320: How to Choose the Right Graduate Program for You

320: How to Choose the Right Graduate Program for You

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[00:00:00] Each quarter I co-facilitate one or two structured networking sessions with several women of color. These are audiences of 50 to a hundred people. And after those sessions, I find myself with a few networking calls on my calendar. It's individuals who wanna follow up with me one-on-one to learn more about me and my work.

And so I recently was on a call with someone who found me in this way, and she is a recent college grad. Let me just call her Danielle, for short. So Danielle came to me and was asking me more about what I do, and she also was asking me some questions about graduate school. As a recent college grad, she was thinking that the PhD was the obvious next step.

She wanted the funding, she wanted the prestige, she wanted the credentials, and she assumed that getting [00:01:00] a PhD credential would translate into job security. But then as I asked her more open-ended questions and we peeled back the layers, she hadn't really thought through what it would mean for her to dedicate 5, 6, 7, 8, sometimes even 10 years of her life to a graduate program that would pay her what is often a poverty level stipend and might actually cost her more in terms of the emotional and the professional costs that sometimes come with pursuing the program that is not the right program for you, and this is not just a one-time scenario. This happens to me a lot. I have had countless conversations with individuals who just assume that going to any graduate program will set them up for success.

They don't actually sit down to take the time to [00:02:00] think. One, do I even need to go to grad school? And two, if I do need to and want to go to graduate school, how do I find the right program? That's what we're gonna be talking about today. We're gonna be talking about what to do if you've decided to go to graduate school and you want to make sure you find the right graduate program, how do you choose the right program?

Welcome to the award-winning grad school Femtoring podcast. The place for first gen Bipoc to listen in on inclusive grad school stories and learn about personal development and productivity tips. This is Yvette Martinez Vu, a certified coach, consultant and author, and I will be serving as your Femtoring, providing you with insider knowledge to help you reach your personal and professional [00:03:00] goals.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Grad School Fem Touring Podcast. This is your host, Doctora Yvette. I am looking forward to continuing this discussion of how to find the right program for you. This is probably one of the most common questions I get when it comes to graduate school application questions once people decide that they wanna go to grad school.

This is a very important next step, is actually coming up with that graduate school list. And what I notice is that a lot of folks assume that if they just choose the top programs in their field, then they'll be good to go. And if that doesn't work, sometimes they'll just assume, oh, I'll just go to any program that's close by.

And unfortunately, [00:04:00] very few people actually take the time to research the programs and take the time to understand what their needs are. And what even is the reason why you're thinking of going to grad school to begin with. What is your long-term goal? Is this program gonna equip you with the tools, with the skills, and with the network to reach those goals?

So I'm gonna share with you a couple of different areas or dimensions of program fit that you can consider to help you to find these programs.

So the first one that comes up that is incredibly important is this question of quote unquote academic fit. What I mean by this is you need to know that there are people there that are doing the work that you want to do, that there are people there that you can work with, that you would wanna receive mentorship, guidance, and support from that you would wanna learn from their subject area expertise.[00:05:00]

So you need to ask yourself, do the faculty align with my research interests and my goals? Are there gonna be research opportunities that are gonna work for me? If it's not a PhD program, then you could ask yourself still, do the faculty align with what I wanna do? And are there professional opportunities that work for the career?

I'm interested in why am I prioritizing this? Because like I said earlier, a lot of folks just focus on the ranking of a program and they don't actually sit down to look at the faculty profiles. And then when they do look at the faculty profiles. A little bit too late they realize, oh no, this is actually not the best program for me.

There's no one here doing what I wanna do. So keep that in mind. Identify two to three professors whose work excites you, and an extra tip is to reach out to them so you can [00:06:00] book meetings to learn more about their work, to learn if they're accepting students, and to look to find out what they're looking for in prospective applicants.

The second dimension of program fit that I wanna emphasize is what comes up as a very important dimension for first gen and low income students, and that is funding. And the question here that you want to ask yourself is, can I afford to attend and live while in this program? So those are two separate parts of that question.

Can you afford to go there based on the funding that they provide you? And can you also afford to live there based on the cost of living of that area? And I say this because a lot of people assume, oh, if I get full funding, then I will be okay. And unfortunately, [00:07:00] full funding still is often not enough to survive if you're living in a co.

It's still not enough to survive if you're living in an area with a very high cost of living. So that means you might still have to take on part-time or full-time work to make ends meet while completing a graduate degree. So funding is a big question. Keep in mind that there are hidden costs, even if you get full funding.

And how do you find out if they offer you funding? You have to talk to people. So the tip here is to. Reach out to graduate students in some of the programs you're interested in, and ask them more about what funding looks like in their program. Now, another dimension that's really, really important, especially for my BIPOC listeners, is the question of identity affirming environment.

Is [00:08:00] this a place where I will. Be embrace where I will feel like I belong, where I will be able to show up as my full self. Am I gonna be physically and psychologically safe here? How do you determine this? You have to look beyond the graduate program to that campus to see do they have affinity groups?

What is the diversity like on this campus? What is the diversity like in my program, in my department? Do they have any first gen programs? Do they have any resources for parenting students? Do they have, very supportive disability service offices? And again, this requires a little bit of extra research and sometimes reaching out and talking to people from these different resource centers just to make sure that there are resources available to grad students [00:09:00] as well.

So the tip here is to really trust your gut when you're getting that impression of what is the departmental culture like here? And am I gonna feel safe here? Because oftentimes you take a look and you start to look around, dig for information, and sometimes you're pleasantly surprised and sometimes you just get that gut feeling that this is not.

The best or safest place for me. And that's just as important as the academic fit. That's just as important as the funding. 'cause you wanna make sure that you can actually survive and thrive in this program.

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Another dimension that I wanna add, that's actually new. So I have a, another episode, one of my very, very early episodes.

Was about the grad school list and how to create your grad school list. And in that episode I did talk about some factors to consider that are very common to consider when creating your grad school list. And I, at the time, I don't believe I addressed this dimension, but it's become more and more relevant the more I work with disabled students, neurodivergent students.

It's this question of accessibility and energy needs. [00:11:00] And so the question that I want you to ask yourself is, does this program accommodate my learning style? First off, what even is my learning style? If you don't know what it is, there's a lot of free quizzes where you can find out what your learning style is, but so what is my learning style?

Does this program accommodate my learning style? Does this program accommodate my access needs? Does this program provide resources to help me with managing my mental health? And so the things that you wanna consider is, well, what is the campus size and also what are the cohort sizes? Because that will also inform how much time and energy you will receive from your faculty in the program.

What is the advising like? Is there a specific advising model within this program? How flexible are they? Do they offer remote options? Is this an online program? Is it a hybrid [00:12:00] program? Is it a program that's very flexible and works with professionals who work full-time? These are things you wanna take into account because it, some programs are flexible and they'll allow you to take longer and extend your timeline if you can't take as many courses at a time.

So think about. Your access needs, your energy needs, and then see how that translates to aligning with, again, the campus size, the cohort size, the type of advising and mentorship that you'll receive in that program. And other things to even consider are, am I gonna need to commute? 'cause that also takes up a lot of time and energy.

What are my caregiving responsibilities? Do they offer. Scholarships for childcare. Have they worked with students who have had your type of disability or who have had chronic health [00:13:00] conditions? And if so, how have they supported them? And this is a question of how comfortable you are with reaching out to students.

I recommend talking to grad students. I also recommend. Um, looking into the different services that they offer, so whether it's the counseling and psychological services center, or looking at the disability or accessibility services center, and finding out what options are available there for graduate students.

Now, the last component that I wanna emphasize today is this question of personal and professional. Alignment. And by this I mean is this program going to help you to pursue the career and life that you want, not just the one that academia expects you to pursue? So this is a big [00:14:00] question of. Is this program actually going to equip me again with the skills and the knowledge and the network that I need for my career, for the career and life that I want?

How do you assess this? Well, first you have to get clear on what you want, so you have to get clear on what your long-term goals are. You also have to get clear on what your values are. You have to get clear on what thriving will look like for you once you're done with this program. And then from there you wanna see, okay, so if I'm someone who values service, work and teaching, is this program gonna put me on this teaching track?

Is there a teaching credential that I can get? Is there, a certain set of courses that I can take related to this? Is there a special internship? So. Figuring out what your needs are, and then again, does this program provide opportunities [00:15:00] that are going to meet your personal and professional needs? Now, all of this to say that there is no perfect graduate program, and at the end of the day, you need to discover and identify.

What your needs and non-negotiables are, especially the non-negotiables, because if they are non-negotiables, then this is something that you're unwilling to compromise on, and so you can find programs that can meet your non-negotiables and that can meet your needs. Even though it's not easy, even though it's more work, it's worth it because you're gonna be investing a lot of time and energy and money into this graduate program.

So once again. Just to remind you, the five core dimensions were academic fit. Do they have faculty research and professional opportunities that align with my interests and goals? [00:16:00] Funding and structure? Can I afford to attend and live in this place while in this program, identity affirming environment, can I imagine showing up as my full self?

Belonging in this place, accessibility and energy needs. Does this program accommodate my learning style, my access needs, and my mental health? And last but not least, personal and professional alignment. Does this program have opportunities that are gonna help me? Build the future that I want and not just the future that academia expects.

If you'd like what you heard today, I want to call attention to a resource that I have in my shop. It's called the Grad School Application Organizer. It [00:17:00] comes with over a dozen resources to help you apply to grad school. From a timeline to an application tracker to a glossary of frequent terms that come up to an exploration guide to help you walk you through this process of how to find the right programs for you.

Different handouts on helping you to draft your essays, templates for your cv, your resume templates to send out emails to professors and graduate students. So all these things that I mentioned. It's in that organizer plus several surprise bonuses. I think there's like five or six bonuses. I have a lot of resources, and I want to make this process as easeful and as joyful as possible for you.

That's why I built this organizer. So if you wanna check it out, go to the link in the show notes or go to my shop grad school femtor.com/shop. Take a look at the. Complete grad school application organizer [00:18:00] and hopefully you will be able to have all the support that you need to confidently apply to graduate school.

Good luck everyone, and as always, I will talk to you all next time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: ​Thanks so much for listening. If you liked what you heard, here are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, playlists on all things grad school, productivity, and personal development.

The third way to support my show is to follow me on social media. You can find me on Instagram with the handle at gradschoolfemtoring and on LinkedIn by searching my name. Thanks again for listening. And until next time. [00:19:00]