Career Services Student: What is Graduate School? - Student Affairs, University at Buffalo

What is Graduate School?

A graduate program involves specialized knowledge and concentrated study in one area. It is generally more focused to a specific area of interest and on acquiring specialized skills within the field in order to practice a profession or conduct advanced research. Graduate coursework and internships are components of the curriculum. The master's degree usually takes 1 or 2 years of study. A professional master's degree (i.e. education, engineering, business, or some area of professional activity) often involves some type or internship or fieldwork. A research master's degree may involve writing a thesis or taking a comprehensive examination.

At the doctoral level there are also professional degrees and research degrees. The most common professional degrees are M.D. for medical or the J.D. for law. The research doctoral degree (The Ph.D.) involves training in research, which provides the skill to discover new knowledge. This degree can provide you with a wide range of careers. The first years of your Ph.D. involves coursework, while the final component of this education usually involves original research and reporting on the research through a dissertation.

Additional Information:

Is Graduate/Professional School for me?
How do I select a program
The Funding
The Application Process and Standardized Testing
Personal Statements, Letters of Recommendation, and much more

Is Graduate/Professional School for Me?

If you enjoy reading, problem-solving, discovering new facts, and exploring new ideas, you should consider going to graduate school.
Graduate education gives you a chance to learn more about the things that interest you most and to develop your interests and skills into a full-time career.
A graduate degree can influence how fast and how far you can advance in your career: it can increase your personal worth both financially and intellectually.
LEADERSHIP - higher level positions and the decision making power most often go to people who have gone beyond undergraduate education.
If financing a graduate degree is a problem, consider that many graduate students cover part of their costs with grants, fellowships, or research positions. If you have to borrow money, it becomes an investment in your future income and intellectual level.

Reasons NOT to Go

To please someone else.
You have no idea about what to do or study.
You're secretly trying to avoid the job market.

SALARY INCREASE = ADVANCED DEGREE

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that annual income is strongly related to degree attainment.
Annual earnings of graduate degree-holders are 33% more then baccalaureate recipients:

How do I select a program?

Research graduate programs carefully to choose the one that will best suit your needs and talents. There are more than 1,800 institutions in the United States that offer graduate degrees and the variety of programs is enormous. Do not make the mistake of blindly choosing the best school you can get into. Finding the right fit is the most important factor. You need to talk with your professors, career counselors, advisors and alumni to help identify the graduate program and university/college that best suits you.

Things to consider when choosing a program (in no particular order):

Reputation
Geography
Cost/Funding
Faculty Research Areas
Interest, Abilities, Values
Size of Institution/Program
Library Holdings
Research Facilities
Placement Rates
Visit the School and Community
Meet with Faculty, Staff and Current Graduate Students

Identify the Graduate Schools that interest you by using:

The Funding

How to pay for graduate school is a major question for most people. There are three basic ways to finance your graduate education depending upon the type of program in which you are interested:

Fellowships/Scholarships
Research Assistantships/Teaching Assistantships/Graduate Assistantships
Grants and Loans

Fellowships and scholarships are grants that are generally awarded on the basis of academic merit. They are intended to attract the most highly qualified students and can be offered by a university, department, organization, or agency.

Assistantships are usually supported by stipends to perform tasks such as teaching, conducting research or working for an office or department on campus. Many institutions also waive or reduce tuition for students with assistantships.

Grants and loans are an important source of support for graduate students. This aid may come from the institution, a state, the federal government, or sometimes your employer. Visit the Brent D. Arcangel Career Resource Library in the Career Services office for funding information and resources available for graduate school.

FUNDING FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL LINKS

CollegeBoard.com - Pay for College
College of Science Funding Opportunities - Search this database of more than 400,000 funding opportunities with a total of $33 billion available for undergraduate/graduate research, grants, fellowships, advanced educational programs, special projects and more.
FinAid - A SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid
FastWeb.com
ScholarshipCoach.com
SCHOLARSTUFF.COM
Student Loan Marketing Association - Information on scholarships, grants and student loans.
The Student Guide - Financial Aid from the US Department of Education

The Application Process

Take standardized admission test at UB Career Services
Make certain that your scores are forwarded to schools(s)/program(s)
Obtain multiple letters of recommendation (three letters of recommendation is suggested)
Obtain original transcripts
Write and rewrite your personal statement
Complete your applications without errors
Submit your application materials on time
Consider test preparation books, electronic guides, and courses
Test preparation has been proven to make a difference. Consider www.kaplan.com and/or www.princetonreview.com.
It is not recommended to take admission tests more than twice
Take your test the summer before your senior year
Test results are usually good for FIVE years!
Applying EARLY can make a difference
A "Rolling Admissions Deadline" means programs have a quota and will not close the deadline until the quota is met by the program
Seek out the availability of graduate assistantships, fellowships and scholarships from the school and/or program you are applying
Applying early allows you to avoid the possibility of mistakes, missing materials and late reference writers
Use UB Career Services' preparation timeline for Graduate School as a reference tool

Personal Statements and Letters of Recommendation

Personal Statement
The personal statement provides an opportunity for graduate/professional school candidates to present to admission officers those aspects that cannot be conveyed by GPA or Standardized Test Scores scores. Essentially, it tells who you are, what you value, and how well you will be able to handle the pressures of graduate/professional school.

The best approach to writing the personal statement is to choose an interesting story to tell. Graduate/Professional school candidates may write about an event that helped to teach humility, independence, or self-confidence. Or, you can talk about an experience that changed the way you think about yourself or about the world, or that shows your motivation or personal style.

The most important idea to keep in mind while writing and editing the personal statement is that how well or how poorly it is written can play a critical role in the admission process. In addition to being focused, coherent, and interesting, the personal statement must be grammatically flawless.

Tips on Preparing the Personal Statement
Do:

Keep a journal highlighting participation in community/campus events
Prepare a typed, double-spaced 2-page statement
Address any specific questions asked by graduate/professional schools
Include a few sentences on why you want to attend a specific graduate/professional school
Proof-read carefully, checking for spelling and grammar errors
Ask for feedback from Career Services Staff and your Professors
Consider utilizing the Writing Center (217 Baldy) for assistance

Don't:

Lecture about the career field
Write an autobiography
Make excuses for poor grades*
Make excuses for low standardized test scores*

*If there are extenuating circumstances that have impacted academic achievement or standardized test score performance, they can be addressed in the personal statement or as an addendum to the application. However, this should not be the focus of the personal statement.

Letters of Recommendation
Graduate school recommendations really come into play when an admissions committee is trying to decide between you and one or more other candidates. Most departments will request three to five letters of recommendation.

Who should you ask for letters of recommendation? At least one letter, and preferably two or more, should come from faculty members in your major field. You may also wish to obtain a recommendation from a professor in an unrelated discipline (perhaps your minor field) in order to show the breadth of your academic interests.

These guidelines can give you the edge:

Begin developing a relationship with your recommenders several quarters, or even years, before you need the pieces of paper. It is important that they know several facts about you: your character, your course work, your initiative, and your communication skills. Keep them up to date on your achievements, either verbally or in writing.
Determine who will be your best advocates. If you hear reticence - complaints about not having enough time to write the recommendations or not knowing you well enough or long enough - be ready to back off. If someone feels forced into writing you a recommendation, you can bet it will be less than glowing.
Discuss the references with your recommenders. Inform them of any points you would particularly like to get across. Ask them to use as many specific examples as possible.
Consider using the recommendation as a place in which to explain away a negative that you didn't address in the main essay (e.g., a bad grade.) The recommendation also could be a place to highlight a smaller accomplishment that you didn't include elsewhere in the application.
Give your recommenders' telephone numbers on applications. More than ever, admissions officers are inclined to place a phone call to a recommender for more details.
Don't use references from friends or relatives, or recommendations from people who do not know you well.
Give your recommenders all of the necessary forms, plus addressed, stamped envelopes.
Give your recommenders at least a month in which to write the reference and ask them to meet a deadline.
Let the recommender know when you will submit your applications so he or she can send the reference letters at the same time.
Reference letters can be confidential or non-confidential. Admissions officers may give more credence to a reference if you've waived your right to read it; you will need to decide the advantages or disadvantages of either choice.