your graduate career as early as possible. It is not too early for freshmen or sophomores to start inquiring about options and planing. Successful graduate school applicants will often have participated in summer research internships and graduate recruitment fairs throughout their undergraduate careers. Wise students will begin the actual application process no later than one year before their expected date of graduate admission.

How Do You Apply?

Once you have decided to pursue graduate degree and have figured out which specific field you will study, the steps in the application process are as follows:

1. Create a list of potential schools. To maximize your opportunities, you will need to apply to several schools, or more. The more schools you apply to, the more chances you have for admission. The number of students applying to graduate school increases while the number of opportunities remains constant or slightly decreases. To be a successful applicant, you must apply early to a number of schools. By consulting the Peterson's Guides you will uncover a comprehensive listing of graduate opportunities in your respective area. The listings include descriptions of each discipline and their subfields. It will also include a wealth of data about the various institutions in those disciplines (location, entrance requirements, acceptance rates, tuition costs funding options, enrollment demographics, etc.). You should also refer to The Black Collegian to identify those schools actively recruiting students of color.

To create your list of schools you should first consider factors like quality of the program, strength of the university, reputation of faculty in your area, availability of funding, institutional support, and commitment to minority students. Other factors that may play a part include geographic region, size of enrollment, racial make-up of student body, community in which the school is located, and campus facilities and activities. After weighing these factors, you should compile a list of ten or more institutions.