130: Top 8 Episodes for Applying to Grad School

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hola hola everyone. Today I have a short episode solo episode for you to talk to you about my recommendations, top eight grad school Femtoring podcast episodes that will help you with applying to grad school. I am covering this topic, because this is something that comes up regularly is first folks will ask, you know, they'll send me a message, whether it's on social media, or on email, I'd like to apply to grad school, how can I get started. And I always like to direct them to the free resources, which is the podcast. And soon enough, it'll also be the blogs because I plan to incorporate more blog posts on my website. And also one thing that I'm actively working on right now is adding transcripts to my podcast episodes. And so in the next couple of weeks, you'll start to see transcripts for each of the episodes, and you'll be able to download them, again, all in an effort for accessibility. And then if they, you know, listen to the episodes, read the transcripts, check out my blog posts, and one extra assistance, then they come to me for that coaching, the document review services, that continues to be a big part of what I do. And so let's say you are applying to grad school, I've got a lot of folks who are still applying to masters programs right now, some folks are applying to more professional or applied master's programs. I also have some people reaching out to me who want to work with me because they're doing early preparation for this falls application cycle. So they want to get an early start. And if that sounds like you, if you know you're going to be applying to grad school this fall, and you want to get an early start, then this is the episode for you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And I'm going to get started with the first episode that I recommend is my first episode, episode one, which is titled the grad school list. And, you know, when I got started with this podcast, I didn't know what it was gonna turn into. I just named them whatever came up. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna talk about the grad school list. That's the title of this episode. But what actually went into that episode is, how to create grad school is what goes into it, how to get started, and I believe it shares at least three strategies to getting started on creating your grad school list. How do you find programs? How do you find, I don't know 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 programs, depending on how many programs you're going to be applying to? How do you find them and ensure that they're a good fit? So that's a great place to get started. Because if you're thinking of going to grad school, you really need a list. It's hard to get anything done. If you don't have a grad school list. How do you do everything else? How do you ask for letters of rec, if you don't know where you're applying to? How do you start writing your essays if you don't know the prompts for the programs that you're applying to. So always get started with the grad school list in mind. Then, after you have your first or second draft of grad school list, and you start to feel a little bit more comfortable and secure in the places that you're going to be applying to, then I recommend listening to episode number two. So the first set of episodes of my podcast, were all about that it was all how to how to episodes on applying to grad school because that what was what folks were asking me about. And that's very much how I operate is if I start to notice trends, if I start to get a lot of requests, then an I have something to say about that. And if I have knowledge or experience, then I will talk about that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So episode two is all about how to ask for letters of recommendation. This is great because I know that this is not a fun part. It's not a fun component of the application process. I personally did not enjoy requesting letters of rec, it very much felt like gatekeeping. But it is part of the process. You have to do it. Most programs ask for at least three letters of rec. And so I cover some of the pain points that come up some of the things that a lot of students worry about, like what do you do if you don't feel like you have enough? recommenders? What if you didn't develop a lot of strong relationships? Maybe you only developed one or two really strong relationships. What do you do about that third recommender? I cover that in that episode. And then once they said yes, how do you ensure that they actually write a strong letter of rec, you work on a letter of recommendation packet, what goes in the packet, I cover that in the episode. So check that one out. That's episode two.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The next episode, and I've been debating whether or not to include this one in my top eight, I am still debating whether or not I should include it. But I'm going to go ahead and add include it. Because it is still a requirement in some cases, and that is the GRE exam. If you've been following me, if you've listened to a good portion of my podcast episodes, if you've ever had a conversation with me, you know that I am not a fan of the Graduate Record Exam. I am not a fan of standardized tests in general, to be honest with you, but it is part of the process, it is a hurdle that you may have to get through. And if in your case, the GRE is required, then check out episode three. If it's not required, if you check that all your programs, if they're all optional, or don't ask for it at all. That's wonderful, but for you ignore that episode. But if it is required in at least one of your programs, or more than you're going to have to face it, you're gonna have to take this test, you're gonna have to study for it. And just keep in mind what I share in that episode. And just that you get a better sense of how much that test will be weighed, depending on your discipline.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, so the next top podcast episode I want to recommend, and this one is, by far, the most popular, the most played episode. I have over 100 and what not, going into 130. This is episode 130. So I have 130 episodes, and among all 130 this is the top episode. This is episode five, writing the statement of purpose. If you had told me this was going to be the most played episode, I probably would have scripted it, I would have polished it I would have prepared a little bit more. I have no idea. But I think the reason why this is such a popular episode is because it is one of the most important components of your application. Your essays, especially because a Statement of Purpose is the most common essay that you'll be asked to write. Some programs asked for a personal statement or a diversity statement. They don't all ask for it. But most programs will ask for a statement of purpose. And I give a very clear and specific instructions on how to approach writing the statement. And in fact, one might say that I give you the structure and outline for how to write it. There is no one way to write the statement of purpose. You don't have to follow the outline based on my recommendations. But there are things that in general, most programs are looking for, there's information that they want from you, they want to know about your previous experience. They want to know what you want to gain from this program. They want to know if you know this program is aligned with your long term goals. They want to make sure you're a good fit. So a lot of the things that I cover that are important to address and your Statement of Purpose continue to hold true to this day. And it's been over two years since I recorded that episode. So I still think it's a it's a solid episode. I'd still a top plate episode. So check it out writing Statement of Purpose episode five. If you've writing essays for grad school apps, and there's only one episode you need to or you have time to check out that should be the one.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, next up is... Another popular one, not as popular, but also popular and it's also related to grad school essays, episode seven, writing personal and diversity statements. This one's also popular because again, your graduate school application essays are really important. That is one of the most frequent ways that people come and work with me is they come to me so that I can provide document review services and in my packages, I don't just review material on my own actually review it live with people so I read it out loud in front of them and ask Questions? Why don't you been here? Oh, can you expand on this? Oh, can you clarify? Oh, I'm not sure this is what you meant, oh, you failed to mention this very big part about what you just told me about your background. And it's in those live sessions that we uncover a lot of information. And they give him feedback for what to revise, they work on their revisions, we go over it again. And by the time they're done, they're really confident with their essays. They're ready to submit them. But yes, so writing personal and diversity statements, that can be tricky, because it's not always clear what they're asking for some programs will give you very specific prompts. And if they do, that's great. Make sure to always answer the prompts. If they don't, and so very vague prompt, then you might want to check out that episode on how to write personal diversity statements, because I talk about the differences between the two. And also what you should do if a prompt is a hybrid. Sometimes, they ask you for a statement. And what they're actually asking for is a combination of the personal and a diversity statements. Sometimes they ask you for a hybrid, that's a combination of a statement of purpose, and a personal statement. So what do you do on those instances, if you are a little bit confused on how to write these essays? check out episode number seven writing personal and diversity statements, they are not the same.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, next up is episode 35. On contacting and meeting with prospective faculty, let me just give you a reality check the world that we live in, it demands that we network that we you know for better, for worse, if you want to call it something else that we build community that we connect with others, those of y'all that are introverts like me, you're probably feeling a little bit uneasy. Because I know I myself, dreaded reaching out to people dreaded meeting your professors, I was so intimidated, I didn't want to waste their time, I didn't value myself enough. And I wish that I did. I wish that I knew what I know now, which is how important it is to build connections. And if they made me feel like I didn't belong, and if they made me feel like I was wasting their time, then that was their loss that was on them. That was not personal to me. But, so episode 35 is to remind you how important it is to meet with professors before you apply to these programs. Why? Because you're going to be meeting and working with these individuals regularly for 23, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, who knows how many years depending on whether it's a master's or a doctorate program. And it's in your best interest to meet these people before you agree to be in a professional relationship with them. And the other reason why it's important is because it's almost a requirement to spend STEM fields, it is a requirement to meet faculty before you apply. And also so that way you don't waste your time because in meeting them, you can find out are they actually accepting students this year or not? In meeting with them, you could get support, sometimes you develop a really good connection and rapport with someone and they offer to review your application materials in advance before you apply. And so you're missing out on all these opportunities because you're not reaching out to meet with them. And if you don't feel like you're ready, if you don't feel like you're prepared, do it anyway, you know, prepare a few days before you meet them. It's okay to reach out it's okay to meet people. And in that episode, episode 35, I cover you know, how do you actually send an email to connect with a professor? What should you expect during these meetings? How do you prepare for that meeting so that you feel like you've done your research and your homework and it's not an awkward and uncomfortable conversation? And why it's so important to do it anyway, which is what I've been talking about the importance of networking and community building and mentorship, mentorship, in academia and even outside of academia in life in general. It's really important to make connections. All right, so I'm getting down to the last two of the top eight episodes for applying to grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The next one I want to highlight is Episode 13, which is how to prepare for grad school interview. So when you're preparing for grad school interview, it is important to know in advance what types of questions you might be asked. What does a an agenda for an interview day look like? What types of questions should you be asking them? What questions should you ask grad students? What questions should you ask the faculty? What questions should you ask alumni? These are some of the things that I cover in that episode. So if you even if you're not quite at the stage, where you've been invited to an interview, it's good to listen to this episode, because some of the questions that they may ask you in an interview, or that you may want to ask them during an interview them could also be things that you will ask when you are contacting and meeting them just to meet them before you apply. So it doesn't hurt to listen to that episode early.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And the last episode, and this one you might not listen to right away. Unless, again, you're like me, and you like to prep for things way in advance is episode 49. Which is you got into grad school. Now what? Because you work work work so hard up to the point and then you realize you get it and it's it's this moment of disbelief, like oh my gosh, I did it. Oh, my gosh, I got in all my goodness, I'm overwhelmed. What do I do? How do I read this graduate school offer? What do they mean? Like, what am I accepting? And how do I know it's the right program for me? How do I negotiate my funding? What am I supposed to do? Like? How do I talk to these professors? Where do I ask them? How do I find out like, if this is the right community for me? Who do I reach out to what, you know, what do I need to know before I say yes? How do I say yes? Like the formality of it all can also be overwhelming. And so if you find yourself in that position, where you are privileged enough to get a spot in one of the programs that you applied to, or multiple programs that you apply to, and you're just a little bit stuck, a little bit overwhelmed, check out episode 49.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I have a lot more episodes on applying to grad school. I mean, this is Grad School Femtoring. After all, if you're curious about the other episodes that I have, you can actually go to my website, gradschoolfemtoring.com/podcast and then you'll see that as you scroll down my podcast episodes, I have categories so you can actually in the search bar, look up applying for grad school and all of my episodes that have to do with that topic will show up. Another thing you can do is if you weren't able to take notes, or you want a little bit more information than what I share in the transcript for this week's episode, you can actually get the list of these episodes along with the links for all eight episodes, and my Grad School Femtoring resource kit. So if you go to gradschoolfemtoring.com/kit you can actually download. It's a 15 page kit. And inside that kit, are these eight episodes and links to it. Soon enough, I think within the next week or so I'm hoping to get all of the transcripts updated for these episodes so that you can go into them and download the transcripts for each of the episodes. So just now that is in the works. It's not done yet. It's not going to be done by the time you listen to this, but it will be soon soon soon soon. Alright everyone. Thanks so much for listening, and I will talk to you all later.