Graduate School Applications

I applied to Ph.D. programs this fall and I wish I had had this blog to post about those misadvenures, some of which will undoubtedly be relayed here as a retrospective. As I am starting to hear back from schools (or at least one school), I'm reminded of the process that those applications required and, of course, of the "suggestions" I have for the schools and departments receiving said applications. In no order other than the one in which they pop into my head, some reflections on the graduate school applications process:

1. It's a second job.
I had been planning on applying to PhD programs in fall 2006 for a while, started researching programs last year, and secured recommendations over the summer. Nevertheless, reaching out to faculty, talking to students, and preparing the applications took a tremendous amount of time. Even without knowing the results of this endeavor, some of the time was well worth it. Writing a statement of purpose was challenging and took many drafts, but I think the final product was sharp. Some of the time was not worthwhile. For example, recalculating my GPA 7 different ways or typing up a list of classes that relate to my prospective field when I sent multiple copies (as per the rules) of my transcript. I can't imagine how knowing my precise GPA for my first 2 years of college is really helpful.

In my ideal world, there would be a centralized application system similar to those used for professional schools. While those are imperfect systems, it would be nice not to type my addresss, my resume, my recommenders' phone numbers, etc, multiple times. I'm sure the faculty writing me recommendations would have been pleased to only upload their recommendations once. I was happy to customize my statement of purpose for each department, but I was not happy to re-enter my GRE scores or try to figure out how to cram my current long job title into different sized boxes multiple times.

2. University and department websites
Websites abound and they are critical to the application process. They are the entry point to finding out which faculty have positions at what school and they are the starting point for submitting applications. They are not, however, all done well. Sometimes the school's graduate admissions site was good and the department's was poor, sometimes the school's information was unclear and the department's was sharp, sometimes both were good and sometimes both are bad.

Given the advice to contact faculty before applying, it would be really helpful if all departments listed their faculty in a way that can be sorted by area or field. Likewise, correct contact information is helpful. And if there is a faculty member who resolutely swears not to answer emails or return phone calls from a prospective student, find a way to indicate this (this didn't happened to me, but happened to a friend who later learned that this professor has a policy of not responding to applicants). It's hard enough to know whether it's ok to email a second time if you don't hear back, but don't make applicants question whether their polite inquiry managed to offend the luddite professor who never checks, much less answers, email or the professor who doesn't deign to speak to mere applicants.

3. Timelines
This topic certainly reflects my present antsiness. I very much appreciate the schools that have been in contact and let me know when I would hear from them. Based on talking to current graduate students, I can expect to hear from programs anywhere from February to April. That's a long span of time to wait, and I think the waiting would be easier if I knew even the 2 week window in which a given program mails admissions decisions.

A corollary to this is being clear about what happens if accepted. In some fields, departments bring their short list of candidates to campus for interviews, while in others, they bring admitted students in for recruitment/admit days. If a department does either, they should post when these events take place. I think most grad school applicants realize that they may not get in, but I'd like to know if I should avoid making plans for all of March or just the last 2 weeks. In light of the fact that faculty in my field consistently spoke about how important one's peers are, it seems kind of important to meet those peers before committing to a program, assuming one has a choice. Thus, is it asking too much to request that departments include information in the admissions segment of their website that states when they usually (subject to change, of course) invite short-listed or admitted students to campus.