Program Rankings, how important are they for graduate school?

While waiting in line at a local pharmacy the other day, I picked up the latest U.S. News and World Report.  Thumbing through the pages, I turned to the rankings for my discipline and I was pleasantly surprised to see that my program had jumped up a notch in the rankings.  While the U.S. News and World Report rankings provided me with a nice starting point when looking for graduate schools, the only person who really cares that my program jumped one slot in the rankings is probably my mother.  That said, where your graduate program ranks for U.S. News and World Report and the United States National Research Council will likely have a legitimate impact on your career. 

When starting my graduate school search, the National Research Council rankings (which come out every decade) were a bit outdated.  That said, they provided a nice starting point, listing the top twenty-five programs in my field.  I then turned to U.S. News and World Report, which also ranks graduate programs (make sure to check when they were last rated, as many fields are not reassessed every year).  In that publication, my field had been ranked the previous year and the magazine broke down some detailed rankings by sub-field in my discipline.  As I've later learned, the rankings were far from perfect. Any ranking system which heavily weighs peer-perception of other programs can move slowly. Harvard may have been a great program in your field twenty years ago, and it may be that older faculty asked to rate other programs haven't noticed major changes in the department.  Upstart programs bringing in exciting young faculty and graduate students may be forced to wait several years before their position is accurately reflected in the rankings.  

While program rankings may be slow to catch up to reality - perception of how strong your program is matters in terms of winning extramural funding and applying for jobs once you've completed the program.  Brand names of elite institutions may not matter as much as they do for undergraduate programs, but they do matter when a job search committee is trying to justify a hire to a dean.  Graduates of Harvard may have an advantage here, even if the strongest faculty in your field are at Michigan State.  Deep in the recesses of my soul, I hate this sort of elitism, but it is to your benefit to recognize that it exists across many fields before choosing a graduate program.   

In sum, perception matters in terms of program ranking, but it isn't the end-all-be-all for graduate education.   Ask the graduate programs to which you are admitted for information about placement rates.  Where are people getting jobs?  Are people languishing for years on the job market before leaving the profession or the academy?  Or are they getting nice jobs right away?  Rankings can help you choose where to apply and help you choose where to attend graduate school, but remember they are but one of many factors in choosing a graduate program.  

"The Path of Least Resistance"

So here is the thing - when it comes to many of the problems you face in graduate school, the answer is often to take the path of least resistance.  

Choosing an advisor?  Well, figure out who wants to work with you.  Professor Bigshot may have a lot of connections, but if he isn't willing to take the time to read your chapters or get your letters of recommendation in on time, he won't be a whole lot of good to you.

Selecting what courses to take?  You can find numerous ways to challenge yourself in graduate school while maintaining some flexibility.  Join a journal reading group.  Join a workshop.  Go to talks in or out of your field.  You don't necessarily need to enroll in astrophysics 101 because it sounds interesting.  When the semester gets tough at the end of the term, you'll wish you had some flexible time in your schedule to give to your top priority. 

There are numerous ways in which a graduate student can apply this adage.  When you enter graduate school, the tendency is often to treat the workload much like you did when you were an undergrad.  Spend a couple of weeks/months feeling out the coursework before joining the Juggling Club.  If Professor Bigshot is a jerk to you now, he will probably be a jerk even after you've asked him to be your dissertation advisor.  Take the path of least resistance instead, surround yourself with supportive faculty and don't opt to take on anything you can't handle. 

Quick Tips: Your New Best Friend

So you've been accepted into a prestigious graduate school.  Who is the first friend you should be making once you arrive at your new program?  Your advisor?  Your roomie?  The professor who is your boss as a teachers assistant?  Nope.  Your new best friend is the department's Graduate Secretary.  Different departments give him or her different titles - but they greese the wheels in your department.  

Graduate Secretaries make sure forms get signed, they can put your interdepartmental application at the top or the bottom of the pile, and they can smile and be friendly enough to brigten your day - or they can rain on your little graduate school parade.  

When you arrive at your program, be sure to introduce yourself to the staff of the department.  Treat them with the same respect that you treat the faculty.  This is crucially important.  That can turn a form being two hours late from being a, "no problem, sweetie!" to a, "tough shit!" moment.  

Here is another quick tip: over the course of the next several years and months, the staff may offer hints that can help you and the department Physics, History, Anthropology or Sociology (or whatever else) Club make nice at the end of the year.  They all seem to like wine?  Wouldn't giving them a reasonably prived bottle for Christmas be a nice gesture?  They like flowers and all happen to be mothers or fathers?  Wouldn't a Mother's Day flower arrangement brighten the office.  Offer this suggestion to the Sociology Grad Student Club and see what they think.  

More important than the nice little gifts or gestures, just be polite, treat everyone with respect. You never know who you will need to call when you need a favor. 

Program or Professor?

This post on the Chronicle Forums got me thinking - when choosing a graduate program, is it better to go with the one faculty member that is the best fit, or to go with a program filled with faculty who are "near" fits? With option A - you may be considering working with a superstar. Option B (a school with a lot of interesting faculty) in a humanities program - gives you a bit of flexibility in choosing an advisor. 

Intellectually, you want to go to the program with the best advisor who will help guide your research.  Working with a superstar has the obvious benefits of letters of recommendation for fellowships and jobs in the future.  The cache of being affiliated with a superstar faculty may also help at conferences and other gatherings.  

In the real world, however, your one faculty mentor can turn out to be a huge pain.  They can leave the university for greener pastures at another department that swoops in and offers to double their salary.  They can show no interest in you once you arrive on campus.  Heck, they can get hit by a bus or start having serious health problems. Clearly, these aren't fun things to ponder, but they are the realities of working with and relying on others.  

Though your most important relationship in graduate school will be with your graduate advisor (and this is true in the sciences, social sciences and especially the humanities) you will have the opportunity to work with numerous other faculty in your time in graduate school. It is to your benefit to share some research interests with them as well.  

Let me give you a couple of examples.  The most obvious example is the simple fact that you will be asked to put together committees of faculty for your qualifying exams.  These faculty can behave professionally, explaining to you clearly what will be expected to you - or they can choose to be a thorn in your side for a year or half year.  They can tailor your reading lists to your interests or make you read arcane texts from the 1950s.  Before that, you will probably take a series of courses in your department.  Though you can typically take these courses from people outside of your research interests - you might as well take these classes with interesting people, right? 

Finally, you will be asked to put together a dissertation committee later in your career.  For our institution this consists of at least a couple of faculty in addition to your advisor.  

The point here is that there are a number of dangers on relying on just one faculty member in graduate school.  What if they go on sabbatical to Antarctica?  What if they get sick?  What if they retire?  The better option is to look for a program with a number of faculty who will work with you over the course of your time in graduate school.  If you can find a program with 3-4 people you'd like to work with instead of 1-2 - you're probably in a little bit better shape. 

What to do while waiting to hear back about graduate school applications

When I was waiting to hear back on my second round of graduate school applications, I spent a LOT of time thinking about the my personal top three programs.  All of these programs had something interesting to offer.  All of them had great faculty, better than average job prospects (which were still terrible in our field, but whatever), and they were all in what I considered to be desirable or interesting locations.  On top of that, they all had cache.  I had a big chip on my shoulder stemming back to my days as a middle school student, and dammit, I wanted to sound impressive at cocktail parties. 

I would ask dozens of hypotheticals in my head while waiting to hear back from grad schools. What if I got into my favorite program and my third favorite program - but got a better financial package from my third favorite school?  I asked my friends who knew nothing about the programs just for another opinion - "Where would you rather see me go?" 

What I didn't realize at the time, is that much of this thinking was simply wasted energy.  I should have just spent a bit more time studying the ins-and-outs of each program.  It turned out that I was admitted to two of my top three programs.  While I had a good experience talking with the faculty from one of those two programs - the faculty at the second school (which was initially my third overall choice) suddenly started blowing me away with phone calls and e-mails.  They were friendly, knowledgeable and did a great job selling me on the program.  

What I should have done while waiting on those applications is taken up a new hobby.  I should have played a few more rounds of golf or gone snowboarding.  I should have spent less time thinking about where I would end up until all of my cards were on the table.  

So - if you're reading this waiting to hear back on graduate school applications.  Maybe spend some time making a few files, filling each file with information about each program to which you applied.  Then go outside.  Go for a hike.  Spend some time at the gym.  Learn a new hobby. 

Don't get too caught up in worrying about hypotheticals.  Let the chips fall where they may and often the decision will essentially be made for you.  

Moving to Graduate School (Part II)

In our last post we offered some tips for moving your precious material goods across the country to a new graduate program.  In this brief post, I'd like to offer a few more tips for moving to a new town closer to where you live now.  

1. Even if you've been on campus before, it is worth your time to reacquaint yourself with your surroundings.  The school where we go now offers a nice guided tour on campus on iTunes.  You can download the tour and check out the features of the campus without having to sign up for a tour with a bunch of 18 year olds.  You can also simply stroll in to the admissions office and pick up a couple of maps.  

When applying to graduate schools, I applied to a few campuses that I had seen before, but didn't apply anywhere where I had received an official guided tour.  The iPod tour of my new campus (which I didn't take until my second year here) helped me learn more about campus lore, history, and taught me about a few interesting campus features I had no clue existed.  

2. Start looking for apartments EARLY.  Post an apartment wanted ad on craigslist a few months in advance and repost the ad every seven days.  When the time gets closer, start looking for housing through the apartment available section.  

3. Think about your living situation.  You might be living with a significant other or you might be looking for a roommate(s).  If you are looking for roomies, make sure that they understand that you may need long periods of peace and quite in your living space.  It is easier, in many ways, to live with other grad students who understand that you may have weird, inconsistent study hours. 

4. Live close to campus - but not too close to campus.  My first year here, I lived a bit too close to campus.  Close enough to hear my students partying, see their weekend antics and just generally feel like I was at work all the time.  I'm happy I moved a little ways away, where I can feel as though I am leaving work at the end of the day - even if I have to bring some of it home.

5. Enlist parents to help out - walk them around campus, but maybe hold off on taking them through the department for now.  

6. Meet up for coffee or beer (depending on the time of day) with people you know in the area. Facebook can be your best friend here, remember that annoying girl in high school that moved to the same town where your in grad school now?  If you can muster having one beer with her, she might tell you where some good spots are for dinner and show you around just a little.  And hey, she might actually be kinda cool now. 

7.  Read up on the program during your downtime.  Read and re-read the department website.

8. Take some time to mentally relax before you start your program.  My first few months in my new graduate program I felt like I was drinking through the fire-hose.  Take some time to ease your way in.  Stroll to the campus store and buy books early, set them up on your new bookshelf and look them over a bit.  Situate yourself on campus.  Practice your commute one day before you actually start your program.

Moving to Graduate School

The following tips aren't really intended to be academic.  Instead, we've tried to think of a couple of tips to help you move to a new city or town in preparation for graduate school. 

Starting a new graduate program isn't just a change in career and a new academic challenge - it can also result in a total lifestyle change. 

Some tips for moving to a program across the country:

1. Price shop for shipping large loads of stuff out.  If you're considering shipping your car and driving out - check out several companies before settling on one - we found a large difference between different companies offering to ship either large loads of stuff or your car.  If you do ship your car (usually via rail, for those who are curious - but there are services of people who will drive your car to your new location that are more expensive), make sure to fill up your car with stuff you'd like to ship out anyway.  This seems obvious, but in the crunch of preparing for grad school you might forget stuff like this.  Don't disregard the obvious, sometimes the US Postal Service offers the best deals for shipping.

2. Scout out entire neighborhoods on craigslist and by reading a local newspaper online.  You don't want to move into a place that it too terrifying or filled with crime - even on that grad school budget.  Make sure to ask more advanced graduate students where people in your program live and try to get acquainted with those areas as best you can.  

3.  Spend a fair amount of time looking at maps.  My first couple of weeks in graduate school - life was a blur because I was totally unfamiliar with the area.  In retrospect, I wish I had spent a little less time reading and re-reading my department's website and a little more time reading about my new surroundings.  I also wish I had simply spent a couple of hours studying a map of the new region and state.  

4. Think about your schedule for the first couple of days.  Are you going to go to Ikea?  Pier 1?  Target?  Where are these places located?  Can you print off some maps in advance?  Will you be setting up internet and phone service in your new apartment?  Can you call ahead to arrange an appointment?  Are you changing your drivers license?  How will you get to the DMV?  Be prepared because, as we mention above, those first couple of days will inevitably be a whirlwind.

Next time, we'll look at some ideas for moving to a new city near where you already live to start a graduate program.