<p>Oh, my goodness! I’ve been doing some research into the whole process for applying to Ph.D. programs, and it is totally overwhelming. </p>
<p>The undergrad application process wasn’t bad at all. I only had to help DD keep up with things for one school: UA, since she refused to apply anyplace else.</p>
<p>Well, she now has stats and published research that will hopefully get her an interview at pretty much any school. At least that would seem to be the case from student profiles I’ve read here and on another site that list stats and where the student was asked to interview and was finally accepted.</p>
<p>We’ve finally decided on 3 different field research opportunities DD will be doing this year, in a break from her past genetics-related research with the Hudson Alpha Research Institute. She thought it was important to branch out and get some field work under her belt, in addition to the lab work she’s done for the past two years (two years in a bio lab and 1 year in a psych lab).</p>
<p>So now her next step is to meet with her genetics/genomics professor and her research professor (animal behavior, ecology, conservation) to see if they can give her some preliminary guidance based on her interests. She’s always been focused on genetics/genomics, but she’s really enjoyed working in Dr. Earley’s lab. Her problem is going to be trying to decide on a focus since she’s interested in many different areas.</p>
<p>Writing her CV, write her Statements of Purpose for each school, spending the time learning about all the different research being done in her areas of interest, putting her applications together, and trying to juggle it all for up to 10 or 20 different schools. </p>
<p>Yes, she’ll be responsible for doing most of it herself. But I want to be familiar with the process so I can at least offer her some guidance or direction to go for resources, and then just offer emotional support.</p>
<p>Ah, the glory of having girls. So jealous. Let me guess. She’s a junior.<br>
Important thing, first off, is know what the deadlines are now. My son missed many deadlines because he was too busy during the semester, and when he came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, hoping to do his apps then, he was already too late on several schools.
Second, don’t assume because you’re applying to a state school, it’s going to be a safety. Depending on the field of interest, many little known schools are as selective as the Ivies because they are known for their programs.
Some schools will require GRE subject tests, as well as the GRE. Make sure she takes those if necessary. I’m assuming she’s a biology major, so she may have to take a biology, even chemistry or math GRE, if those do exist.
Son has not only had to write the statement of purpose and send gre scores and transcripts and get letters of recommendation, but he also had to write diversity statements.<br>
Don’t apply to a school because of prestige. Look at your department of interest, see what research the faculty are doing, and apply based on that. Reach out to those faculty members, saying you’re interested in applying to the school for grad school and working with them. My son has gotten many emails and even phone interviews by doing this.
We did, in fact, let son do it all himself. Whether this was wise or not, only time will tell, as mentioned above with the missed deadlines. But, we feel like this is the time he’s going to be living in an apartment, having more of a job with someone he’ll have to report to more so than his research at Bama, so we’re trying to stay out of it.
But I am totally freaking out because I feel like I should be apartment hunting with him for the fall, and we still don’t even know if he’s even going to be admitted anyplace.
Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ve already started my spreadsheet! I have things like date applications open, final deadline for apps, application fee, yearly stipend, any published stats about # applicants and offers made, if the GRE subject test is required or strongly recommended, any special notes about the programs, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve spent some time investigating whether you apply 1) to a particular department, 2) a mini-umbrella program where you select the dept/program 2nd year, or 3) a very broad umbrella program.</p>
<p>We’re mainly looking at schools that fit option 3 since D could end up going in 1 of 3 different directions, or trying to pull any or all of those directions into her own unique opportunity.</p>
<p>I sent her my document that also links to each school’s program. Now it’s up to hear to visit those links and poke around to see what’s being done in various places.</p>
<p>She’s coming home for spring break next Wednesday. I’m thinking of asking her if she’d like to take a little trip up to Vandy on Thursday or Friday, since it’s only a 90 minute drive from home. I went there my first 2 years of undergrad until we couldn’t keep up with the costs. I’d love to see her go there!</p>
<p>Montegut, good luck to your son in receiving a bunch of acceptance offers so he can pick and choose where he wants to end up.</p>
<p>When we went thru this, we made a spreadsheet with college names, what each req’d, deadlines, number of LORs needed, which GRE scores, etc. I think they all required a statement of purpose, resume, and some other written piece. If you need a total of 4 profs to write LORs, be sure to ask 5…just in case one flakes. </p>
<p>When requesting LORs, give at least a months notice…and send polite reminders. When requesting a LOR, son sent an email, with resume attached, to each prof asking for the LOR and asking if the prof would like to meet to discuss. In nearly every case, the prof said he/she would write the LOR and that a meeting wasn’t necessary since he/she knew son well enough.</p>
<p>There are no safeties for PhD programs, even the ones that we called safeties (ha ha) only accepted 10 - 15% of applicants. The top ones only accepted a few percent.</p>
<p>I already have a spreadsheet started! D is working in two research labs (bio and psych), so she’ll have them write 2 of her LORs. She’ll ask her supervisor and the BioTrain Director from her two summers at HudsonAlpha doing research to write any others she needs. So there shouldn’t be any problems there. As backup, she can have her genetics/genomics professor do a LOR, since she had the highest grade in that class which was half graduate students. </p>
<p>Right now, she’s hoping to have all of her applications completed by early November, well in advance of the Dec 1 deadlines most of the schools have (at least that’s last year’s date).</p>
<p>I think she’ll spend the summer finalizing her list of schools, working on her SOPs for those schools. Maybe try to make a visit to Rockefeller University (I have lots of friends in NYC) and up to Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Stupid question: Do grad schools encourage students to come for pre-application visits? </p>
<p>I’m hoping the fact that she’ll have 3 published posters, 1 primary author published paper, and won this year’s Randall Award for Outstanding Undergrad Research, with a 4.099 GPA in her major and a 3.998 overall GPA will make schools interested.</p>
<p>My D has another year and a half until she’ll start putting in grad school applications. In order to get all those ducks in a row, is there anywhere at UA that a student could go to get help in putting together the best app possible? For instance, how to write the statement of purpose, what to put on or leave off the resume, how to find which schools she has a real shot at getting into and funding possibilities. Are there any seminars or even classes for doing apps? She’ll get a masters in speech pathology, which is very competitive to get into a program. How about reasonably priced GRE prep on campus or nearby? </p>
<p>I’m overwhelmed just reading this…</p>
<p>Yankee Belle, the Career Center offers graduate school planning services: <a href=“Graduate School - Career Center”>Graduate School - Career Center;
<p>My son has been going through the law school process. Make sure you pay attention to deadlines, because everyone is different. He only applied to five schools. Why? It’s about $100 a school. So come up with a budget for those apps. Same thing for testing like the GRE, GMAT or LSAT. Again, you really do not want to take them two or three times, because of the expense. </p>
<p>BAMAMom2Be: As for the visits, my son just did the open house at UVA Law. He chose to wait until he knew his fate. Three of his law schools are a distance from him, so he did not want to incur the expense. Same thing for his friend who is a PhD candidate in engineering. She waited until they offered to fly her to their schools.</p>
<p>"“Same thing for his friend who is a PhD candidate in engineering. She waited until they offered to fly her to their schools.”"</p>
<p>S1 did the same. Waited til acceptances came thru because then the schools paid for transportation, hotels, and food for a visit.</p>
<p>I couldn’t even tell you where one of my son’s schools is on the map. I think he’s planned it that way! </p>
<p>Luckily, two of the top picks don’t even have an application fee! </p>