Applying To Grad School

When applying to graduate school, I did a few things right as well as a few things wrong. I will give a bit of advice then attach some of my application essays at the bottom if you want examples. Here are a few things I feel worth mentioning:

• Take the GRE test as early as possible!!! With the option of sending just one score to a school, take the test early, preferably the spring before you apply. That way if you do great on it, you have less pressure, if not, you have time to really study!
• Ask for recommendations early and phrase your asking for recommendations with an out for whomever you are asking. When I asked I phrased it as, “Professor, do you feel you know me well enough and respect my work enough to give me a REALLY STRONG recommendation letter?” I phrased it this way because recommendations really do matter. If you get just a lukewarm recommendation that can be the difference of whether or not you are accepted. I did have 2 different people say they would be willing to write me a recommendation, but they weren’t sure if it would be REALLY STRONG. Of course I shied away from them and went with those who knew me well enough to make me look even better.
• Shoot for the stars. Apply to schools you really want to go to, but apply to others that are ranked well. Although my undergrad school has around 35,000 students, it is less known without real name recognition, especially for top schools. My dream was to go to Stanford, or somewhere WARM (ended up at Purdue, so that didn’t happen) that was ranked in the top 10. I thought it was such a long shot to get accepted to any of them, but I still applied to 8 of the top 10 schools, 2 more ranked between 11-20, and 2 safety schools ranked 21-30. I ended up getting accepted to most schools in the top 10, got accepted for a master’s with no funding and a rejection for the schools ranked 11-20, and was accepted with no stipend from one school in my “safety” set (essentially a rejection) and the other safety school offered a low stipend. My best offers came from the top 10 schools with decent funding for all of them. I didn’t choose the highest stipend, rather I chose for my advisor.
• Choose your school based heavily on who will be your Advisor. I got this advice from a lot of people, but I thought there were good advisors everywhere and I cared more about ranking. After visiting the schools and meeting all the different advisors, I changed my mind on this. Advisors will make it or break it for you. I chose Purdue over UC Berkeley because I really wanted to work with 2 professors at Purdue. I was offered a 4-year fellowship, but didn’t get accepted right away with an advisor. After I accepted and started my classes at Purdue I finally got to work with the advisor I really liked because I had a fellowship.
• Apply for fellowships along with your application for graduate school. If you get a fellowship your chances of getting into your dream school go up DRAMATICALLY!!! Also, money is always good, and most fellowships are better funding that any RA/TA position for a first year grad student. Also, advisors will love you and will let you work with them - this happened to me! Originally the advisor seemed pretty cold to the idea of bringing on another student (I found out later that to fund a student per year is around 60K), but when he found out I had fellowship funding he agreed right away and brought me onto a project. Funding can be stressful for Professors, so anything you do to relieve this stress is a big plus.
• Example Essays: (Stanford, Michigan, UCBerkeley, Purdue)