<p>I am guessing by the many questions posted in CC's graduate school blog with no replies that this is not the best site for graduate school information. Can anyone send me recommendations for helpful sites for grad students? D is upcoming college senior with numbers she is happy with for GPA and GREs. Prof wants her to apply for a Fulbright, but she does not want to spend a year abroad. She is a triple major in English, History and Classics-Latin. She wants to continue with English Lit and ultimately edit. ...I know, I know...Does she want to eat? Not my life, but I am here to give some practical help if I can. Any help is appreciated.</p>
<p>The problem is not that there is no one who can give good information but that often the questions are ill-posed or too vague. If someone asks, as I have seen today, what is the best graduate school for X or can I get into Y for graduate school, there is very little to answer. Every field is extremely specific in admissions and the admission process is heavily dependent on letters or recommendation.</p>
<p>The best resource for information, will start with your D’s professors, particularly those whom she knows best and who will be writing letters for her. They can tell her what the job prospects are (if they are being honest) and what programs might be a good fit for her.</p>
<p>Some of us on CC can answer specific questions but usually if they are in our field. For me that is science and engineering and in particular, physics. I would hesitate to say anything but the most generic things about humanities.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D!</p>
<p>I second the recommendation to use her professors as a resource. They are often a wealth of information and can probably give her the best advice on admissions and current trends in her field.</p>
<p>From there, she just generally needs to research schools (again, professors are a good resource) and consider what research she would like to focus on. She should be looking into what her schools require for admissions (often, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, CV, transcripts), and what are the norms in her field with regards to visiting, interviews, contacting professors, etc.</p>
<p>If she would like to research blogs/forums for graduate school help, there is likely good information out there, but she should try to find something that is field specific (perhaps by a professor or graduate student in her field). Everything in graduate school admissions is very specific to that particular field (even schools in different humanities can have different norms and practices), and in general when reading advice about graduate school online (everything from writing an SOP and asking for letters of rec to job prospects or interviewing skills) should be read with a critical lens and a grain of salt. Some things will apply, somethings won’t, and in general (from my experience at least), pretty much everyone will give the same general advice.</p>
<p>I’m going to graduate school in a very small field, so I found that nothing really applied directly. I took bits and pieces of every resource and just sort of figured it out for myself. A simple google search will probably bring up lots of resources, but if you want a forum like CC that is specific to graduate school, you can look at [The</a> GradCafe Forums](<a href=“http://forum.thegradcafe.com/]The”>http://forum.thegradcafe.com/). It’s not nearly as active as CC in general, but it may be a place to start. They also have blogs that grad students write about the application process.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. I appreciate your thoughtful responses and will pass the RX on to D.</p>