August 16th-
The quote above describes the "why" question of going to graduate school. Are you going just to get that degree? Or are you going because you have this passion, this need to figure something out, to put together pieces of puzzle? For me, it's because I have this fervent need to research a specific problem so that we can better understand it.
If you know me, you’ll know that I love school and learning. School gives me the structure I need and learning allows me to enrich my mind, and consequently my life. My love for learning has led me to where I am now. I am currently a rising senior at UWEC going through the graduate school application process. This summer, I did not just conduct research through the McNair program, but I was also looking into the different graduate programs that I will be applying to this fall. I have gained a lot through this process. It is not dissimilar to the undergraduate application process, but it is a lot more high stakes. Here are some things that I learned when looking for a school.
Location- For my undergrad, I am attending a school four hours away from my hometown. While this has been hard, I have established myself in Eau Claire. My preference for graduate schools would be within Wisconsin, Eastern Minnesota, or Northern Illinois. You will see on my list of schools that the majority of them are in these areas.
Professors- When you are applying for your undergrad, you tend to look at the school as a whole and not for individual professors that you would like to work with. But when you are looking for graduate schools, you first look for a professor that has a similar research interest to you and then you look at the school as a whole.
Labs/Research- Earning your PhD is all about research. You want to keep that in mind when looking for schools. The best way to tell if the school will be a good fit is to look at the research that the department and professors are doing. One of the schools I am applying to has a lab that is almost identical to my research interest. I am looking for a school that will help aid me in my research, not be a detriment to it.
Funding- This is probably one of the most important things to keep in mind when applying for graduate school: is it funded? What this means is essentially are you getting paid to do your research and go to school there. Typically, a masters is not funded while a PhD is. All of the schools I have chosen are funded.
It was harder for me to find schools to apply to because my area of research is so niche. Not many are researching how people develop their political opinions online. Keeping this information in mind, I have come up with a list of five schools that I will be applying to this fall:
University of Minnesota- Twin Cities
University of Wisconsin- Madison
Northwestern University
University of Pennsylvania
Duke University