60: Rising Seniors, You Got This!

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, here we go. Today, I have a message that I want to share specifically to my juniors, the juniors in our McNair program, who we call "rising seniors." They will be rising seniors in the summer, and then seniors starting in the fall. This message is for you. And this message is also for any rising seniors out there in my listening world, in the Grad School Femtoring podcast world. This message is for you, for rising seniors who- maybe your current student planning or hoping, thinking about applying to grad school in the fall. And maybe you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed about it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm here to hopefully help make you feel a little bit better, make things seem a little bit more doable, and just address some of the things that might be freaking you out right now, that might be making you feel overwhelmed or stressed out. I've definitely been there when I was an undergrad. I know that those feelings are probably further compounded now, because of the pandemic and just ongoing issues of inequity. But I'm here to tell you that there is hope.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What's going on? What is stressing my students out? What may be stressing you out? A couple of things. In our program, our students are required to conduct research while they're in the program. They're also required to study for the GRE in preparation for taking the exam in the summer, and then applying to grad programs in the fall. Our students are also supposed to be developing strong ties with faculty in hopes that they will become recommenders. Our students are supposed be maintaining their GPA, hopefully a 3.0 or above. And then our students are supposed to be staying on top of the grad application process.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is a lot. This does not include familial responsibilities and obligations. This does not include part time jobs that they may have to pay the bills and make ends meet. That doesn't include their own health, whether they're going through physical or mental health concerns. So there's a lot on your plate. I remember there was a lot on my plate when I was an undergrad, and applying to grad school was overwhelming. It didn't seem feasible.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The only reason I did it was because I was required to do so. But the whole time along the way, I was wondering whether or not it was even gonna get done. And even more so, I was like, it's one thing to get it done. It's another thing to even get in. It just seemed so out of reach. Another thing that I remember as an undergrad was- not only did applying to grad school feel out of reach, it was really hard to figure out how I was going to get it all done and how I was going to get prepared for it. It was hard.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Earlier today, I actually had a meeting with a student. And they were kind of expressing some of those similar feelings, of feeling like they don't have enough time, feeling like maybe they haven't been doing enough research. They haven't had enough time to study for the GRE. They feel like they haven't been going to office hours. They're struggling with midterms and finals, feeling overwhelmed as to what to do and when to do it with regard to prepping for their grad applications. All of it just feels like, how am I even gonna get it done? Am I even going to be able to apply to grad school?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I had to remind the student, it's okay. You're gonna get it done. You have our support. But more specifically, I asked the student- what are the things that are freaking you out right now? Then I addressed each one of them. Those are the things I'm going to address right now.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

One thing is freaking out about not doing enough research. If you are like my students, if you are like I was when I was an undergrad, there was that expectation of doing research every quarter. And to be frank, I didn't do research every quarter. I didn't do research all the time. I constantly had it in the back of my head, like I'm supposed to do research. But there were times- especially midterms, finals- when research went to the bottom of my list. I just didn't have enough time. I had to prioritize doing well on my midterms, on my finals, getting good grades, and so on.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And I thought that I was always behind on my research, and that if I wasn't doing enough. I wasn't going to be competent enough, and that when I applied to grad school, whatever my writing sample was, they're going to notice. Like oh, clearly she did not do enough, put in enough time and this is not going to cut it. In actuality, yes, you should be doing some research throughout the academic year. It is a requirement. But it's not the end of the world if you don't do it every week. It's not the end of the world if you don't have a fifteen page paper every quarter. It's okay to do the bare minimum on your research, so long as you have a plan for completing a research project in the summer.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I know that in our program, and I know that for a lot of graduate admissions committees, they want to make sure that you can complete a project from beginning to end, that you can complete a paper, for instance, a graduate level length paper- fifteen, twenty, twenty-five pages. So long as you've been working on it incrementally- even if some quarters not as much as or others- but by the time you graduate, you have evidence of research. You have a graduate level length paper- fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, ten for some STEM fields. Whatever is appropriate within your discipline. Whether it's departmental- working on a thesis for departmental honors, or maybe you are submitting it to an undergraduate journal, or maybe you're just finishing a paper and submitting it to your program, whatever undergraduate research program you're a part of. Your paper's done and you've completed the project.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Or it might not even be a paper. Maybe at the end of the summer, you weren't able to get into a lab. You weren't able to get your IRB approval, so you worked on a critical literature review or you worked on a proposal. That is still okay. I've seen all kinds of students with all kinds of writing, with all kinds of GPA, with all kinds of letters of rec, I've seen them all get into graduate programs. So it's not the end of the world. Make sure you maintain your research in some way, shape, or form. And if not, have a plan for getting it done in the summer and you'll be fine.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The next topic is freaking out about letters of rec, feeling like, oh my goodness. Throughout this pandemic, I haven't had the capacity- just like the mental capacity- to attend office hours It's really hard to make a connection with professors when it's all over zoom, when I'm zoomed out, when I'm tired, when I've got family in the background, when I don't feel comfortable keeping my camera on, when my internet is slow. I don't have great Wi Fi, I gotta keep my camera off, because it keeps cutting on and off. There's so many reasons that you might not have developed strong ties with professors.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Well, let me tell you. I've helped people get into graduate school without having strong relationships with professors. I've helped some folks who didn't even do research in undergrad, didn't have a faculty mentor, get into graduate school. How? Ideally, it would be nice to have recommendation letters from folks who know you very well. Ideally, maybe you might have had one, two, maybe three faculty mentors in undergrad, and they can write you glowing letters. But most of us don't live in an ideal world.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

For our students, I know they all have a faculty mentor, so they at least have one letter secured. For the other two, I recommend reviewing your transcripts. Take a look at the professors that you've taken. Is there someone whose class you took more than once? Or maybe you took a professor for a class more than once, and you did well in those classes? You got someone you took twice, two different classes, got a B plus, A, A minus in that class.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You are completely justified in asking me for a recommendation letter, even if you did not attend office hours. If you're afraid that they might not remember you, professors have an obligation to write recommendation letters as part of their service work. They get to decide who they write letters for, but in my opinion, it makes complete sense to write a recommendation letter for a student who did well in their class. Why not? Why not promote higher education? I mean, isn't that the reason why they're still in academia, to help that pipeline?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It happens all the time. It's completely normal for professors to get letter recommendation requests from students who did well in their class, who they didn't personally mentor on research. It's still okay to ask. It happens all the time. It's the norm. It's doesn't feel like the norm to you because it's your first time asking. It's your first time applying, and so of course, it's daunting. It's intimidating. But on their end, they get these requests all the time.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So long as you stay organized, you provide them with everything they need- a letter of recommendation packet with your CV, a rough draft of an application essay. Anything else that they may ask for, but definitely the programs that you're going to apply for, the deadlines. Give them the information that they need, or that they request. And ask early. Ask at the beginning of the fall quarter if your applications are due at the end of fall quarter, and then give them the letter of recommendation packet materials by the mid part of the term, at least a month before the first deadline.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then remind them as you get closer to the deadline. Just a gentle reminder that my deadlines for grad school are coming up. The first one comes up December 1st. I greatly appreciate your support. Please let me know if you need anything else from me. That's it, send them a reminder. And usually I also say give them a deadline that's earlier than the actual deadline. That way, you're not freaking out the day before because they haven't submitted it, because they're waiting until the deadline to submit it. Some of us, you give us a deadline and we do it the day before.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Those are just a few things. If you're freaking out about letters of rec, don't freak out. Check your transcripts. See whose classes you did well in- and by well, I mean B plus, A minus, A. It doesn't have to be a glowing A plus. In some cases, some students even ask folks who they received a B in. That's kind of on a case by case basis, and I would recommend scheduling a meeting with that professor, so that you can express your enthusiasm, passion, ambition. That way they can see- you weren't a stellar student in the class, but you are doing very well now. So letters of rec, don't freak out. You can still get them in, even if you didn't have multiple faculty mentors.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What else is freaking students out? Another thing that comes up a lot is the GRE, feeling like you don't have any time to study for the Graduate Record Exam. This has come up time and time again. For our students, we pay for them to take a GRE class. As much as we want them to study every week and to meet certain study goals, I know for a fact that not everybody's going to do it, and that some of them are only going to do the bare minimum because that's all the capacity that they have. That's okay.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

More and more programs are making the GRE optional, or they're not requiring it. Or they're requiring it, but they're not weighing it heavily. More and more programs are taking more of a holistic approach to reviewing grad school applications. That means that they are weighing other things just as heavily, if not more heavily, than the GRE exam.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It's not as important as it used to be. Should you study? Yes, go ahead, especially in certain fields. Some fields do weigh it a little bit more, in fields like physics, or economics, possibly chemistry, political science. The more quantitative the discipline is- they might have a minimum score. So definitely look into the graduate programs you're interested in applying to, and see if they have a minimum GRE score. When I have heard of minimum GRE scores, it tends to be they want late 150s, early 160s, which is 80th percentile and above.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But if that's not the case- in every other discipline, it's not as important as, say, your application essays or your recommendation letters. Those are things that are within your control. You get to decide who's going to be your recommender. You get to work on multiple drafts of your application essays, to make sure that they're strong at the time that you submit them. For the GRE, do what you can with the time that you have. For my students, study if you can, as much as you can. But if you find yourself during midterms- right now we're in midterms- during finals, that you can't devote as much time on it as possible, it's okay.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You can always study a little bit more in the summer and if need be, we can provide an extension. We like to get our students to take the GRE exam by the end of the summer at the latest. That way, they're good to go on the fall for grad apps. If you are wondering about that, and you're one of my students and you're listening to this message, and you feel you need a little bit more time, please reach out to me. On a case by case basis, we're more than willing to provide that kind of accommodation. So the GRE, do what you can. But don't freak out, it's not the most important aspect of your grad school application.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now, another thing that comes up is GPA. GPA concerns come up time and time again. It's wild to work for a McNair program, because there's a whole spectrum of GPA scores in the program. We've got folks who- technically we're trying to get our students to stay at a 3.0 and above. Some students I can tell they're working really hard, and they still struggle to maintain a 3.0. Especially some of our students in STEM fields, who have to take very competitive gateway courses, the weeder courses is what they call them- that really messes up their GPA. So we've got students who are struggling to kind of maintain that 3.0, and then we've got students on the other end of the spectrum- three point nines, like you can't get any closer to a perfect score. And all of them are freaking out just as much about GPA.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is a TMI- when I was an undergrad, I worked so hard. I worked so hard. But man, my first year- because I did all four years at UCLA- those GE courses messed up my GPA. I really couldn't fully catch up after that. So I worked really hard, and by my junior and senior year, I was starting to get straight A's. I still ended up with a 3.4. My goal was, I really want to get to at least 3.5. I don't know why that number was in my head. It should have been at 3.6, so I could have had honors. But in my head, I was like at least a 3.5.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I ended up graduating with a 3.49, and I was so ashamed, so ashamed because I saw some of my friends with their little gold tassels, showing that they had a really great GPA. And here I was with what I thought was just the plain old average GPA. I kept thinking I wasn't good enough compared to other people in my cohort, and I wasn't as bright as them. All of that was just impostor syndrome, feeling like I didn't belong, being in a white supremacist space, being in a classist space. All of those things were having me project those feelings.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But now I know that you can get into grad school with any GPA. It's just all about the way that you frame your application and the experiences that you accumulate to prepare you for that. So with a GPA, if you do have a low GPA- and by low, it really again, depends on your discipline, but below a 3.0, or the low 3.0's. In some disciplines, they might expect you to have, like I said, 3.6 and above is considered a competitive GPA score.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you're at 3.1, 3.0, 2.9, you could always explain that in your application. In fact, I have a podcast episode on the topic of identifying and explaining, justifying gaps in your application. I might even see if I can pull it up right now, because I know that one is actually one of the more popular podcast episodes from my analytics. No, my top episodes are writing the statement of purpose, the Grad School Entrance exams, all the things I'm talking about right now.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

How to Address GRE, GPA and other gaps in your application- that's episode 38. If you are really stressing out over a low GRE score, over a low GPA, go ahead and check out that podcast episode number 38. Just go back, go to my episodes and find that podcast on the topic of addressing a gap.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So the GPA, it's not the end of the world if you don't have the strongest GPA. It's really hard to tell exactly who is going to get into graduate school, because I've seen students with nearly perfect GPAs not get in to a bunch of programs and students with GPAs on the lower end get into a couple of programs. It's hard to tell why. When students ask me when they're applying to the McNair program, how many students apply, how many students get in? It's really hard to quantify these things, because every year is different.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Every year with students that apply to McNair, we have a different amount of applications that come in. We also have a different amount of spots that are available. I can't just say, this is the percentage, and this is what it's going to be every year, because it does change. The same goes for grad school. This year was probably a more competitive year because of the pandemic, because I've heard from faculty that applications to graduate programs have skyrocketed, and that some programs have less funding. Some professors are not taking students.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is why, if you're planning to apply to grad school, I'm not trying to discourage you. In fact, I want to encourage you to be proactive, to contact professors and programs that you're interested in. Reach out to them, ask them if they're accepting students for this coming 2021 application cycle. That way, you're not wasting your time.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If they say yes, schedule to meet with them. See if there's good rapport. Don't worry, they're not out to get you. They're not out to find out that you're an imposter, that you know nothing about the field. No, they're not out to do that. And if they are, you don't want to work with them. You're interviewing them too. So reach out, find out if they're accepting students, if they are great, and keep them on your list. And if they're not, no means next. Move on to the next application. There are lots of programs for you to apply to.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Even though there have been more applications last cycle, again, I don't know what's going to happen this cycle. This cycle, there might be less. Every year is changing. Now that the pandemic's kind of easing up, things are opening back up, I don't know what that means for the application cycle. I can't tell you yes, it's gonna get more competitive. It may ease up. So don't worry about that part of it. Just worry about what you can do with your application to make it as strong as possible.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Really, at the end of the day, you want to prioritize your essays. And you want to make sure you have your recommenders focus on the things that you can control. I mentioned the GPA and gaps. What's another thing that has come up? The last thing that has come up- it's the reason why I created a calendar for that- is students freaking out about getting organized.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

One thing that I don't think I realized until- I don't know if it was college or grad school- is I realized that most people are not like me. As a child, someone who has dealt with childhood trauma, and was raised under challenging circumstances, one of my coping mechanisms was to one, be a perfectionist. I'm working toward not being so much of a perfectionist anymore. And two, I don't know if I've always been type A, but always wanting to organize, wanting to focus on what I can control, becoming a kind of a controlling person. I'm working on that too.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

In doing so, I realized I've kind of gained a lot of organizational skills. I'm very good at organizing things and helping people get organized. I'm good at time management. And that's why I can do what I do, which is run the McNair program and homeschool and take care of my baby. Obviously, I have support too. I'm not just doing it all. But time management and getting organized, all those things are not skills that come easy to most people.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So I started to realize that a lot of students don't really use planners in the way that I do, or update their calendars in the way that I do. They don't know when to do what to do. Not knowing what every step in the process of applying to graduate school- like when are you supposed to take the GRE, for instance? When are you supposed to ask for letters of rec? When are you supposed to provide letter of recommendation packets? When are you supposed to open up the portals? When do they even open up?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

When are you supposed to submit your applications? Because the deadline may be December 1st, but actually you might want to submit it earlier. Some applications require that you submit it early, and then they don't send the recommendation letter link until after you've submitted everything. When am I supposed to apply for a fee waiver and not miss the deadline? When am I supposed to send transcripts, and make sure they get there on time? When am I supposed to send GRE scores and make sure that they're not late? You see what I mean?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I can imagine why our students are freaking out, because that's kind of overwhelming. Well, I created that calendar that's on my link and bio on my IG and on my website. I'm going to be sending that to my students too, because everybody could use an extra resource. And if I can just kind of guide you and give you a rough idea of when- I'm not an expert, I've said this before. But in my experience in overseeing and femtoring other students, what are the ranges of time of when you should be doing things?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Like around this week, you should maybe do this. Around this week, you should maybe do that. I don't think you have to stick to it so on point. Not everybody has to be type A like me, but having that rough kind of estimated timeline might help.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you're my student, don't freak out, it's all part of our program. It's all part of the curriculum. It's part of the seminars. You're going to have a boot camp. You're going to be okay. Just stick with the process, you're going to be okay.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you're not one of my students, just keep listening to the episodes. I have a bunch of stuff. And as things come up, I'm gonna keep recording on the things that come up for my students, so that y'all that are listening to me can also get the same femtoring. The more accessible we can make this information, the better.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I don't believe that everybody necessarily needs to go to graduate school. I also don't necessarily believe that everybody needs to become a researcher or a professor. I certainly did not become a professor, as you can tell. But if it is a required thing, if it's something that you know you need to do to get to your long term goals, to get to the career that you want. If you want to get a Master's degree, if you want to get a PhD, I'm here to help you. Why not have access to that information?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Especially if you self identify, like many of us do, as first gen, as working class, as a person of color. A lot of times we don't have that hidden curriculum. We don't have access to that knowledge from our tias and tios and grandparents and brother or parents or whoever it is. We just don't have that. This is why I do what I do, so that you all can hear this information, know that you're not alone. Kind of validate what you're going through, and hopefully make things feel a little bit more approachable. It's not easy.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So if you're thinking of applying, I'm here to be your cheerleader. And after you're done applying, and you're done with submitting all your apps, I'm here to tell you to celebrate yourself because just applying is a huge deal. Then hopefully you'll get in and that's another reason to celebrate.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But again, I'll be walking you through the process, at least in the podcast. And then my students, you know, seminars, one on ones. We've got your back. You're not alone. Thank you so much for listening, and I will talk to you all next time. Bye.