<p>The titular question is addressed to anyone that pursued a graduate education in any shape or form (professional programs included). I myself am applying to PhD programs and I found PhD processes (not for US schools in particular but admissions to PhD programs in the US are stressful) to be much more painful than undergraduate processes for STEM disciplines (healthcare disciplines excluded) at home.</p>
<p>For me, grad by FAR.
I knew I was getting into colleges as an undergrad. No such guarantee as a grad student. </p>
<p>I’m whearing about my son’s girlfriend apply to PhD programs. She seems to have to write a separate research paper for each program as part of putting together what her research goals are for each school. </p>
<p>I didn’t find applying to architecture school too stressful way back when. My major included enough studio art courses and at least one intro to architecture and design type course that I had plenty to put in a portfolio. Personal statement wasn’t hard. Rest was similar to undergrad.</p>
<p>I would expect JD holders to find law school admissions not overly stressful since so much of it is numbers-based…</p>
<p>I found graduate school admissions to be much more stressful than undergrad admissions, for the following reasons. I applied to PhD programs in computer science, so things might be different in other fields.</p>
<p>You are not warned beforehand when admissions decisions are sent out. So when I was applying for undergrad, I knew I could relax until the second week of December for my early schools, and the last few weeks of March for the schools I applied to regular decision. But for grad school, I was stressed from the middle of January to the end of April.</p>
<p>Acceptances are often sent out much earlier than rejections. I found out I was rejected from the school I went to for undergrad from a poster in the department advertising the admitted students weekend. I got an official rejection a few weeks later.</p>
<p>You are not informed about entire application process. In CS, you don’t have to be interviewed before getting offered admissions. I got accepted to the school I’m at now without an interview. However, at some schools (UC Berkeley, for example), an interview is required to get accepted. But at least when I applied, there was no indication on UC Berkeley’s website that an interview was a part of the process at all.</p>
<p>There’s not as much information about grad school admissions as there is for undergrad. I relied on CC a lot for undergrad admissions, but the grad school subforum isn’t active, and I couldn’t find a good replacement. Also, different subfield do things differently, so any advice you see for biology, for example, won’t necessarily be true for computer science.</p>
<p>The size of admitted class is very different. So I think, generally speaking, it is harder to get into a grad school program. Some master programs in US are not that difficult to get into though. Actually for some master programs, most students graduated from US colleges are not very motivated to pay and go to some (but not all) master programs. PhD programs are much harder to get into. But I heard that some PhD programs may admit more students and screen them later. Not all admitted students/PhD programs are created equal.</p>
<p>It is also quite difficult/unpredictable to be admitted to HYPSM as college though, because their admission criteria are somewhat opaque especially in the non-academic EC areas. This may be because some lucrative jobs in US seem to require only college level education from these colleges (receiving more education from an elite or non-elite grad program may not help break into these career paths.)</p>
<p>Grad School because I got accepted to kellogg but couldn’t afford it. </p>
<p>@mcat2: There’s no career path that HYPSM undergrad opens doors to that can not be opened by certain other schools as well or can’t be reached by another path (including grad school).</p>
<p>You might as well be specific instead of vague so that misconceptions can be corrected.</p>
<p>In any case, I only applied to undergrad and b-school, and frankly, neither was that stressful. For undergrad, I had a safety that was stellar in my field, and if I didn’t get in to the b-school that I wanted, I had another option and could try again later.</p>
<p>Applying for jobs was more stressful since money and your career path was at stake.</p>
<p>I"t is also quite difficult/unpredictable to be admitted to HYPSM as college though, because their admission criteria are somewhat opaque especially in the non-academic EC areas. This may be because some lucrative jobs in US seem to require only college level education from these colleges (receiving more education from an elite or non-elite grad program may not help break into these career paths.)"</p>
<p>Oh, get real. HYPSM are not magic conduits to corridors of power or lucrative jobs; you have to put in the work and have the right personal qualities. I swear, it is odd how these 5 get so idealized and idolized on CC. </p>
<p>Which is more stressful- recovering from a stroke or getting breast cancer?</p>
<p>OP- what exactly are you trying to learn? Maybe if you ask the actual question we can help you. For some students, who know exactly what they want to do professionally, applying to grad school is a cake walk. There are 5-8 schools which will get the job done- they have been told by their professors and department adviser that they are a strong candidate for all of them and are likely to get into at least one of them; game, set and match.</p>
<p>For others- either because they are applying to longshot programs and their credentials put them on the “bubble”, the process can be drawn out and stressful. Their funding might not be guaranteed; they many not have a clear sense of what they want to study so they need to cast a wide net; they’ve got geographic limitations so they can’t apply to the schools where they are a sure thing, etc.</p>
<p>I did not find applying to business school at all stressful. I had been out in the working world; my stats put me as a “clear admit” to one or two schools and a “likely admit” at the others; I knew how much I could borrow and I knew what I wanted to do once I got there. I know kids now applying to law school with a similar story- the stats tell the tale and they are pretty much assured of being accepted to one of their schools and then just need to see where else they will get in. Even med school-- allegedly so fraught with stress- a kid with good med school advising can be told “you are a long shot everywhere” or “you are likely to be admitted here (often your own state’s public med school) and maybe one other”.</p>
<p>Listen to the experts (at your college, not your friends and not your parents friends) and they can de-stress the process significantly. Grad admissions is a much simpler exercise for almost everyone who knows what they want to study and there aren’t nearly as many moving parts as there are for undergrad.</p>
<p>plus you are an adult (presumably) so don’t need to have the chorus of your HS friends, parents, aunts and uncles in the background. If you’re getting a Master’s in quantitative finance, and have narrowed the field to 8 schools, you don’t need to listen to Aunt Mildred say “What are you going to do with that”.</p>
<p>Probably depends on what kind of “grad school”.</p>
<p>For my son, grad school. Every school wanted an interview, and 1 school only offered 1 weekend. He flew to NJ then sF between thursday to Sunday, with one of 3 snowstorms. Interviews would last at least 1 day, meeting different professors. Some wanted to explore the person and share interests; others were like exams. Social events were still an evaluation.</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting this was harder than job hunting, but trying to answer OP’s question.</p>
<p>Oh, forgot to mention that he was admitted in a day or 2 after 1st interview, at an excellent school, so he knew he’d have some place to hang his hat for a few years.</p>
<p>A million years ago, I found both really easy, tbh.</p>
<p>Undergrad, I applied to a couple of schools, got accepted, went to the one that offered me a scholarship (what we now call “Merit” aid.)</p>
<p>Grad school, I had a couple of profs who really liked me and my work (remember, back then we drank and smoked and socialized with our profs. There wasn’t this wierd extended childhood the drinking age has created). They kind of talked me into grad school, guided my process and really picked where I ended up. </p>
<p>But, I know things are different now. Start to finish.</p>
<p>good luck to you.</p>
<p>As always Blossom, you always hit the nail on the head. A great school advising is key, they have historicals. </p>
<p>Definitely, residency application.
UG + Med. School were lots of fun. Great memories for the rest of our lives. Residency application is like sitting on the nails for several months and constantly praying, please, anybody, take her.</p>
<p>Gosh…I had forgotten the above poster had a kid in medical school :)) </p>
<p>Catria, your question really can’t be uniformly answered. A lot depends on the specific programs, and the specific colleges of interest.</p>
<p>Some people think that people going to med school are smartest people.</p>
<p>Grad schools vs. professional schools are different in terms of application stress IMHO.</p>
<p>And grad school for MBA or MS or MA is different than grad school for PhD. </p>
<p>My experience is second hand, but DH was SO stressed when applying for grad. school. All of them required in-person interviews, right smack-dab in the middle of basketball season. Luckily, we were able to swing 2 of his interviews during the same time he had a tournament in the same area. It involved driving all over LA county, while having to arrange our own places to stay separate from the team due to the locations. </p>
<p>I was very happy when it was all over. </p>
<p>“Some people think that people going to med school are smartest people”
-And others are thinking that they are the hardest working people on our planet. In my eyes, they are heroes, nothing less…</p>