How to Prepare & Apply for Graduate School

Graduate school is an opportunity to advance your education in your specific field of interest after you complete your bachelor’s degree. The content and length of graduate school programs vary depending on the school or field of study, but a full time graduate program typically takes 2–4 years of study. There are a variety of graduate programs available, including the following examples.

Masters degrees

Typically 1.5–2 years. Examples:

• Master of Art, (M.A.)
• Master of Science, (M.S.)
• Master of Fine Arts, (M.F.A.)
• Master of Business Administration, (MBA)

Doctoral degrees

Typically 4–6 years. Examples:

• Doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.)
• Juris doctor (J.D.)
• Doctor of medicine (M.D.) 
• Doctor of dental surgery (D.D.S.)

Graduate certificates

Typically 6–12 months. Examples:

• Data Analytics Certificate
• International Relations Certificate

Yes, if …

If you answer YES to any of these questions, grad school may be a great choice for you:

• Will it help me qualify for promotions or higher-paying positions?
• Will it help me build knowledge, skills, and experience I need for my future career?
• Will it prepare me to change careers?
• Is it required for the job I want?
• Is it clear that grad school will give me a positive return on my investment—is it worth the money, time and effort?

No, if …

If you answer NO to any of these questions, grad school may NOT be a good choice for you:

• Do I want grad school to help me figure out what career you want to pursue? (You should have a specific career goal in mind before you apply for grad school—they will ask this on the application.)
• Do I want to delay career decisions or life responsibilities? (Delays won’t make life easier; without clear goals it’s harder to stay and graduate; and you may end up with debt.) 

Questions to ask yourself

During your first year and sophomore year ask yourself the following questions:

• Why am I interested?
• When do I want to go?
• Reasons to go right away?
• Reasons to wait?
• Am I a person of service?
• What personal experiences do I have that fueled my interest in [choice of field]?
• Do I have practical experience with [field] that:
• Has helped me commit myself to the challenge of fulfilling the necessary coursework required for a graduate program?
• Will strengthen my application to graduate work by giving me hands-on experience and demonstrate that I am fully aware of what the career I have chosen involves?
• Make sure to define your purpose on why you want to go to graduate school
• Am I committed to strive for a GPA of 3.5 or higher? 

Make sure to look into several programs and decide which is the best fit for you. Start building your support network and cultivate relationships with those that can help you with the application process.

To find a graduate program that fits your needs, try one of the following:

1. Run a Google search that matches your interests. For example:

• “master’s degrees in child psychology”
• “doctorate in marine biology”
• “master of fine arts”

2. Try ProFellow,  a free database of funding for graduate school programs. You can use it to search and bookmark more than 2,500 fellowships and fully funded graduate programs. They also publish articles with application tips written by fellows, features and interviews with current and former fellows, and fellowship calls for applications. 

Programs include:

• Undergraduate: Undergraduate fellowships, summer fellowships
• Masters: Fully funded masters, master’s fellowships
• Doctorate: Fully funded PhDs, doctoral fellowships
• Professional/post-doctorate: Professional fellowships, post-doctoral fellowships

You can use search filters to refine your search and results.

For more information on finding fellowships on ProFellow, see their article on How to Find Fully Funded Graduate Programs in Any Discipline.

3. See The Princeton Review, another great resource for finding graduate schools and programs. You can search by name, state, program, enrollment size, institution type, or featured schools. Creating a free account lets you save your favorite schools, and request information directly from your school of interest.

To find a grad school that best fits your needs, consider:

1. Interests and preferences

• Does the program match your career goals and personal interests?
• Are there professors in the program whose academic work matches your interests?
• Do the program, campus, and format (online, in-person, hybrid) match your preferences?
• Are you ready to take on the rigor of grad school courses?

2. Requirements

• What does the program require for you to get accepted?
• What are the acceptance rates?
• What does the program require you to do to graduate?

3. Money

• Can you afford it? 
• What tuition and financial aid options are available?
• Does your employer provide tuition reimbursement?

4. Resources

• What resources and support are available through the school? Consider internships, research opportunities, academic support services, tutoring, networking outlets, and career services.

5. Location

• Can I afford the cost of living in the area?
• Can I complete my masters degree online?
• Is there a residency requirement? If so, can I fulfill it? 

6. Reputation

• Does the school have a good reputation? What about the specific program?
• Are they likely to go bankrupt soon, or close due to low enrollment? (Pro tip: If your school or program does close while you are attending, be prepared to transfer to another accredited institution.)

7. Accreditation

• Is the school accredited?

Apply for 6–9 programs to spread your risk. Otherwise, if you do not get accepted, you will have to wait another year before applying to other programs.

Note: Do NOT apply to multiple programs at the same school! If you apply for more than one program at the same school, the admissions committee will assume that you do not know what you want to study, and will likely reject all of your applications.

Apply to 2–3 programs in each of these three categories:

• Safety programs, where you are reasonably certain that you will be admitted because your GPA and test scores (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.) are well above the average range for admitted students.
• Match programs, where your GPA and test scores (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.) fall well within the school’s average range for admitted students.
• Reach programs, where your GPA and test scores (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.) fall in the lower end—or even below—the school’s average range for accepted students. You may still get accepted if you have a unique, compelling story!

Acceptance rates

How competitive a specific graduate program is depends on how many seats are available and how many people apply. Although fewer people apply to graduate school than to undergraduate degrees, there are also fewer seats available.

Looking up the acceptance rate of the schools you are interested in will help you gauge which schools are a good fit for you. You may be able to find acceptance rate information directly from the school or program. You can also find information on general websites, such as:

• Graduate Schools With High Acceptance Rates
• US News College Rankings and Data
• Graduate School Acceptance Rates: Can You Get In?

College or university accreditation is a standardization tool used to examine schools’ curricular options to determine whether the school is offering students a quality education. The two main types of accreditation for colleges are institutional accreditation (by a regional or national accrediting body) and programmatic accreditation.

Regional vs. national accreditation

Until recently, schools and programs were given either regional or national accreditation. Regional accreditation was considered more rigorous and higher quality than national accreditation. Even though the Department of Education has done away with this distinction, checking who accredited the school can still give you helpful information to decide whether they meet your standards.

The regional accrediting organizations are:

• Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges – (ACCJ)
• Higher Learning Commission – (HLC)
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education – (MSCHE)
• Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools – (MSA-CESS)
• New England Commission of Higher Education  – (NECHE)
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities – (NWCCU)
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges – (SACSCOC)
• WASC Senior College and University Commission – (WSCUC)

Programmatic vs. institutional accreditation

Within a school, specific programs may also be accredited. Programmatic accrediting bodies, such as the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, or the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, audit specific departments to determine whether programs adequately prepare graduates for careers in that field.

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has a directory of programmatic accrediting agencies. Programmatic accreditation doesn’t exist in every field and is supplementary to institutional accreditation.

What happens if my school loses accreditation?

If you have already graduated and earned a degree from a college, the legitimacy of that degree should hold, regardless of whether the school loses accreditation down the line.

If you are currently enrolled in a college that has recently lost accreditation, here are some things that could happen:

• You may no longer qualify for federal financial aid.
• The school may permanently shut down.
• Your credits may not transfer to a different institution.
• Your degree could be deemed invalid for graduate studies.
• You are also unlikely to receive any kind of tuition reimbursement if your college suddenly loses accreditation.

Typically, if your school or program has lost accreditation, the best course of action is to transfer to another accredited institution.

As you explore options, track them on a spreadsheet so you can easily compare and contrast programs in order to decide which to apply to. We’ve made this Grad School Decision Chart for you to use as a template.

Graduate schools want to be confident that you will complete their program and make them proud as an alum. They want to see that you have clear academic and career goals, and that you are genuinely interested in their specific school and program. Key factors they consider include your:

• Personal statement
• CV
• Transcripts
• Standardized tests
• Research experience
• Letters of recommendation
• Interview

Start early to increase your chances of being admitted. Many graduate programs consider applications as they are submitted, while other programs wait until the final deadline to begin reviewing applications. Many program deadlines are 7–9 months before the start date, meaning that you will have a total of 6–9 months to prepare your materials. Remember that motivation and punctuality are very important.

Below is a sample schedule to prepare and apply for graduate school. This template leaves time to craft a great application and resolve unforeseen issues with time to spare. The earlier you start, the better prepared you will be to successfully apply. Adjust the sample timeline to work best for your plans.