This document provides information to help students decide whether to pursue graduate school, including the benefits of higher degrees, the application process, and tips for standing out. It discusses factors to consider such as career advancement, increased earning potential, and research opportunities for attending graduate school, versus challenges like time commitment, stress, and financial costs. The document also reviews the key components of a successful graduate school application like transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and interviews.

1. THE BASICS OF WHAT YOU NEED
& WHAT WILL SET YOU APART
Applying to Graduate School

2. WHO HAS TALKED TO
THEIR STUDENTS ABOUT
GRADUATE SCHOOL?
WHAT DID YOU SAY?

3. Activity
Partner up!
Each person must talk about their feelings,
aspirations, and hesitations about graduate school
for one minute straight
Must maintain eye contact
Person listening cannot react (no laughing, gasping
or making any faces!)
Person listening will repeat what their partner said
back to them.
Then switch!

4. Why do people go to grad school?
 Greater earning power
 Advance your career
 Career change
 Enhance your education
 Get community
recognition
 Get research
opportunities
 Upgrade your education
 Find teaching
opportunities
 Profession of choice
requirements
 Work on advanced
projects
 Access to advanced
equipment and tools
 Higher potential for
future promotion
 Not being stuck behind a
desk
 Employer incentives
 Because you want to
 Realization of interest

5. Job Security

6. Pay off is right away and grows over time

7. Why do people not go to graduate school?
Highly competitive
Relationship strains
Stressful
Might take 2–7 years
of your life
Extra cost of
education
Graduating with a
large debt
Return on investment
might be slow
Limited job
opportunities
Undesirable job
locales
Too qualified
No guarantee of
higher salary

8. Convinced grad school is for you?
 Masters in Ed. (MEd)
 Masters in Social Work (MSW)
 Masters in Business
Administration (MBA)
 Masters in Public Health
(MPH)
 Masters in Fine Arts (MFA
 Masters in Family Therapy
(MFT)
 Juris Doctor (JD)
Doctor of Medicine (MD)
Master of Science in
Nursing (MSN)
Doctor of Philosophy
(PhD)
Masters in Public
Administration (MPA)
Masters in Public Policy
(MPP)

9. Components of an Application
Transcripts
GREs or other standardized tests
Letters of Recommendation
Admission Essay
Interview

10. Transcripts
Who are you as a student / work ethic
Take into account difficulty of classes, school
Contact Registrar (2 week turnaround)
School is considering:
 Your overall GPA
 Grades in your major subject area
 Grades in higher-level courses, particularly in last 2 years of school
 Patterns of improvement

12. Standardized Tests (GRE)
Computer-based (paper-based is option)
(overhauled in August 2011)
1. Verbal section- 130-170, in 1-point increments ~30mins
2. Quantitative section- 130-170, in 1-point increments ~35mins
3. Analytical writing section- scale of 0-6, in half-point
increments
4. Issue task
5. Argument task
6. Experimental section

14. Scaled score percentiles
Scaled score Verbal Reasoning % Verbal Prior Scale
Quantitative
Reasoning %
Quantitative Prior
Scale
170 99 760-800 99 800
169 99 740-750 98 800
168 98 720-730 96 800
167 98 710 95 800
166 97 700 94 800
165 96 680-690 93 790
164 94 660-670 91 790
163 93 650 88 780
162 90 630-640 87 770
161 89 620 86 770
160 86 600-610 84 760
159 84 590 82 750
158 79 570-580 79 740
157 77 560 77 730
156 72 540-550 74 720
155 69 530 69 700-710
154 64 510-520 67 690
153 62 500 65 680
152 56 480-490 61 660-670
151 51 460-470 56 640-650
150 48 450 53 630
149 42 430-440 49 610-620
148 40 420 44 590-600
147 36 410 40 570-580
146 31 390-400 36 550-560
145 28 380 32 530-540
144 26 370 26 500-520
143 21 350-360 22 480-490
142 18 340 19 460-470
141 16 330 16 430-450
140 13 320 12 400-420
139 10 310 10 380-390
138 8 300 7 350-370
137 6 290 6 330-340
136 5 280 4 300-320
135 4 280 3 280-290
134 3 270 2 260-270
133 2 260 1 240-250
132 1 250 1 220-230
131 1 240 1 200-210
130 1 200-230 1 200

15. Analytical Writing score
Writing % Below
6 99
5.5 96
5 87
4.5 72
4 48
3.5 29
3 11
2.5 4
2 1
1.5 1
1 1
0.5 1
Have an awareness of the
degree to which your program
might emphasize the
analytical writing score

16. About the writing section
Measures the degree to which the test-taker,
regardless of their field of study could understand
the task and easily respond to it
The task elicited the kind of complex thinking and
persuasive writing that university faculty consider
important in graduate school
The response was VARIED in content and in the way
the writer developed their ideas

17. 1. As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the
ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or
disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position
you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should
consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and
explain how these considerations shape your position.
2. A nation should require all of its students to study the same national
curriculum until they enter college.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or
disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the
position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe
specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would
or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape
your position.

18. Letter of Recommendations
Who to ask?
Faculty members
Administrators
Internship/co-operative education supervisors
Employers
* Beware of the “star search” fallacy

19. The persons you ask to write your
recommendation letters should

20. VS.VS.

21. Provide Information to letter writers

22. Personal Statements
Your opportunity to sell yourself in the application process
Tell a story
Be specific, have a sense of direction
Find an angle
Concentrate on your opening paragraph
Tell what you know
Don't include some subjects
Do some research, if needed
Write well and correctly
Avoid clichés
Edit, Edit, Edit

23. Interview
THE INTERVIEW WILL PERMIT THE SCHOOL TO DETERMINE:
1. If your personal attributes are as appealing as your
academic record (this goes, of course, for a student
who is already academically acceptable), and if your
personal attributes will enable you to overcome any
deficiency that may appear;
2. If your personal attributes will place you in the
overall acceptable range (if you are borderline);
3. If you are considered to have some obvious
academic or physical deficiency, whether you have
the personal attributes to overcome the deficiency.

24. THE INTERVIEW WILL PERMIT YOU TO:
1. Have an opportunity to sell yourself by projecting
as favorable an image as possible, and thus
overcoming any deficiencies in your record;
2. Familiarize yourself with the campus, its facilities,
and with the members of its student body;
3. Obtain first hand answers to questions about the
school that may not yet have been answered.

25. What is the Interviewer Looking for?
 Communication skills: Can you express your ideas clearly and intelligently?
 Motivation: Do you have goals for yourself and do you seem interested in
the program?
 Maturity: Are you responsible enough to be successful in the field?
 Interests: What educational, social, and cultural interests do you have?
 Emotional Stability: Do you maintain composure under pressure?
 Intellectual potential: Have you demonstrated superior intellectual
ability?

26. Questions?

27. Useful Links/ Websites
http://www.gradschools.com
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/be
http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/register