Top 5 tips on applying to graduate school

Guest blog post by Shane Moore (Marketing and Recruitment Manager; UBC Graduate Studies staff member)

Each year UBC receives thousands of grad school applications to our more than 100 graduate degree programs. To support applicants, we host lots of applicant advice sessions on Zoom, LinkedIn and Instagram, covering topics such as writing a statement of interest, how to find and reach out to a supervisor and how to ensure you have strong referees.

These are all important practical aspects of the grad school application that you will need to focus on, but what are some big-picture things to think about to make sure you have a great grad school application?

Here are our top five tips. Follow these and we think you’ll have the foundations of a great application.

1 – Know your why

Spoiler alert! Grad school is hard. It’s not a continuation of your degree – it is a step up. To graduate with a Master’s or PhD you’ll really need to put the hours in. You’ll have to stretch yourself and how you think and be ready to advocate for your ideas through discussion and writing at a high level.

To be successful at the grad level you will need to be well motivated. Knowing your ‘why’ can be that source of motivation. Knowing your goals for during and after the program are essential for success at grad school as well as in the application process.

So what’s your why for going to grad school? Are you fascinated by a particular field? Do you want to answer a deeper question that has been bugging you for years? Do you want to make a positive impact in a certain field or step up in your professional career by achieving the qualifications you need? Whatever it is, knowing your why is essential. This will make your application stronger and be your motivation on those long study days, when an experiment goes wrong, or when you are tempted to hit snooze on your morning alarm one more time.

2 – Set up your support team

Applying to grad school can often be seen as an individual endeavor but it doesn’t need to be. Think about friends, family and colleagues who can support you. For example, who could give you feedback on your statement of interest? This could be a professor, a friend who is currently a grad student or a family member. Getting feedback from others can help you refine your statement so it really tells your story.

References can make or break an application. Who are your referees and how can you support them to write a great reference for you? It’s important to build relationships with referees early. For example, if you are currently an undergrad you could think about which professors could write you a reference, be sure to connect with them and let them know you are thinking about grad school.  

3 – Plan your time

There’s lots to do in a grad school application and sometimes things don’t always go exactly to plan. This can be amplified if you are applying to multiple programs with different deadlines. It’s important to know program deadlines and work backwards giving yourself time to pull together a strong application.

You shouldn’t rush to apply early but its also important to avoid the stress of submitting your application on deadline day. Give yourself the time to make your application as strong as possible, build in some contingency time in case of problems and apply when your application is ready.

4 – Don’t be disheartened

Failure and rejection are part of the grad school experience, whether it's a paper getting rejected, an idea not getting picked up or understood as you’d hoped, or not hearing back from a supervisor you’d like to work with. Things don’t always go to plan.

You may find that you don’t get accepted the first time or you get accepted to a program that wasn’t initially your first choice. This happens; the journey is not always a smooth one. However, this doesn’t mean it can’t be the right one for you.

Don’t be disheartened if you encounter setbacks on your way to grad school and during grad school. This is all part of the journey. Be sure to always explore all of your options and have contingency plans ready in case your first choice doesn’t fall into place. 

5 – Start as you mean to go on

Maybe you think grad school starts when you arrive on campus, or when you have your first graduate class. Grad school actually starts with the application. Get organized, set up your support team and work hard on your application. Show us your motivation and why you want to study at the grad level. Make sure decision-makers know you are ready by approaching your application in the same way you want to approach grad school.

The journey starts now!

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