One of our most common questions this quarter has been, “How do I pick which school to go to from my multiple admissions offers?” So we wrote this blog post to provide you with answers. First, congratulations on making it this far into the school admissions process! It is such an exciting time and we are proud of you.
Sure, all the schools that have admitted you are great, but which should you really choose to attend and spend the next 4-5 years of your life? The tips below are in no particular order (we do mention which are our dealbreakers 😬). Graduate school is going to be a significant and transformative time in your life so pick and choose which factors make the most sense for you. We will cover six admissions decision tips which you can remember as R2C2FL.
R – Research, R – Reputation, C – Current Students, C– cost of Living, F – funding, and L– location.
A) Research availability. This is our first admissions decision tip. Perhaps when you were writing your Statement of Purpose for different schools you tweaked your research statement slightly to fit in with each school. Now is your time to pull out all the stops and be rigorous with your thought process. Take a closer look at the professors at your potential new programs. Is there one research program that resonates better with you? Does one school focus more on the computational side of things, while another school focuses on the experimental side? Which of these sound more interesting to you?
B) Reputation of school/professors of interest. Because you followed our advice on our optimize your school list blog post, you have been accepted into a variety of schools. There are two ways you can go about selecting your choice. The first is the utilitarian way — you can pick the highest ranked school on your list for your specific program of interest. Another way would be to look at how your research professors of interest rank in the field. The potential to work with a highly ranked professor in the field increases your chances/ease of finding the right opportunity after graduation. Ultimately, ask yourself “how would the reputation of the school and/or my professor of interest help me get to where I need to go after graduation?”
C) Current Students opinion. This is the time to start reaching out to current students to ask them about their experiences as graduate students. Start by using LinkedIn to connect with students in your school/program of interest. Do they like the program? What do they not like? What do they wish they had known before starting the program? Current students don’t lie. They have nothing to lose 😁. If you are fortunate to be able to go visit the schools in person, we have an upcoming blog post that gives you more tips on how to get information from current students. Stay tuned.
D) Cost of Living. This admissions tip should really be a dealbreaker #2. Cities are not created equal. So when you’re looking at the actual dollar value that a school is offering you be very cautious. The cost of living in Palo Alto, California (home to Stanford) is very different from the cost of living in Atlanta, Georgia (home to Georgia Tech). It is important to find out how far your dollar value is going to go in these cities. Do a simple google search to find out, answers to questions like “what is the typical cost of a 2 bedroom apartment”. We couldn’t find a helpful calculator as at the time of publishing but if you do please share in the comments for your fellow readers!
E) Funding. Our #1 dealbreaker admissions tip! In this case, funding doesn’t refer to how much you will be getting paid, see previous point on cost of living. Funding in this case refers to a potential research advisor’s ability to pay you throughout the 4-5 years of your research program.
Scour through your potential advisor’s of interests profile. Are their current research projects funded? When did they last receive a grant? Have they published a paper in the last 2-3 years in the research area you’re interested in? You can also check the acknowledgements or funding section of their recent publications to verify funding status. All of these indicate that they have an active research program and can most likely provide you with a Graduate Research Assistantship. Also pay attention to whether a school requires you to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) at any point, and whether the school can support you if your professor loses funding. Loss of funding can be detrimental halfway through your research program, but this loss can be painless or painful depending on whether you have support from your department.
F) Location. You might be thinking to yourself, I can survive anywhere. You are probably right. We ourselves made that point in our school selection blog post. However, now that you are spoiled for choice, ask yourself “what kind of place do I want to spend the next few years of your life?”. Do you see yourself thriving in this place? Are there activities in the city that will keep you sane when tough times arise – which they certainly will? Will you be able to find community in this place? These questions can help you decide whether you like the location.
Now that you know our R2C2FL method, go forth and share it with others. Comment below to let us know which of these you’ll be using to make your admissions decision.
Pro Tip: If you’re an analytically driven person, rank each of the factors from 1-10, and add other factors or things that are important to you in a school. See which of your schools have the highest aggregate ranking. And then spend a few days imagining yourself in the school. In fact, tell people that’s where you’ve decided to go. How does the thought feel? Are you pleased with your choice after a few days? If yes, then it’s a wrap. If not, do it for the next school.
Ultimately, remember there is no wrong choice! No matter where you end up, YOU get to define and determine your success at the school! Good luck. Let us know at the SASS if we can help you narrow down your choices.