It is not like applying to undergrad

Step 1: School reputation is at most secondary to finding a graduate advisor

Do not be a snob. Many of the schools that you may have blown off in your undergraduate applications as "party schools" have immense research budgets and absolutely jawdropping resources. Whether you like it or not, the same money and institutional motivation that can bring the sports teams that bring the stupid activity can also bring the world-class research training.

I went to a graduate school where students had recently set dumpster fires, flipped cars, and pushed couches out dorm windows--all to celebrate a NCAA basketball tournament win. Is that why I picked that place? No. It is why I failed to even NOTICE the school as one I should put on my list until my advisor pointed me in that direction.

Why would my advisor have pointed me to a party school? Because...

Grad school is about building a professional relationship with usually 1 or 2 people with whom you will work intimately for 5-7 years.

So, what you get out of graduate training is not at all what random strangers think about the words after your degree letters. Most of what you will get out of graduate training is close mentorship, repeated feedback (or let's just be honest: criticism), continual expectations, and a daily rhythm of give-and-take (where you are giving a little bit more than you are taking)

You need to get along with this person, and you have to work productively with this person. You will fight with this person. You will share victories with this person. You will probably get some of the best and the worst of this person--neither of which may be right for you if you do you graduate-school search poorly.

Search for professors whose work interest you

But who? How do I know whose work interests me?

Probably the ones you cite in the papers you write.

Probably the ones working in an area you want to pursue.

Probably the ones who your current professors have had personal interactions with.

Search for professors who are still actively researching

Huh?

Look at their website, scroll past the silly or funny inside-joke stuff on there, and find either:

• Representative Publications or

• Curriculum vitae (vita, c.v., it's like a resume but not)

Publications: Try to see whether they list recent papers within the last 5 years or the last 10 years. Generally more recent research publication suggests a more active laboratory.

Grants & Funding: See if they have funding from NSF (for basic research) or NIH (for clinical research). If they have funding from ARO or DARPA, you should ask yourself whether you are comfortable working on research with military applications. Funding from any of those acronyms means that they should have funding to support students.

Interpreting what the grants mean can be tricky. Some people may not need external funding to support students, and other people might have so many grants that it can signal a very high-powered, sometimes higher-stress environment. That's not a bad thing, but it's something to be aware of on the interview.

Check whether the website lists past students

What are those students doing?

How many of the recent publications on the professor's website have student names as coauthors?

Can you see how long they took through the program?

Write brief, formal e-mails to professors asking whether they are taking new graduate students to their lab

If you want to e-mail Professor Sam Schmo, you start the e-mail like this:

Dear Prof. Schmo,

or if you're feeling lazy:

Dear Dr. Schmo

As intimidating as it may be to think about working towards an advanced degree, that's how much the recipient of the email has already worked. So, you do not start the e-mail "Hey" or "'sup" or even "lol."

You use capital letters at all the usual places you would in a formal paper. You put one space after each comma or full stop. You press Enter after salutation and before sign-off. And you get to the point with only as much information as you need. For instance, to our colleague Prof. Schmo, you might say:

Dear Prof. Schmo,

I am a student at Grinnell College considering applying to graduate school in psychology. I have enjoyed reading your recent research in the article by Snap, Crackle, Pop, & Schmo (2017). I am interested in studying the theory/method you focus on in that work, and graduate training in this field would be an exciting prospect.

Would you please let me know whether you expect to take on new graduate students this upcoming Fall?

Many thanks,

Damian

And that's it. If you want to mention briefly some detail about how you heard about Prof. Schmo's work (e.g., classroom laboratory, conversation with your professor, summer research), that's fine, but keep it short and sweet. Don't e-mail back until you hear from Prof. Schmo, and then usually consult with a trusted advisor of your own on next steps.

DO NOT run a graduate-school application full to completion without consulting with faculty you know or with career-counseling staff

There are so many things you don't know to even ask about, e.g., fee waivers available at some schools for low-income students. Because each application to a graduate school is expensive.

"How many schools did you apply to, Damian?"

Five. But given the support I got from my advisor, I probably didn't need to apply to more than 1. My advisor in undergrad knew my eventual graduate advisor personally, and he was able to point me toward someone I would work well with and to help me tailor my application to what he knew about my eventual graduate advisor. The other four would have been great, and most of them were as advisor supported as the 1 that I needed.

If you're still reading, then that means you may want to know about how to interview for grad school applications. For that, you should come visit my office, for which the door is usually open. But as with tips on applying, I also have some tips on interviewing.

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