Grad School 101: Your Questions Answered

Think you might have graduate school in your future, but don’t know where to begin? Spalding University recently held a panel “ Graduate School 101”, that aimed to provide students everything they needed to know when deciding to attend grad school.

Featured panelists included:

• Dr. Kimberly Sisto, assistant professor and director of clinical education, DPT School of Physical Therapy
• Dr. Alex Bocking, Ph.D., director of graduate and adult programs for the School of Business
• Dr. Lucille Gardner, assistant professor for the Psy.D. School of Professional Psychology
• Darby Campbell, Writing Center Coordinator
• Dr. Christopher Jones, assistant professor for the School of Social Work

Hear some key takeaways from the panel:

(Kim Sisto) Time management is huge. I’ve had students doing lectures on the bus, but they’re using every free minute because it is a lot. You must make sure you have good structure with your time management skills because it is important for your success.

(Alex Bocking) We have a handful of athletes in our MBA program right now. I make sure I work closely with them knowing when they’re off season is and what their practice schedule is like because our classes are online. But even though they’re online, there’s still a lot of time commitment that must go in there. We also work closely with the coaches and the director of athletics just to make sure we’re all on the same page of, “Yes, go do your sports. But also, you’re in school for a reason.” So, it’s always been an open kind of communication from their end with me about the things that are working for them and things that aren’t working for them.

(Dr. Lucille Gardner) The advice that I would give is to think about how you make it constructive. So as a psychologist, I’m obligated to say, feel your feelings right, so be upset about it. Let it mobilize you, and then see what you can do about it. Consider reaching out to the program and see if they can provide feedback to strengthen your application for next time or so that you can see what could be coming down the pipeline.

Standardized testing is not built for multiple intelligence. Really try to think about how you mobilize a rejection instead of being eaten alive by it.

(Darby Campbell) The other thing I’ll say too, about grad school is sometimes the reason you’re being rejected is not because you’re not a strong enough candidate, but because you’re not the right fit for that university. So, the university sometimes makes the decision of like “we cannot provide you the education you’re seeking”, and that’s why they’re rejecting you so getting some clarity on that can help.

(Alex Bocking) If rejection is something you are worried about, I always suggest most programs at most universities have some form of admissions person that is associated with that program. So, in doing your research and deciding where you might want to go, try to connect with them early on before you can start the application process. That person can kind of guide you through that application process so you can almost get ahead of it a little bit or kind of have an understanding of, “okay, maybe this program may not be the best fit. I’m still going to apply. But let’s look at all these other options as well.”

So really rely even at the graduate level, on the admissions team because they’re also well versed in the programs.

(Alex Bocking) Really try to get to know the places that you’re applying to, whether it’s in person or online. So do all that free research of whatever you can find online and connect with their admissions team. I know even I meet with prospective students for our program. And so getting to talk with potential faculty and things like that can help you get a feel for what you’re looking for and see their values, or whatever is important to you with your schooling, and try to see what they offer.

(Dr Lucille Gardner) To add to that, pay a lot of attention to the program you’re applying to. There’s this idea of “I’m supposed to be trying to connect with some prestige at a university level” and while that might be great and the name is wonderful, I know a lot of people who have been miserable. You really want to pay attention to goodness of fit, rather name or prestige. Make sure it matches what you’re looking for, for your professional goals.

Also, there is a very real consideration about how much programs cost. Not everybody gets fellowships or assistantships. So, when you’re talking to programs, it’s important to emphasize, “ How do students there pay for it?”. Be explicit about that question. And you can ask for all different kinds of things, “are there scholarships?”, “are there grants?” “To what degree do students take out loans?” You want to know the answers to those questions, even if it’s something that you are not going to use.

(Darby Campbell) Don’t be afraid to ask questions about work/ life balance and living in the area. A question I really wish I had asked was, “can I work and do this program?” Because I found out a year in after doing a 40-hour a week job trying to do it the answer was no. So things like that are important.

(Alex Bocking) I would say have as many plans as you can because you never know. I know one thing that I encourage my students to do is if you know a certain area that you’re interested in, go on LinkedIn and find people who have jobs you’re interested in and see what all types of their degrees are. Maybe there’s a different type of program you can apply for if that’s not a specific one.

(Dr. Christopher Jones) Learn the power of no. You want your “No’s” to be just as loud as your “Yes’s”. And so, for example, if you know that there’s a party that’s going on, and you want to hang out, you have to say no. You can’t do everything that you want to do when you want to get that degree. Once you get that degree, then you can go back to being a part of the community.

It’s not the rest of your life. So, but you can change the rest of your life by taking these small steps in developing a plan for success.

No matter who you are or what you want to study, we have programs to inspire and engage you in real-world learning. Dive in and find your passion.

View our upcoming Graduate Information Sessions to find a session for your program of interest. If you don’t see your program of interest listed, or if you’d like to connect with someone from a program directly, simply visit our programs webpage for contact information.