81: Grad Apps Demystified Course Info Session

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Hi everyone. I have another bonus episode for you. This week, I get to tell you all about my brand new grad apps demystified course. Yes, it's official. I am no longer employed by a university. And I am going to be pursuing the path of what some people call solopreneurship, or being self employed, or being an independent scholar. Whatever you call it, I'm gonna be kind of pursuing my own endeavors and not be affiliated with a university for the time being.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Part of that process involves me putting this course out there that I've been dreaming about for a long time. I've been doing this for, like I said, over ten years- going on on eleven years. I've always thought, wow, wouldn't it be so cool to be able to put together an online course with all the resources that I can think of necessary to help a first gen student of color navigate the graduate school application process. I remember how overwhelming that was for me. I remember just- there's so many aspects of it that for me, were anxiety inducing and just overwhelming overall. So I came up with this course, the grad apps demystified course. It's officially up. I launched it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

If I look a little tired, it is because in the middle of working on finalizing this course, I am also moving. I'm moving out of the Santa Barbara area, and going to be temporarily in the Southern California, San Fernando Valley area in transition. If all goes well, we'll be moving out of the country by the end of the year. So with all the transition, with all these moves, movidas, I am tired. My body is tired. I am going to try to hopefully rest. But before I do so, I'm just too excited and I want to tell you about this course in case you are interested in signing up, or in case you know of anyone who might be interested, who might benefit from this course.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Let me tell you a little bit about it. I'm actually gonna, I'm gonna refer to my grad apps demystified resource guide, forty plus pages. This is all double sided, because we don't wanna waste paper. And also the landing page for the course. That way, I can give you a little bit of a description of the course itself. So what is the course about? In terms of the overview, this course provides step by step instructions on how to apply to grad school. There are ten videos, over three hours of content, twenty publicly accessible podcast episodes- so those are optional. I'm including a curated list of podcast episodes that will help with the course, and twenty downloadable handouts that are part of the grad apps demystified guide. The guide is going to be a really great resource for you to pull up throughout the course, throughout the grad school application process. I put together resources that I created from scratch for you to use as you're applying.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

In terms of my goals for the course, my goals for you are that this course will help reduce your fear and anxiety by demystifying the grad school application process. I also hope that the course will help you reduce your procrastination. It might not eliminate it, but hopefully reduce it by providing you with small manageable steps. That way, you can work on the grad school application little by little and not feel so overwhelmed by it. I'm going to be providing you with advice, with tips, with the downloadable resources that are going to help you with putting together your application.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I also hope to be able to motivate you by allowing you to be part of the Grad School Femtoring community. I just started a Grad School Femtoring support group on Facebook that you'll be able to join for those of you applying to grad school this fall. So go ahead and join. You don't need to sign up for my course to join. It's going to be open to anyone, preferably people who listen to my podcast. And I'll be in there, popping in and out here and there. I won't be there regularly because, again, I'm in transition. But I will pop in and out, just to make sure everything's okay with the group and to answer a few questions here and there.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Then also, just increase your motivation by being your cheerleader throughout the process through my videos. Those are some of my learning goals for you. And each module- there's ten modules, ten videos- will have its own set of goals for you, will have its own assignments, homework assignments, for you to complete. And what else do I want to tell you about the course?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I want to tell you what is part of the grad apps demystified guide, which I think is critical to the course. And this can be or might be the reason that you might want to check it out or sign up for it. The course guide includes your syllabus, a template for how to create a grad school list. There's a lot of questions- questions for you. Questions to ask yourself about whether or not you're ready to apply to grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Templates. We've got lots of email templates. I know email anxiety is a thing. You know why? Because that was something I would constantly be helping other students navigate while working with them through McNair, or Mellon, or coaching sessions. Folks freak out over emails, and understandably so. Some of us were not taught proper email decorum. It's our first time doing this. It's scary, intimidating. So I've got some email templates for you to work off of, and to use it as a sample so that then you can draft your own in your own words. Email templates for how to reach out to grad students, how to reach out to faculty, how to ask for a letter of rec, how to negotiate your funding package. I've got questions to ask when you reach out to professors who are potential advisors. What questions should you ask them? When you reach out to grad students and programs you're interested in, what questions should you ask them?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

How do you draft a CV? There's a CV template available. How do you write a statement of purpose, a personal statement, diversity statement? There are handouts for you to answer questions to help you draft these materials. What else? We've got a handout defining different forms of funding for you. There's a handout with sample funding packages. So what might a funding package look like? What are the things that you might expect for how many years, what types of support? That's really helpful just to give you an idea of what to expect if you were to get a funding package.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I also have interview questions that you might get if you get invited to an open house, or an interview day. And I have a budget template to help you create a budget so that you can successfully navigate your finances while you're a grad student. I know that's a big, big thing that comes up. There's twenty handouts in total. And like I said, ten videos, ten modules with a video each. Each module has a video of about fifteen to twenty minutes. It's supposed to be just get the content, do the homework, move on to the next step. It's not- I'm not telling you everything that's out there, because then it's going to be a really, really long course. Again, I'm not trying to overwhelm you. I'm just trying to give you just enough to get you to apply and to submit a strong application. Then I provide optional podcast episodes for you to listen to if you want to hear more about certain topics.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So that's my course. It's available on my website. You can find the link on YvetteMartinezVu.com. You can find the link on my Instagram account under my Linkin bio, my link tree. I'm also going to put it in the episode notes for this podcast, so that it's an easy click for you to check it out. Again, if you're already a grad student, maybe you don't need this. But you might know someone who's interested. Or if you know you're going to be applying to grad school this fall, check it out.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Also, I want to mention something about pricing. I had a really hard time with setting my price. Why? Because I know how much time and effort I put into this course. I know also how much my time is worth. I also know who my audience is, and I know that a lot of people that listen to my podcast are working class and don't have an extra $199 to spare. So I priced it at that - at $199- knowing it's worth a lot more, and thinking also that $199 is still a relatively high price.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

If you are interested in the course, I would encourage you to seek out sponsors. Is there a professor? Are you part of a program that could provide you with funding? Is there a grant that you can apply for that can cover the fee? If all else fails, see what you can do. Contact me, we can set up a payment plan. I'm happy to find a way to accommodate. And to be frank, you can still apply to grad school without my course and do it fine by listening to my podcast episodes. So if you really can't afford it, don't stress yourself out. You can still apply and do fine. Plenty of people have been doing that since I launched the podcast in 2019.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But if you want that extra help, you're able to seek a sponsor, you're able to save up for the course, go ahead and sign up for it. I also have a special promo. My birthday is actually coming up. My birthday is September 9th. Yes, I am a Virgo. Everybody that knows me knows that I have to tell you that I'm a Virgo. Yes, I am that Virgo. For my special birthday this year, what I'm going to do is anybody who signs up for the course by my birthday, by 9/9/21, by September 9th 2021, you're going to get a free one hour coaching session with me. Yes, a full hour, whatever you want to talk about related to the application process, any struggles that you're going through, your biggest concern or pain point, the thing that scares you the most. Anything you want to talk about, you've got the hour with me. I will follow up with you, send you a Calendly link so that you can book a time to meet with me. And I can help you in whatever way I can.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So yeah. Today's session, I just wanted to announce my grad apps demystified course, a step by step course for first gen students applying to grad school. And ask you to please share. Share. I'm officially- I feel like I'm officially on my own. It is a little bit weird to no longer be employed by an institution. It is so strange to have to do this type of outreach- or marketing is what they call it - on my own to get funding to support myself and my family. And this is the first step. I'm going to try to be open, honest, transparent through the whole process. I'm not always going to be selling things. Yes, I have bills to pay. But also I remain committed to making the information that I know as accessible as possible to you, regardless of your class status.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So go ahead and check it out. Share it with a friend, and let me know what you think. Send me an email. Send me a DM. I am always open to receiving feedback too. Thank you so much, y'all, and I'll talk to you next time.