HOW TO START APPLYING FOR GRAD SCHOOL? | The Graduate School Application Planning Process
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Ivan Valdovinos shares a detailed guide for graduate school applicants, featuring a spreadsheet system to organize and evaluate potential programs. He covers crucial aspects like personal ranking, institutional type, degree interest, faculty research alignment, funding opportunities, and application requirements. Ivan emphasizes the importance of applying to 9-12 programs, including a mix of reach, match, and safety schools, to maximize admission chances. The spreadsheet also helps in drafting compelling application documents.
Takeaways
- 📝 The speaker shares tips and strategies for graduate school applications, suggesting that viewers subscribe for more advice.
- 📊 The speaker uses a Microsoft spreadsheet to organize information about graduate school programs, emphasizing the importance of staying organized.
- 🏫 Key columns in the spreadsheet include personal ranking, institutional type, degree/program of interest, and professors to work with.
- 📚 The speaker advises applying to 9-12 programs to increase the chances of admission, especially for PhD programs.
- 🌍 Institutional details such as size, location (urban, rural), and type (public, private) are essential for decision-making.
- 👨🏫 Listing 1-3 professors to potentially work with, based on research alignment, is crucial for PhD applications.
- 💰 Research funding opportunities, including assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships, when applying to programs.
- ✍️ Keep track of standardized test requirements (e.g., GRE), writing sample specifications, and statement of purpose prompts for each program.
- 🎓 Consider personal, academic, and career goals when researching and selecting graduate programs, especially to craft a strong statement of purpose.
- ⏳ Tracking application deadlines and having easy access to program links and key information can greatly simplify the application process.
Q & A
What is the purpose of the video?
-The purpose of the video is to provide tips, tricks, advice, and strategies for graduate school applications, with a specific focus on using a spreadsheet to organize the application process.
What specific tool does the speaker use to organize graduate school applications?
-The speaker uses a Microsoft spreadsheet to collect and organize information about the graduate school programs they are applying to.
What are some key columns included in the spreadsheet for organizing graduate school applications?
-Key columns include personal ranking, institutional type, degree and program of interest, list of professors, program curriculum, funding opportunities, standardized test requirements, writing sample specifications, statement of purpose requirements, other required documents, compelling aspects of the program, questions, website links, and application deadlines.
How many graduate programs does the speaker recommend applying to?
-The speaker recommends applying to at least 9 to 12 programs to maximize the chances of getting admitted into at least one.
What does the speaker mean by 'personal ranking' in the spreadsheet?
-Personal ranking refers to how the applicant prioritizes the schools they are applying to, with a mix of top, middle, and safety schools.
Why is it important to list the institutional type in the spreadsheet?
-Listing the institutional type (e.g., large, small, public, private, urban, rural) helps applicants understand the context of the school and can assist in crafting the statement of purpose.
What should be included in the 'professors of interest' column?
-Applicants should list one to three professors whose research aligns with their own. This is particularly important for PhD applications, where alignment with faculty research is a critical factor for admission.
How does the speaker suggest using information about funding opportunities in the spreadsheet?
-The speaker suggests listing all available funding opportunities, such as internships, graduate assistantships, fellowships, scholarships, and whether funding is automatically provided upon admission.
What kind of details should be included for standardized test requirements?
-Applicants should list what standardized tests are required for each program, such as the GRE, GRE subject tests, language tests (for international students), or Praxis (for teaching), and the institutional codes for submitting scores.
How does the speaker recommend using the spreadsheet to help with the statement of purpose?
-The spreadsheet can help applicants by listing specific prompts or guidelines for the statement of purpose, as well as highlighting compelling aspects of the program that can be incorporated into the essay.
Outlines
📊 Spreadsheet Planning for Graduate School Applications
The speaker introduces the video, which focuses on the use of a spreadsheet to assist in the graduate school application process. He explains the columns of the spreadsheet, which include personal ranking, institutional type, degree and program details, and the professors of interest. He emphasizes the importance of researching program fit, funding opportunities, and application requirements to effectively manage applications and improve the chances of acceptance.
📋 Detailed Requirements and Fit for Graduate Programs
The speaker describes in more depth what each column of the spreadsheet should include, such as program-specific requirements like standardized tests, writing samples, and statement of purpose guidelines. He highlights the importance of listing compelling aspects of each program and institution, preparing questions for faculty, and ensuring easy access to program links and deadlines. This detailed research can be used to craft a well-informed application, making it easier to decide if a program is the right fit.
🏫 Examples of Researching Specific Programs
The speaker provides examples of how he used the spreadsheet for his own graduate school applications. He discusses his top program choices, including the University of Arizona and Harvard, explaining the criteria he used for evaluating each school. Factors like the type of institution, professors' research, funding options, and program requirements are considered. The examples illustrate how thorough research can help applicants determine if a program fits their goals, ultimately saving time by avoiding unsuitable programs.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Graduate School Applications
💡Spreadsheet
💡Personal Ranking
💡Institutional Type
💡Professors of Interest
💡Funding Opportunities
💡Statement of Purpose
💡Standardized Tests
💡Application Deadlines
💡Program Curriculum
Highlights
Introduces the video as a resource for tips, advice, and strategies related to graduate school applications.
Shares a personal Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template used for tracking graduate school program information.
Explains the importance of categorizing programs into top, middle, and safety schools to increase the chances of admission success.
Emphasizes researching the institution's type, location, and specific program to evaluate personal fit and application suitability.
Suggests listing one to three professors whose research aligns with the applicant's interests, especially for PhD programs.
Details columns for funding opportunities, including assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships offered by the programs.
Recommends listing required standardized tests, such as the GRE, and if a writing sample is necessary.
Highlights the value of specifying Statement of Purpose requirements, including word count and specific prompts.
Suggests documenting other required documents like diversity essays or personal history statements.
Mentions the benefit of using the spreadsheet to track personal rankings, deadlines, and website links for easy reference.
Illustrates how to use the spreadsheet with an example of evaluating the University of Arizona's PhD in Higher Education program.
Discusses the value of a multi-year funding package that includes tuition, health insurance, and a stipend as a key decision factor.
Notes the importance of evaluating departmental research centers and student organizations to enhance personal research goals.
Advises using the spreadsheet to write personalized Statements of Purpose tailored to each program's unique attributes.
Concludes by sharing how this spreadsheet can help in visualizing and managing multiple graduate school applications effectively.
Transcripts
what's up guys welcome back to another
video my name is ivan valdovinos on this
channel i provide tips
tricks advice
and strategies for your graduate school
applications
so if you are new here consider
subscribing
[Music]
in today's video i am going to share
with you the spreadsheet that i use
during my graduate school planning
process
this way you can adopt a similar system
to help you tackle this challenging and
demanding application process
all right you guys as you can tell here
i am using microsoft spreadsheets so i
can
you know
collect my information for the graduate
school programs that i'm applying to so
at the top here i put my name i have a
section for an email
i also have a section for your phone
number and then date
obviously you don't need all that stuff
but it can be helpful
so this right here these next topics
here are really important in terms of
you deciding where you want to go how
you're applying to just really digging
into the research of these programs and
see if they're going to be a good fit
because if you're applying to a phd
program or even a master's program you
want to make sure that you fit well with
these programs or else you might not get
admitted so
the first column here is personal
ranking then the next one is
institutional type
degree and program of interest
then we have
a list of one two three professors who
you are interested in working with and
why
a list of one aspect of the program
curriculum that you're interested in
list any funding or work opportunities
list any required standardized tests is
a writing sample required if so list
specifications list specific statement
of purpose requirements slash prompts
list any other required documents other
than sop and writing samples list at
least one other aspect of the program
slash institution that you that you find
compelling list anything you still want
to know have questions about website
links where program requirements can be
found and then application deadlines
and so
what you should be including in your
personal ranking i suggest that you
apply to at least 9 to 12 programs there
is research out there that suggests that
if you do apply between nine and 12
programs you're giving yourself the
highest odds of getting into at least
one this is true mostly for the phd
because phd programs are competitive
because they only accept a very few
number of people every year for their
cohorts and so i suggest that you choose
through three to four top schools three
to four middle schools and three to four
bottom schools so really reach schools
middle ground schools and then safety
schools then for
when you are
looking for information about
institutional type you want to make sure
that you include the name of the
university is it a large a small rural
public university is it a private
university is it in the midwest where is
it at um in relative to our nation or
wherever you're applying is it urban
rural suburban um that's information
that you do want to know because it
could help you craft your statement of
purpose but also just give you an idea
of what to expect if you do end up going
there
then degree type you want to make sure
you specify is it a phd program a
master's program are you going to
receive a credential are you going to
receive some type of license what does
it entail then you want to state three
professors or one to three professors
who whose research aligns to yours if
you are applying for the phd is going to
be very important because alignment and
fit do matter a lot when it comes to a
phd so you want to make sure you
at least have one to three professors
that you that might be
a mentor for you if you end up going to
that school
then you also want to just or do some
research on why you're selecting this
program what specific courses
concentrations program tracks
do they provide you with the masters on
the way to the phd for example what is
attractive about this program to you and
find that information on their website
and list that in this column then you
want to list any funding opportunities
or work opportunities so do they provide
internships do they provide graduate
assistantships do they provide teaching
assistantships do they provide
fellowships
resourceships or scholarships what do
they provide in terms of funding is it
an automatic when you get selected and
admitted do you get received this
funding package
then you want to list what standardized
tests they are asking you for are they
asking you for the gre general test do
they have sub do they ask you for gre
subject tests are they asking you for a
language test so if you're an
international student are they asking
you for practice
that's most mostly for teaching
what type of tests are they asking you
in terms of the admissions application
then do they ask you for a writing
sample
if so what do they
what is their specifications are they
asking you for a full-on
30-page proposal are they asking you for
a
no more than 10 page document
what is the format what are the
guidelines and what do you need to
prepare for when you are submitting a
writing sample
then they all i also want you to
jot down
what are the specific questions or
guidelines for the statement of purpose
[Music]
write things down such as word count
page length specific prompts and or
questions
then you also want to list any other
required documents like personal history
statements or personal statements
diversity essays
short answer questions what else do they
ask you
in addition to the statement of purpose
and writing sample
then you also want to list one other
aspect of the program slash institution
that that find you that you find
compelling i would say do at least two
to three just because when you're
writing your statement of purpose this
could be a good way for you to jot down
some of this information into your
statement of purpose but you want to
make sure you you obviously are a good
fit for that program for that
institution for that context so you want
to make sure you do your research and
jot down what really interests you in
terms of personal goals but also
graduate goals postgraduate goals career
goals and really just anything that
emphasizes your research and
professional career goals
then you also want to ask or have a
column where you
were able to ask specific questions what
questions might you want to ask if you
do attend a webinar or if you send an
email or if you contact the professor
what are your questions then you want to
provide the link to your website to the
program that way you're able to like you
know click on it super easy especially
if you're applying to like 9 or 12
programs it's going to be a lot of
information that you need to like
withhold so you want to make sure you
have easy access to links
then you obviously want to know the
deadlines of these applications that way
you're able to know how to best uh
manage your time in terms of meeting
these deadlines so now we went over a
couple of things that you should be
researching and thinking about let's
give you some examples so
when i was applying to graduate school
phd programs these are all phd programs
here i chose my top three school so i
chose the university of arizona
university of washington
university of california san diego so
let's go
with the university of arizona and kind
of give you an idea of how i went about
all of these categories right so
university of arizona is in tucson it's
a public university it's urban and it's
in the southwest i was applying for the
phd in higher education and i wanted to
work with either dr nolan cabrera whose
work focuses on men boys of color in
higher education or dr regina del
emen
who conducts research on men of color
i also like the idea that they offered a
terminal masters and you also got a
masters on your way to the phd um
and then also dr nolan cabrera was my
former undergraduate mentor when i did
an internship there in the summer so i
want to work with him again
the department did offer fellowship and
scholarships but mostly their applicants
and the people that went there would
have to either work as a graduate
assistant teaching and research
assistantship so that's kind of like the
fund the funding that you would be
offered or that you can
hold if you end up going there
they only required the gre the general
test and i put the institutional code
there so if i did sign up for the gre
test i would be able to know what the
code is for that school
they did not require a writing sample
and their statement of purpose was one
two two pages single spaced and here are
the questions here so they were asking
me how the applicant's professional
educational life experiences have
influenced the desire to pursue graduate
studies in higher education the
applicant's career goals and how
graduate study would contribute to the
realization and the applicant's goals
and objectives for graduate study
then
they also required three letters of
recommendations official transcripts and
cv
another reason why i wanted to choose
this program or why i chose to apply to
this program was because
they had
access to the higher education student
organization they had opportunities to
work with this program called college
academy for parents programs because i'm
also interested in family engagement and
obviously in terms of how that helps
with um college going processes and
development things like that so i wrote
about that
then
some of the questions i did have for
them though was
do first-year students have
opportunities to conduct research right
away and how do most phd students pay
for their education where can i seek
assistance because this program doesn't
give you a fully funded package they
expect you to look for your own
funding at the university but they do
say that most of their applicants most
of their admitted students do get
offered assistantships
then i put
instead of putting the link i put their
mailing address because i wanted to make
sure that i had the mailing address if i
needed it to submit documents for my
application and the deadline was january
15th
let's do one more example let's do
let's do harvard here
so for harvard it was also in my top and
it's harvard university private
institution urban east coast the program
i was applying to was the phd in
education cultures institutions and
society
the people that wanted to work with the
faculty i want to work with was dr nancy
hill whose work focuses on ethnicities
cultures and contexts in relation to
parent practices previous work on father
engagement
or dr mandy savitz romer whose work
focuses on promoting college access
readiness and support or dr karen map
whose research focuses on family family
community and school partnerships to
increase academic success
they were um
in terms of their
in terms of why i wanted to select this
program or one of the reasons was
because they required teaching
assistantship which meant that i would
be able to be trained as a teacher or
professor and that's something that i'm
considering as a career they also had
this theoretical and practical approach
to teaching and they offered a terminal
masters as you went along through your
phd journey
admitted students received a multi-year
funding package which includes tuition
health insurance and a stipend that was
really attracted to me because they
offered you a full funding package and
it was given to you right away when you
were admitted
they do require the gre to be able to
apply for the program and then they did
not require a writing sample
their statement of purpose guidelines
were
a thousand words describing the
following how you formulate research
topics how you pursue them and how you
articulate any interesting findings
emphasize how these experiences have
influenced both their decisions to
undertake graduate study and your goals
within graduate program
they also require through that as a
recommendations upload transit to to
application sub supplemental form
specifying concentration and advisors
interviews and cv
i also liked that i was able to access
courses outside of the college of
education and i was able to or and i had
access to the global family research
project formerly known as harvard family
research project which would help me
learn how to conduct research in family
engagement
then i have their website and then their
deadline was december 1st
so as you can tell i did this with all
the programs that i applied to and as
you can tell i was very specific and
detailed and i pulled a lot from their
websites and from all the research i did
on these programs on these institutions
on the mentors and i wrote that in here
this is not only going to help me with
just kind of
visualizing all the schools i'm applying
to because i did apply to 912 but also
it's going to help me write my statement
of purpose and my other documents for
the application so as you can tell i did
this for
the university of california san diego
harvard stanford michigan state boston
college rutgers university of maryland
university of maine and then university
of texas austin and these are i didn't
apply to all these programs for example
like the university of maine i didn't
apply to but and the reason why was
because this actual outline here this
spreadsheet helped me determine that
that wasn't going to be a good fit for
me and so i chose not to apply to
university of maine or boston college
because after doing my research after
writing it out it just wasn't a good fit
and i don't want to waste my time and
energy on a school that i wasn't going
to go to if i got admitted
all right you guys so that concludes my
video on how i prepared to apply to
graduate school i hope you learned
something new and i hope this
spreadsheet and just visualizing the
spreadsheet really helps you in your
planning process let me know if you have
any questions down below and i will get
to you as soon as i can thank you for
watching this video and i will see you
in the next video
[Music]
you
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