Ever since 2001 when I first became a student affairs professional/academic advisor, I got a lot of questions from students about grad school - whether, how, when, what to apply to. It seems to me, in my 7th year of advising people on post-undergrad plans, that for this younger generation of Asian Americans seems the college degree is just the start in the higher ed plans. For me, I remember thinking that college would be it. I hadn't given much thought to grad school at all. For these kids it's like college is like high school to them, and grad school is the minimum goal in higher education.
The problem is that they rarely have an idea of why they want to get an advanced degree. The first question I always ask them is: Why do you want this degree?
It's very very rare for any of them to be able to answer this question. I think their difficulty answering the question has to do with the fact that they think I'm asking them, "why do you want to finish high school?" To them, the answer is, "well duh!" and they get frustrated that I want them to articulate why.
People, advanced degrees are NOT goals in themselves. They are TOOLS, for your personal missions in life. Why do you need an advanced degree? What will you use it for? Unless you can answer these questions, you aren't ready to even apply to a graduate program, because these are the two primary questions you must answer in completing a personal statement.
That's another thing. A personal statement is NOT your autobiography of how you overcame life's obstacles and adversities. These stories, while important to understanding who you are, should never be the meat of a personal statement for grad school. They're great for applying to college, but practically useless for personal statements when applying to most grad programs.
OK, with all that, here's what you need to answer on your own if you are to apply to graduate school.
1. Forget that you want to go to grad school for a while, and answer this. What do you want to do with your career in life and why?
2. Do you really need a graduate degree to do what you want to do?
If you do need a grad degree to do what you want to do, start to identify the right programs. DO NOT look at lame ass rankings in magazines. They don't know you, so they don't know what the top 10 programs are for you. Answer the following questions:
1. What are your academic interests and philosophies?
2. What do you need to complete your degree efficiently and successfully? Is funding important? Geography? Diverse student peers?
3. When it comes down to it... it's all about FIT! Who are you? What are your interests? What do you plan to do? What do the programs you're considering offer, and how does that fit you? For example, if you come from a Freirean perspective and are looking at schools of education, education departments consisting of faculty who don't give much respect to Freire are NOT right for you. Even if it's Teacher's College at Columbia or Harvard, if the faculty and students there don't dig Freire, it would prolly be a very harsh climate for you and will hinder you from completion. Guess what "ivy league" means. People, it's JUST AN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE! I'll say it again... put national rankings down at the bottom of your criteria in identifying programs to apply to.
And with all that said, I'm sure most of you will continue looking at rankings for your guidance, and decide that a grad degree is a goal for you. For those of you who still don't think a grad degree is a goal in life, and not just a tool, might I comment that your goals in life are quite low. Look at the bigger picture in life... what is it that you want to be remembered for? What do you want to accomplish in life?
