Is This the One?

Well hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast Resilience in STEM. As I am recording this it’s January and I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday break thus far. I hope you have been able to relax, do some hobbies, and hang out with your family. During this holiday break, I have been playing with my legos that I got a few months ago. I’ve also been painting and hanging out with friends. Overall, I’d say it’s been a pretty good break. 

 

The biggest update is I have a few interviews! In total, I have about 8-10 interviews. I may just be going to 7 since I’m still in my undergraduate so it would be really hard to travel and do all of the interviews while still doing well in all of my classes. So for the next few weeks, I will be traveling. But this also brings me back to the point where I mentioned a few episodes ago about contacting professors to see if they were taking students in the upcoming fall. Maybe it did pay off or maybe it didn’t even matter at the end of the day. I think that will be soon to be determined during my interviews. Maybe the professors I reached out to will remember me. I’m not entirely sure. 

 

Another update is I'm trying to balance and schedule my activities with interviews. I’ve been having my calendar pulled up, submitting my preferred interview dates, trying to adjust meetings, and seeing to what extent I can continue my activities. At the end of the day, I still need to graduate and finish off my senior year on a good note because I want to finish the projects the way I intended them to be. At the moment, I’ve submitted my graduation application for A&M. It’s been surreal to think about for two reasons. First, I didn’t even know I had to submit a graduation application. Second, it’s the realization of how close I am to graduating. 

 

I’m also looking into applying for senior awards at Texas A&M. Essentially these awards have such a large range, but I would like to apply for one and give it my best shot. Like I’ve said in these past few episodes, it never hurts to take your shot and see what happens. Don’t be afraid to apply for awards that may be difficult to get because it can have a good outcome. That’s also something I've been looking into and planning as I am not dealing with any classes. 

 

As we enter into the topic of the episode, this pertains more to the admissions cycle. Even if you’re applying to a Master’s or postbaccalaureate program it still applies well because this episode tries to help you figure out what graduate program is the best for you. Sometimes it’s not always up to the rigor of the school or academics. There are so many other factors to consider. I will be going into these factors to help you make that choice. 

 

Overall picking the best program for you is hard. One person’s decision may be completely different for you. There is no one size fits all or one general guideline for picking the best graduate program. In addition, there may be multiple graduate programs that are right for you or suit different aspects of your life. I’ve thought about this a lot when I was applying for internships. I had two really good offers, but were also pretty different experiences. One was on the west coast while another was on the east coast. I could see myself fitting into any of these programs, but they came with totally different lifestyles. So I know there isn’t one right program for me, but what program would be the best for me at my stage of life? I’m going to go into some factors that would be good to consider. There definitely might be more as this is just a small list.

The first factor is location. It’s asking the question if you want to be close or away from family. Usually, people who apply for Ph.D. programs may have a family to keep in mind. So they are only applying for schools within the state or they’re trying to find programs that accommodate families. Do you want to live in a city? Do you want to be in a rural area? What kind of area would suit you best? I know for myself I would to be in a city where I can explore and be part of a vibrant community. So when applying to different schools I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and do that. But I know that’s not the case for everyone. 

 

Another factor is the stipend. Now this one is pretty interesting because it goes hand in hand with location. For Ph.D. programs, the tuition is covered and they will offer you a yearly stipend. It’s not a lot, but it's meant to cover rent, food, and other necessities. This stipend will differ based on your location. But if you’re applying to programs in a similar location and one offers more, a better move-in fee, subsidized housing that may be a better sign. Let me give an example that I’ve been told. Let's say you’ve been given offers at Johns Hopkins and Berkeley. So Johns Hopkins is going to give you $36,000 a year, which considering most graduate student stipends is pretty good. Now Berkeley will offer you $40,000 a year. You may think Berkeley is offering you more, but you have to think of the cost of living. Especially in the Bay Area and California, these programs are going to be offering you more because the cost of living is so much higher. I would take into consideration the stipend and what area you’re going to move to. If you’re moving into more of a suburban area your stipend may be a little lower. It’s just to accommodate varying costs of rent and food. I know when I was in Berkeley, an affordable grocery store was Whole Foods and that shocked me. 

 

The next big factor is community. How are the graduate students? What is their culture like? What kind of support do they give you? Are there resources for academics? This would be like a writing center or tutoring center. Are you getting resources for mental health? That’s a huge thing. Do they have a good counseling service? Do you get good health insurance? Do they have resources for underserved communities, such as student organizations and programs to find your community? This is a pretty big factor when going to graduate school. I’ve been told being in a Ph.D. program is supposed to be hard. Similar to undergraduate, the education will be challenging, but the people you surround yourself make the difference. Try to find what kind of student organizations they have, mentorship programs, outreach programs, and see if your passions align with the institution. A good example that pertains to me is I have a huge passion for student success. I’ve spent a lot of time creating and promoting resources for students to help reduce the underrepresented retention rate in college education at the undergraduate level. I want to continue doing that at the graduate level and see what opportunities I can pursue, such as participating in mentorship programs, outreach programs, or being part of a graduate student government. See if the program you want to go to has to community that aligns with your goals and passions. This also includes disability resources or a parenting student. 

 

Another big factor that I believe is the elephant walking in the room is the research and number of faculty available. I feel this is one of the top factors when deciding which program is the best for you. I will always pick programs that I know many professors are doing research I am passionate about. The reason why I mention this a lot is because when you’re applying for programs and you’re interested in a certain topic you want to make sure there is a good number of faculty who are pursuing that topic. At least on my end and for a lot of biomedical science Ph.D. programs there are rotations. So you will rotate with 3-4 faculty members to see if that's the lab you want to be in. You always want to make sure you have a good list of faculty you’re interested in working with. This is because they may not all be available for you if they have too many students or they don’t take graduate students. It’s just factors like that you should take into consideration. On top of the research, I would also look at the resources they have for research. For resources, this can look like the centers, equipment, or institutes for a certain research area you’re interested in. Another part of the resources is if the faculty you choose to work under has enough funding for you. These are conversations to have once you're admitted into the program. You can talk about the stipend, expectations within the lab, and teaching requirements.  

 

The last big factor to consider is future opportunities. This can look in many different ways. But depending on your goals after graduate school, you want to make sure that the program is preparing you for your future endeavors or opportunities. If you want to go into policy, do they have policy programs or student organizations? If you want to go into the biotechnology industry, do they have company partners you can interview with or have the opportunity to participate in internships? These things will help you make sure you get the future job or opportunity you need. Sometimes that ties a little bit into reputation, but I will dive a little deeper into that in a few seconds. 

 

These are all of the factors to consider. I feel that this is my core list, but there definitely can be more factors. These are just the things that I’ve heard from other people or had conversations with other graduate students. 

 

Now getting into some advice for picking the best graduate program for you. First is whenever you’re picking a graduate program the answer may be different from when in your 20s versus your 30s. So I got really good advice from someone and I am applying at 21 years old. She told me that applying for graduate school is different when you’re 28 and I get that. The changes get into the program style you may want. Do you want just a direct admit program or rotations? Do you just want to get out quickly? Some programs have different priorities and you align them with your values. 

 

The next piece of advice is reputation only goes so far. I have received advice about this from seminars to current students. Sometimes, Harvard is not the best choice for you. When I did my internship at Harvard, some people just did not click with the program and environment. They didn’t have the best experience and the area didn’t feel right to them. They liked being in a more relaxed environment and didn’t like Harvard’s rigid structure. Although I enjoyed my internship, I did see some graduate students who were incredibly stressed. I would always go with the best environment. Let’s say you’re debating between two programs and the research/resources are pretty similar. But if one is Columbia and the other is the University of Michigan. They’re both pretty good schools, but we’re going to agree that Columbia may be the better school. But if Michigan has the best community for you, then go to Michigan. That will go further than having a high-reputation school. When going to graduate school it is so much harder to get through it and will feel like it’s taking forever if you don’t have a supportive community who cares about you. Having the community will make the degree a much more enjoyable experience, and more worthwhile, and may feel like it’s going faster. It’s like when you’re enjoying something it goes by so much quicker. 

 

My next piece of advice is to talk to graduate students in the programs you get accepted into and see how they’re doing. Ask what their experience has been like. A lot of times during the recruitment visits, which is after the interview process, the program may give a very positive image about the university. That’s fine and understandable since they’re trying to recruit you to their program. At the same time, you want to know the whole story. Even though there may be some bad parts, the good will outweigh the bad if the program is for you. It’s also good to talk to current students because they will tell you how it is or a more real version of their life as a graduate student in the program. I would also connect with them and see what they do after graduate school. This is to see what kinds of opportunities these have to do. 

 

The last piece of advice I can give when picking the best graduate program is sometimes it may just be a feeling. That’s sounds so corny and maybe I won’t have that experience. But after talking to some graduate students in both of the internships I had, they said it was feeling for them. It was really that one program just stood out to them. Sometimes the gut instinct is what you need to figure it out.

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