General

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Grad School

Opportunities & Research Experience

  • Make you a more competitive applicant (grad school and jobs!)
  • Help you figure out your interests and what you don’t like
  • Available at any stage
    • Undergrad (school year, summers)
    • Post-bac
    • Course-based Master’s
  • Paid or unpaid
    • There are fewer paid experiences, but they do exist!!!
  • Research technicians
    • Jobs available post-graduation working in a lab or in the field
    • Many people work as technicians to gain experience and make money while applying for grad school the next year

Types of Grad Programs

Application Process

Course-based Master’s

  • Similar to undergrad applications
  • Apply anywhere from December to April (depends on school)
  • Materials
    • CV
    • Personal statement
  • Often have small scholarships (merit-based, need-based, DEI)
  • Because these are programs where you pay the tuition, they are less competitive than research-based positions

Research-based Master’s & PhD

  • Often referred to in “application cycles”
  • Cycle starts ~September where you look for posted opportunities or cold email PIs
  • From ~October to early December, you meet with PIs and lab via Zoom (either casual conversations or more formal interviews)
  • Typically, PIs will “invite you to apply” to the graduate school ~mid-November to mid-December
  • This means that you’re on a shortlist of applicants that they are considering
  • Applications due ~December to January
  • Larger schools have recruitment days to tour campus and interview in person
  • Final decisions made ~March to April at the latest via email from PI
  • Many people apply 1+ cycles before getting accepted!