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starting my graduate school search, the National Research Council rankings (which come out every decade) were a bit outdated.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.  

The Campus Visit: Six Tips

1. Dress Appropriately.  Guys - wear a dry cleaned shirt and a pair of ironed khakis.  Ladies - look professional.  If you have tattoos and piercing that you can easily cover - it might be a smart idea to cover them up.  One of us has a couple of tattoos - and they fit in just fine in the humanities - but at conferences and interviews we typically cover them up.  

2. Be ready to speak cordially about the other programs to which you've been admitted.  If you've been admitted to Harvard to work with Prof. Famous Scholar don't be afraid to tell your potential advisor at Yale if the subject comes up.  You never know when you'll hear, "Oh, I worked with Famous Scholar on a book some years ago - here are my thoughts . . ." This could lead to an incredibly useful conversation.

3. Be honest about the status of your other applications.  Most of us applied to a lot of programs and were admitted to a handful of them.  Rejection is a part of the process.  I can't repeat this enough - there is no such thing as a safety school for many graduate programs.  It is more about "fit" than your 4.0 GPA and perfect GRE scores.  Your potential advisor likes your writing sample - really wants you in the program and has some sway over the admissions committee - you're into our program.  If nobody cares about your research topic, good luck - even if you graduated from the University of Chicago with a 4.0 and have numerous publications.  A gracious way to say this would be, "I applied to seven schools, but have only had a chance to visit four - and so far I've been admitted to . . ." 

4. Research the department/program website before visiting. Who are the major scholars working in the department you'll be visiting.  Try to get some idea of who the scholars outside of your specific field are - but don't stress over memorizing names.  

5. Take a look at some maps of the area. One of us had an experience where we were taken out to eat by a group of graduate students just a couple of blocks away from campus - but became so engrossed in conversation, we had no idea how to get back to our hotel.  This isn't a huge deal, but take a quick look at a map before you visit.  If the program is in a cool region, schedule a bit of extra time to travel around if you can. 

6. Don't just speak with faculty, try to speak with a couple of graduate students.  Go out for coffee with a few graduate students and let them dish about the program.  Tell them about your interests and ask them what they are working on - pretend to be interested, even if you're not. Ask them about funding in the department and at the school itself.  Ask about how well the faculty get along.  Where do they live in the area?  

Acing the Graduate Admissions Interview

Tip #1 - Dress like a graduate student.  This sounds a bit superficial and silly, but it is important. If you show up to your interview wearing a baseball hat, ripped up jeans and a backpack - you probably won't be taken very seriously.  Wear a shoulder bag or carry a briefcase.  If you're a woman, wear nice pants and a professional shirt.  For guys, wear khakis and a pressed shirt (by that I mean recently dry cleaned fellas).  Cover up easily concealable tattoos.  

Tip #2 - Be professional, yet also enthusiastic and friendly. Don't, under any circumstances, be condescending to anyone.  If you meet with other graduate students, be friendly, and try to mimic their behavior.  If you've been invited with them out to dinner at the end of the day and they get a beer or glass of wine, that is the signal that it's alright for you to do the same.  Depending on the graduate student and advisor, we often have the ear of the faculty and are asked for our opinion on students or potential faculty.  So be nice and professional, but try not to come off as overly serious.  Ask other students and faculty about their current research and ask a friendly follow up question.  

Tip #3 - Listen.  Obviously, you want to impress whomever you meet with at Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Chicago or whatever - but make sure you listen to what they tell you about the program.  You'll want as much information as possible if you are asked to chose between more than one program.  

Tip #4 - Be ready with a few basic questions.   Nearly every interview comes to a conclusion with, "So, do you have any questions for us?"  Be ready with a few basic questions for your audience.  If you are speaking to a group of other grad students - go for the quality of life questions - "Are graduate students here happy?" or "So where do most grad students find housing?  Where do you guys live?".  With a group of faculty, you might ask basic questions about the program or "Would it be possible to speak to a couple of current graduate students?" Either way, just be ready for this question.  

Tip #5 - Prepare a 3/4 sentence description of what interests you, but be prepared to talk about it on a deeper level.  Graduate admissions committees are typically made up of faculty from a number of different subfields.  If you are put in a situation where you are meeting with someone in your general field, but in a different subfield, you'll want to provide a basic description of what you're interested in studying while in graduate school - but don't wax on for days about your topic.  Instead, save that for the people you will meet with in your specific subfield.  Often, academics ask other scholars about their research just to be friendly and make conversation - not because they are really interested in your topic.  Be polite, explain what direction you are hoping to go with your topic, but don't over do it when in mixed company.

Quick Tips: GRE

Between the two of us one did very well on the GRE and the other did . . . well, let's just remember that at least one of us did quite well.  The GRE, or Graduate Record Examination, is a standardized test that a large number of graduate programs use as a criteria for admission.  

Learn from both our success and our failure by following these tips.  

Tip 1: Don't let the GRE take away from other, significant application building experiences - but spend some time studying.  In other words, if you have to choose between an extra opportunity to work in a lab or taking a GRE course, go with the lab experience.  Most graduate programs will care much more about a unique experience than a GRE score that nearly any intelligent person can replicate.

Tip 2: Take it early.  Or take it late.  Depends on your schedule.  Think about when the added burden of taking a timed exam will add the least amount of stress in your life.  All things being equal, however, we'd suggest taking it early because you can always take it again.

Tip 3: Study.  Buy a book or take a class.  Classes are more time consuming and cost more money, but they absolutely will help your score.  If you have the dedication to buy a book, brush up on your math and memorize some vocabulary words on your own - then take that route instead.  

Tip 4: Take practice exams.  Lots of them.  The best way to learn how to take the GRE is to practice.  Take a practice exam when you sign up for the exam (the GRE website gives you access to several) and take one later after you've spent some time studying.

Tip 5: Finally, on the day of the exam, don't psych yourself out.  Be sure to take your time and get the first few questions of each section correct, and from there - simply relax and do your best.

Pondering Grad School?

Thinking about going to graduate school?  At least one faculty member wants you to think again.  

Questions to Ponder - Quality of Life

Part of the benefit of running an anonymous blog is that we can give potential grad students advice that others might normally be embarrassed to mention.  One piece of advice I wish someone had mentioned to me would be to consider the quality of life of graduate students attending the institutions where you are considering applying.  

Ask yourself, will I be able to keep my sanity for the next several years on my life in the geographic locations of the schools where I am applying?  

Typically, most academic advisors will encourage you to consider only issues related to "the life of the mind".  In other words, will the program be able to do for you intellectually what you need to become a high quality scholar.  And while you'll be giving up a large chunk of your life to your graduate program - you will have some free time.  Many potential graduate fail to consider beforehand that they will, in fact, be spending some of their time doing something outside of school.  Potential students should be able to enjoy the area around where they go to school. 

When you visit a potential graduate program, be sure to talk to graduate students away from faculty about what their life is like at their school.  Do they enjoy the other graduate students? What do they do when they aren't working?  What is the weather like during other times of year? 

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Filling out Graduate School Applications

In this *very* brief post, I hope to give you some tips for filling out graduate school applications. 

Tip #1 - Ask your friend, advisor, parent, sister, and whoever else is willing, to double check your materials for typos and errors.  A silly typo or mistake probably won't eliminate you from contention, but you want to do what it takes to look professional and put together.  But don't let anyone write your application for you.  If your family is anything like mine, they will have a lot of experience applying for undergraduate programs, but won't have a whole lot of experience applying to graduate school.  

Tip #2 - A Statement of Purpose is NOT a Personal Statement.  Graduate school applications are different from applications for undergraduate schools.  A graduate program committee really doesn't give a shit about your sob story about losing a pinky finger shortly after your family came to the United States.  They don't care about your battle to lose weight and what it taught you about the meaning of life.  Unless you're applying to a program related to saving the whales - they don't really give a crap about your quest to save whales last summer in the Pacific Northwest.  What they care about are your research interests and goals.  Why have you chosen this program?  Kisseyface University has an outstanding group of scholars whose research interests coincide with yours.  Explain in some detail what you're interested in and how it relates to their work.  

Tip #3 - Do your best on the GRE.  Take a class if you need to.  At the very least, purchase a study book and take practice tests.  The GRE is weighted differently by different fields and programs.  But nearly across the board, GRE scores are used when weighing applications for university wide fellowships.  How else are committees supposed to weigh applications from different departments and fields?  Nearly every field (not including professional programs and medical schools of course) utilizes the GRE in admissions, so university administrations often find themselves using the standardized test to determine who should win competitive fellowships.   

Tip #4 - Be humble and modest.  For every graduate student admitted to certain programs, there are as many as 14 capable students who get turned down.  Odds are that you will get rejected at one or more programs to which you apply.  Don't refer to a school or program as a "safety".  

Tip #5 - Talk to other people you may know who have either attended graduate school or those who are applying about their experiences.   

Contacting Potential Programs and Advisors

Once you've narrowed down your list of potential schools, you will eventually want to consider contacting at least one faculty member at each school.  The best way to do this is through a simple e-mail describing your academic interests and your intention to apply to their program.  I sent a few e-mails to faculty at each of the seven schools I applied to - and even sent a couple of e-mails to faculty at other schools where I chose not to apply.  The latter group of faculty actually advised me not to apply to their programs - given the nature of the faculty politics and an honest description of how their interests didn't really match up to mine.  Keep in mind that while being advised not to apply to a school you otherwise like may be frustrating, it will save you both time and money in the long run.  

Also keep in mind that applying for graduate school is different than applying for undergraduate programs.  Graduate programs in the humanities and the sciences are often looking more at your potential "fit" than your GPA, GRE scores, and overall background.  The graduate admissions committee will ask - is the applicant hoping to study something that we're also interested in?  Do they meet the minimum qualifications for our program?  Do they have any publications or research experience that makes them stand out?  

Obviously, when slogging through (often) hundreds of applications for a few number of slots, graduate admissions committees will have to take a hard look at the entirety of your application.  But one thing that can help you stand out is a pre-existing relationship with the faculty you are interested in working with.  This, however, is far from a guarantee that you'll get in to your favorite program.

Once you've decided who you want to write to at each school, craft an e-mail with your academic interests and reasons for applying to the program.  Have your parents read this, have your friends read this, have your friend's friend read this - avoid any silly mistakes or typos. Then send the e-mail off and wait for a reply. 

When you hear back from potential faculty advisors at your list of schools - consider a few things.  First, what is the tone of the response.  Do they sound as though they are interested? Uninterested?  

I applied to two of the top five programs in my field.  The faculty of one of the programs responded back to e-mails quickly and professionally.  Their responses showed interests in my potential research and they were even quite friendly - written in an overall positive tone.  The second program responded to e-mails as though their keyboards were stuck in molasses.  They were far less friendly and appeared generally uninterested.  This caused me to switch the two programs on my own personal list of schools.  

To conclude, don't be afraid to contact potential advisors at the schools that you're interested in applying to.  Be polite, craft an e-mail that avoids silly mistakes, and read between the lines a bit in their responses.  

Narrowing Down Your List of Graduate Schools

In our last post, we discussed putting together a large master list of potential graduate schools. My first list included about 24 schools and a variety of programs that overlapped with my interests.  Of these I would eventually apply to 7 and be admitted to 4.  But how did I narrow the list down to only seven schools?  

My first step was to hit Google.  I spent a lot of time looking up each program that interested me. My top concerns for entering a doctoral program with the hopes of securing an academic position in the future were ranking and prestige of the program, funding, and high quality faculty.  In particular I wanted to find a list of faculty where more than one overlapped with my areas of interest.  I was concerned about the horror stories I had heard where people were admitted to work with Famed Brilliant Dude, Ph.D. and he turned out to be a complete wreck.  Working with several faculty while in graduate school is a reality for most of us and I wanted a broad network of support.  Looking back, I am really happy that I took this kind of approach.  

This combination of factors brought the list down to about 14.  My next move, probably the one that I can only really share because this an anonymous blog, was to cross a few off the list due to being in an undesirable location.  Intellectually, some of these places were reasonable fits, but I simply had no desire to move to a location I knew that I would hate for 6-8 years.  This brought my list down to about 10 schools within two related disciplines.  It is hard to ignore if the perfect school for you intellectually is in an undesirable location, but it is something to consider - after all, the reality of moving to this place to start your new life in graduate school will set in at some point.  Don't you want to be excited about that move rather than ambivalent or apprehensive?  

The next step was the most important.  I looked at the faculty listings again and I e-mailed two or three faculty at each institution.  The subsequent responses brought my list down to a manageable number - 7 schools.  I will expand on this particular process in my next post. 

Looking for the Perfect Graduate Program Part I

I realized fairly early on in my undergraduate education that I had an interest in attending graduate school.  The lifestyle of the academy appealed to me.  Despite the low pay, constant stress, and sometimes agonizing pretentiousness, I felt as though I could thrive.  I knew, however, that I would only thrive under the right circumstances.  When I first began looking at graduate programs in the humanities, I was given a lot of advice.  Some of this advice was sound and some of it, well, not so much.  

The best advice I received early on was fairly simple.  If you're still in an undergraduate program, work on getting the best possible grades you can muster in your remaining courses.  Write a strong senior thesis or craft a shorter writing sample for publication in a small journal or magazine related to your field.  Also, continue to cultivate strong relationships with a handful of faculty members by visiting them in office hours.  Study for and take the standardized test required for admission to most of the programs in your field (GRE, MCAT, GMAT or LSAT depending on your field).  

When you visit the aforementioned faculty in their office hours explain to them your major interests and reasons for applying to graduate school.  Pick their brain on who the big players in the field are, where do they teach, where did they attend graduate school?  Do all the best people in your field teach at Virginia?  Minnesota?  Berkeley?  Harvard?  Check out U.S. News and World Report's Best Graduate Schools issue and try to get a field for the important schools in your field.  Many scholars will disagree with how US News ranks graduate programs, but it offers a nice starting point.  Start compiling a list with brief notes describing why they made it on the list (for example, Harvard - ranked no. 2 overall in general field, no. 4 in my proposed area, and has faculty John Doe and Jane Brilliant working on history of women living in urban high rises).  

Build up this list to the point where it is nearly unwieldy.  In conversations I had with faculty at my undergraduate institution and others in the field whom I had met, I came up with a list of about 25-30 schools.  

In our next post, I will talk about paring down that list to a more reasonable list of schools to apply.