Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with university and graduate

Please give me some advice on how to start my post university life!

tumples — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:57:22 -0800

How do I figure out what I can and/or should do after my undergraduate degree? I am halfway through my last year of my undergraduate degree in History, at a UK university. As graduation draws ever closer I am getting more worried about what is going to happen after the university bubble pops. I am told in every form of media that the job market for graduates is appalling at the moment, and that doesn't even matter since I have no idea what I want to try and aim to do with this degree anyway. I feel like I have been slightly conned into this degree when I was younger and more naive, and I regret not getting a more technical and employable degree.

How do I know if I should pursue a Masters? I mainly want to do one for the interest of learning rather than for any career purpose, and to hopefully study abroad in the Netherlands or somewhere in mainland Europe. I realise that these aren't the best reasons to consider a post graduate program. Are there any ways I can get to live in europe while still supporting myself?

Basically, through all of this mess of unorganised thoughts, I would just appreciate any information, help, advice, anecdotes, anything that is related to this problem of facing the big wide world.

Going to the same university for undergrad and grad-good or bad idea?

pdx87 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:28:34 -0800

Did you receive your graduate degree at the same university that you received your undergraduate degree from? If so, do you regret not branching out and going to a new university for graduate school or are you happy with your decision? Graduate school is coming up. Yikes!

Option 1-Stay in the city that I am currently in and pursue an MS at the school I am currently attending.

Option 2-Move 3 hours away and pursue the same degree at a different institution.

I guess I am worried that I will burn out after going to the same school for so long. I would love to hear from people who went to the same university for undergrad and grad. What was your experience like? Do you wish you had gone to a new institution for graduate school? I'd even like to hear from people who went to different institutions for undergrad and grad. Thanks!

A complete MAT acceptance list eludes me.

parmanparman — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:46:12 -0800

Where can I find a complete list of college and university graduate programs in the USA that accept the Miller Analogies Test for admission?

Can I get into a grad program in Canada?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:50:43 -0800

How likely is it that I'm going to get into a grad program in Canada? I've been in university for 8 years now; some of it part-time, dropped out twice and was put on AP once (dropped out mid semester, getting two F's). Other than the two fails, I have 7 discontinued courses on my resume too (courses I dropped out a little too late to be stricken from the record).

My GPA otherwise is in the 3.8 range. I recently returned to school with 7 credits left and my GPA for those credits will likely be around the 3.8 range as well. The F's and the discontinued were as a result of some indecision and youthful mistakes when it came to my education.

At the end of this, I'll have a degree in economics with minors in philosophy and political studies. I'll have a 4.0 in my major marks but my last two years are incredibly disjointed and includes two F's. The last 7 courses will indicate, I guess, that I'm able to do the work at the university level but I realize that my record has red flags all over it.

What is the likelihood that I'm going to get into a grad program (economics or philosophy) in Canada with such an up/down track record? Is there anything I can do to prove my worth? Should I work awhile before I apply?

Questions about Grad App Questions

davidstandaford — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:32:38 -0800

A few questions that I'm running into while submitting my graduate school applications about fellowships, diversity statements, other schools I am applying to, and accepting admission without funding. I'm applying for PhD programs in Political Science, and have about 7 programs left, and I've run into the same thing on a number of applications and I'm not sure how to handle it.

1) Most applications have a place where I can note any fellowships that I have applied for. I hadn't identified any to apply to (although I haven't looked very hard) and I'm wondering if it hurts me that I'm not applying for any outside sources of funding? Will it help my chances at the remaining schools if I apply to some fellowships?

2) Some schools allow for an optional diversity statement. As a generic white/upper middle class student of two people with post-bachelor degrees, I don't have a very compelling diversity/adversity statement. Although I'm a good writer and could probably craft something good, it doesn't feel to me like I have exactly what they want and my statement might not compare well to others, so I'm wondering about whether I would be better off writing the best one I can or not submitting one at all.

3) Most programs ask me about which other schools I am applying to. Does anyone know what they use this for and how it might hurt or help my chances at any one individual school?

4) Finally, for programs that don't fully fund all students, some ask me whether I would accept admission with partial or no funding. Ideally, I would want full funding, but to be accepted anyway even if they couldn't offer financial support, but I don't want to mark yes that I would accept admission without funding because then it would allow them to admit me without funding, even if they were willing to admit me with funding. Any idea on how best to deal with this?

What do you do in an advanced degree?

divabat — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:27:31 -0800

Those of you doing [post]graduate degrees...what exactly are you doing? I've been looking into various advanced degree programs (Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Masters, etc) but I'm finding it difficult to imagine what sort of work one does in an advanced degree.

My family comes from a science background: my sister did biotech research for her Ph.D and my dad did coursework in engineering for his Masters. Apparently my aunt did a Masters in Sociology but I don't know what this entailed for her. I'm getting a degree in the Creative Industries, and have been looking into advanced degrees in non-profit management, arts, or education.

What DO you do in your degree? Do you do a lot of reading? Is yours more practical? Do you get to do a project?
How academic is your degree? Do you have to do a lot of writing in a certain style?
How much opportunity do you get to travel, or do experiential learning? How about conferences?

I figure this would differ wildly between programs and schools, but my only concepts of advanced degrees are either sit in a library then write a long densely academic thesis, or do research in a lab and write a long densely academic thesis (research is fun, but writing long densely academic theses is my definition of hell).

Questions for Grad Programs I'm Interested In

davidstandaford — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:21:57 -0800

I will be applying to graduate school soon and I cannot visit all of the campuses that I am applying to. I have been contacting these schools so that they can put me in touch with current graduate students who I can ask about their campuses, and I wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything important in my list of questions below. [For what it's worth, I'm applying to political science phd programs, but I'm assuming generic concerns applicable to humanities in general would be helpful for me.]

What is the relationship between graduate students and the faculty? Are grad students treated as colleagues and respected or are they a source of labor and looked down upon?

Does the department provide adequate funding or do students have to seek outside grants and scholarships?

What sort of research and teaching positions are required for funding? Does this interfere with a student's own research priorities?

Does the department attempt to rush students out as quickly as possible? Or are students delayed from finishing in a reasonable amount of time because of other responsibilities that they have?

Is it a large program in size or character where many other students and professors are distant acquaintances, or does everyone get to know each other well.

What is the best part about the program? What would you like to see improved?

If there is anything missing from this list that I should be sure to ask, please let me know.

Youth Passions Research in Montreal

divabat — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:11:25 -0800

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do? Bonus points for Montreal-related responses. I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.
I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do?

What sort of research would you do? Who would you want to look up? Where would you volunteer or work? I don't expect specific names (Though that'd be great!!) but things like "You should look up what their relevant youth policy is and find government agencies that work with young people" or "Find a Malaysian Students Society to interview" are the things I'm after. If you've worked in a venture that does exactly this (support young people's passions), what sort of work did you do to form and maintain your venture?

I've been getting a lot of "ask the young people themselves", which is what I'm doing too, but that's not something I need the fellowship to do. I'm more interested in finding out what resources are available in Montreal/McGill that I can tap into.

Four year loyalty vs. seven year's work?

parmanparman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:24:07 -0800

RelationsFilter: If you are a master's or doctoral graduate, what are some of the reasons you joined or chose not to join the alumni association of your graduate school? More to the point:

1. Do you feel an affinity to your graduate school if it's not the place you also received your B.A.?

2. Would you rather get information about jobs and networking events in your field or get information about parties and other events thrown by the graduate school in your area?

3. If you received fundraising appeals from your graduate school, how did you respond to them versus your BA institution?

Advice on Emailing Professors When Applying to Grad School?

davidstandaford — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:40:09 -0800

Any advice concerning email communication with professors who I'll be contacting at the various schools that I will be applying to for PhD programs in Political Science? As part of my application process I've been identifying the schools that I want to apply to and the professors at each campus that I would want to work with. I've been reading some of their recent writings so I can begin contacting them via email.

At the moment, my plan is to email them sometime soon letting them know I'm thinking of applying to their school, my planned research statement, and letting them know which of their articles I've read. I was going to include a comment about the articles I had read and ask them some question about something I'm unsure about or how their article might be in conflict with some other research.

If/when I get a response I was planning to follow up by asking to see any unpublished articles if they are working on something that also fits with my interest.

Firstly, I was wondering if anyone involved in academia has any thoughts about communicating with professors during the application process.

Also, is there some maximum number of emails that should be exchanged and at some point I would begin to annoy them, or it's ok to email back and forth for a couple of months?

Is there some number of emails I should exchange before I tell them explicitly that I am applying to their school and explicitly ask them for any help they can provide in the admissions process?

What about arranging a time to speak to them on the phone? Also good?

And finally, anything in my emails that I should be sure not to mention/include, or anything I should be sure to tell them?

[I'm focusing on email communication because, alas, I am out of the country and not able to make any more campus visits.]

How to Improve My Grad School Chances

davidstandaford — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:35:35 -0800

Is there anything I can do to help myself get into grad school (PhD, political science/international relate) between now and January? I'm working on my grad school applications and I'm wondering if there is anything I can be doing over the next six months that might help me get into a good program.

I graduated from college three years ago and spent the last two years working on a college campus and this year I'm in a foreign country doing a one year study program (both unrelated to what I would be doing in grad school).

One of my thoughts was to start a blog about something I'm interested in concentrating on in a grad program (Sierra Leone) and writing about it for the next six months. Would grad school admissions committees consider something like that a plus?

Is there anything else I can be doing that would make me seem like a stronger candidate? Any info or advice would be a big help. Thanks!

Advice about applying to graduate school while abroad

andoatnp — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:07:22 -0800

I'm looking for information for applying to grad school while abroad. (PhD programs in Political Science/International Relations). I graduated from college in spring 2006, and I'm planning on applying next year (Fall '09) to start in Fall 2010. I'm also considering going to Israel in July and staying for about 10 months, and I want to make sure this won't impact my grad school plans in any way. All I've really done so far is had 3 professors write letters of recommendations that are on file at my undergrad school. In Israel, I would have to take the GRE (which is offered regularly) and do my personal statement and applications for the schools I'm applying to.

Is there anything else about the process that I'm not realizing that would make doing an application while in a foreign country particularly difficult? I tried googling, but all the results I got were about going abroad as an undergrad to prepare for grad school or grad schools that feature an abroad component.

I would almost certainly not be able to visit any of the schools I'm applying to, which I'm ok with in terms of picking a school because getting a real physical feel of the campus isn't important to me, but is that an expected part of the process, and would it weaken my chances if I can't visit anywhere I'm applying to?

Does anyone have any experience applying to a PhD program while abroad, or receiving applications to a program from someone that was abroad? Anything that I should do in advance to make things easier for me when I'm abroad? Thanks!

How to pay for Grad school?

limon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:59:32 -0800

Best book or online resource for funding Grad School? I keep hearing about how you can fund your studies through external sources, but all I see are scholarships that are either impossibly selective (for example, the Rhodes Scholarship) or fairly meager (under $1000). I don't mean to scoff at a thousand dollars, but I'd have to win twenty or thirty of these scholarships to pay for a year of school.

My situation: I got accepted into a doctoral program at a prestigious school. I haven't gotten an official acceptance letter yet, just a quick congratulatory note from the chair of the program. I therefore don't know what funding is going to look like, but said chair has mentioned the program is not in a position to fund their students throughout their students, and that the students are primarily externally supported. I can't afford to pay my own way. Before I give up, I'd like to know where I should look for funds.

A sure MIIS.

dead_ — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:53:48 -0800

What can you tell me about the Monterey Institute of International Studies? I've got cold feet.

After applying to a few different graduate schools, I was accepted by my first choice, the Monterey Institute of International Studies. I prefer them due mostly to their language program and emphasis on career placement.

But I'm nervous.

It's a professional school and a bit different from more research-oriented institutions, which scares me. The student body is also a paltry 700 and I'm having anxiety attacks feeling like I won't fit into the school's environment.

If I choose to attend, I will be getting a master's in international policy studies.

I'm visiting the school this weekend, but in the meantime, can anyone tell me a bit about it, related to my above anxieties? How useful will this degree really be? What is Monterey really like when compared to a larger, top-tier public university with a similar program? Is the debt (maybe 40k) really worth an IPS degree?

These are probably questions I should answer on my own, but AskMe has helped before, and so if anyone here has any experience with MIIS, I'd love to hear it.

Academic rehab

pcameron — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:23:27 -0800

I badly bungled my Political Science undergrad program, graduating with a GPA in the low 3's and a non-honours degree. I want to go to grad school in the same field. What are my options? (I'm in Canada). I've always been passionate about politics and world issues. However I spent my first years at university with severe depression, and being in a mental hell and not wanting to live tends to make it hard to get to class or focus on readings. In my final year I had gotten help and was getting A's, but it was too late to save my GPA.

I graduated from Concordia, and I've been told it is impossible to go back and "upgrade" my degree to an honours. What should I do? Will I have to repeat an undergraduate degree? Study abroad? Is there any way to be accepted into a graduate program by displaying competence in the field?

I'd like to stress that I'm not looking for an easy shortcut. I'm willing to put a great deal of work into this. I've always been very passionate about politics, but I've never lived up to my academic potential and I'd like to have a second chance to prove to myself that I can excel.

Unofficially auditing university classes?

jayder — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:03:20 -0800

Is it weird to ask a university professor if you can audit his/her class without officially enrolling in the university as an auditor ... and, as part of the arrangement, asking the professor if you can submit papers and have them graded and evaluated? Asking for a friend:

"I think I mentioned to you that I was going to look into taking a [graduate liberal arts] class at [Prestigious State University] this fall. [Prestigious State] has a program where people who aren't full-time students can enroll in a class, with the instructor's permission, and you even get credit and a real-life grade for it (whether the [graduate liberal arts] department would later count that credit towards a degree is an open question, I think, but that's not the main point here). I've looked into this, and the snag is that if I do this right now I'd have to pay tuition for the class at the out of state rate, which is very expensive for one class. I don't qualify for in-state tuition until I've lived in this state at least 12 months. So, I wondered what you thought about the following: I've considered e-mailing the professor in the class I'm interested in taking and asking if he would allow me to "audit" the class, i.e., take it for no credit, and without being assigned a grade, and essentially no record that I had ever officially taken the class. Of course there's no way to know how a given professor would react to this, but I wonder if you know anyone who's ever done this, or if you think this idea sounds completely crazy or a professor might take offense at it? The problem with it is that I sort of am asking the professor to work "for free", because I would want to do the assignments and have the prof evaluate them, even if I don't get an official grade. On the other hand, the presence or absence of my tuition being paid into the system is not going to make a difference in the professor's pay rate. But it still seems a little like asking for charity when the prof will probably wonder why I don't just wait twelve months. (I'm not sure it would be appropriate to tell the prof I want to get into grad school one of these days and I'm not getting any younger, damn it). So, what do you think about this idea?"

How do I get over my academic past?

Asherah — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:49:30 -0800

Is is a good idea to be blunt about academic missteps during my undergrad? I'm applying to several BSN/MSN combination programs for Nursing and my undergrad GPA counts significantly. Many schools only consider your last 60/90 units and for me, that means we're looking at below a 3.0. Since then I've taken over 45 semester units of Bio, Chem, Epidemiology, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology etc. In addition to the undergrad GPA, they look at your science GPA (I have a 4.0), clinical experience and leadership experience (I feel I am covered in those areas as well).

Regaring my personal statement(s), how blunt should I be about how my undergrad GPA came to be so low? I really wasn't focused during that time academically and wasn't feeling at all motivated to do well. I honestly didn't think I'd be going back to college for quite a while for further education. Should I simply state that and elaborate why this time its a whole new ball of wax and I have a clear idea of my path and why I want it? Is it really that simple?

Note: I do not want to lie and make up some personal emergency/situation that distracted me, as that was not the case and although it might help me get my foot in the door I just wouldn't feel good about it.

What are the top bioinformatics graduate universities in the US?

lpctstr; — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:44:19 -0800

What are the top bioinformatics graduate universities in the US? I tried US news, but only got the top 3 without a subscription. Otherwise, I've searched on the web for about 5 hours with no luck besides individual universities tooting themselves.

I need to find a religious studies graduate program!

Gideon — Sat, 12 May 2007 18:25:45 -0800

I'm about a year off from Grad school, and I'm beginning to look around for good places to go. I'm a bit of a dinosaur, however, and am very interested in existential religion and am interested in studying a kind of... ontological foundationalism whereas the focus will be how man establishes and functions through his sense of being/meaning in the world. I need some good suggestions on what schools I may want to look into. I'm not interested in a comparative or specialist program (Judaism, Christianity, etc) - I'm really looking for a Religion and Culture, or something similar to what I outlined above. I'm also not adverse to a religion and psychology (with a emphasis on the religion aspect) or general social sciences and religion.

I'm a fairly good student, and am considering Rice and Brown - but wouldn't want to try much higher than that. I'm alright with international schools, providing English is the primary language.

Thanks!

What things should I do before I graduate from college?

niwnfyc — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:37:03 -0800

I will be graduating in a few weeks from college. Help me find stuff I should do before I'm all done and move away! I'm not necessarily looking for a generic checklist, like notifying the university that you will be graduating, ordering your cap and gown, etc... That stuff I have under control...

What I'm looking for is little things that I should do now while I still have the resources here at the University.

What are some things you wish you would have done in your final stretch of college that you regret not doing now?

FWIW, I'm a 23 year old male graduating from UWM with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Grad school worries

Netzapper — Fri, 13 May 2005 08:34:47 -0800

I'm a little worried about applying to grad school. I've read an awful lot about it, and I'm looking for some advice from actual people. I'm a junior in Computer Science right now at Temple University. I'm very involved with the research of a couple of professors here, to the extent of doing RA-style work on their less important topics in an independent-study environment. Likewise, I've actually started, with three other students, an interdepartmental research/development project in social computing that's caught an awful lot of attention in the school--it's actually even borderline publishable material (IMNSHO). However, my GPA is only so-so (3.0), mostly out of pure laziness with classes.

I'm looking at programs with a PhD track, since my hope right now is to be able to get my doctorate and go into research (either academic or industry, I haven't decided). The topic that I'm hoping to research is not particularly widespread, and so the options of programs is fairly limited. What's more, most of these programs are located at top name schools; MIT, Caltech, University of Washington.

Any input on my chances of getting into those schools?

Simultaneously, there's always the option simply to remain at Temple. I like the school, they have a decent enough program, and it's more of a sure thing. But, none of the people in the compsci department are researching the topic I'm interested in.

What are my chances of ever getting back to my prefered topic if I wind up doing graduate work in a different area? At what point in the academic process is one expected to specialize?

Thanks.

Options when you don't get accepted to your first choice graduate school?

hummus — Mon, 10 May 2004 07:44:20 -0800

Graduate school acceptance. Or really, not. I need some advice from all of you over-educated metafilterites. What do you do when you don't get accepted to your first choice graduate school? Besides, obviously, not attend. Have any of you had any luck with reapplying, and if so, what did you change on your application to "do the trick?" Anyone have luck with taking classes as a non-matriculated student just to get your foot in the door? Any advice is much appreciated.