If grad school is in your future, take the first step in finding the perfect school or program with GradSchoolsWantYou! Choosing the right school no longer requires hours of research sifting through stacks of school and program descriptions. Register today, and let prospective grad schools across the country find you directly.

Unlike other college search and selection tools, CollegesWantYouSM doesnt expect you to sort through page after page of generic college listings. Instead, enter information on your preferences, test scores, and extracurricular activities into the online form, and before you know it, colleges that meet your specifications will be in touch with you. And the best part is, you only need to enter your personal information once to connect with hundreds of colleges.

Students can save themselves time with this program as well as money. Finding grad schools based not only on your preferences but also the schools’ can save you from sending in too many applications and application fees to schools that you never had a chance of getting into to begin with.

If at all possible, it’s best to pay for as much of your graduate school as possible without resorting to borrowing. Many grad students find that, with their considerable knowledge of a subject matter, they’re able to make money tutoring school kids or even college undergraduates. In addition, many graduate schools or their associated universities will have work study programs, which are partially funded by the federal government.

The second main source of money for grad school is the federal government, through their student loan program. The main loan program is called the Federal Stafford Loan. Stafford loans are not based on financial need, and credit approval is not required. There are two kinds of Stafford loans, whether direct or FFELP-subsidized and unsubsidized. In addition, the government has other loans geared toward students pursuing certain programs, such as medicine.

The third major source of financial aid for grad school is the school itself. You should find a lot of information about how much aid is available in your department by consulting the university website or other materials. University based financial aid takes many forms. Probably the most desirable form of grad school aid is the fellowship. This is a cash award that doesn’t need to be repaid or worked for. Another form of university based financial aid for graduate school is the assistantship. The two most common are teaching assistants and research assistants.

If you’re still unsure about how you’ll pay for your graduate degree, perhaps the best idea is simply to take out a loan for your first semester. If you find during that semester that you would have had extra time to work a part-time job, then you may want to consider that option before the start of your second semester.

First and foremost, grad school isn’t a cakewalk. Even if you were cream of the crop as an undergrad, this is a whole other ball game. Students entering grad school should be serious about their studies, so maturity and dedication are necessary. Your decision to attend should be made with a goal in mind — entering a certain profession or enhancing your career, for example. Don’t go after an advanced degree if it’s just a way to kill time or stave off a midlife crisis. If that’s what you’re looking for, take up golf!

If you have the right intentions for going to grad school, it can be a very valuable experience. However, before you give up on submitting resumes because it takes up too much time, consider how much more time grad school will take.

The two Logical Reasoning sections assess your ability to analyze and evaluate arguments. You will not only have to determine whether arguments are strong or weak, you’ll also have to understand precisely why they are so.

The Analytical Reasoning (Logic Games) section assesses your skills in basic logic, including deductive reasoning and finding structure within organized data. These games are of the type “Alan, Beatrice, Carmel, and David all buy flowers. There are five different types of flowers: germanium…”. Some games require matching skills, others require sequencing skills, and still others will require both.

The Reading Comprehension section presents scholarly passages and assesses your ability to identify main ideas and details, make inferences, and make extrapolations.

The Experimental section will look like any other section. You will not be able to determine which section is the experimental section, and should not try to do so.

The Writing Sample assesses your ability to argue one position over another, supporting one position while knocking down the other. This section is not graded, but the essay is sent to law schools to aid in the admission process.

The overall score of the LSAT is a number from 120 to 180. Students also receive a percentile rating in addition to their overall score. The LSAT score results can be huge determinants in whether or not a student is accepted into law school.

Assistantship
Assistantships are available at many schools with graduate programs, and can be teaching or research centered. In exchange for completing some work or research for the school, you‘re offered free or reduced tuition as well as other possible benefits, such as health insurance and a monthly stipend.

Fellowship
Fellowships are essentially scholarships or grants that are awarded to doctoral students. Awards vary but could include enough money to cover the cost of everything, including tuition, housing, and food. Sometimes, they have strings attached, such as working on a very specific type of research, or publishing a set amount of articles in a specific field.

Practicum
A work experience or hands-on portion of a class. For instance, Clinical Psychology students may spend eight hours a week seeing clients to fulfill requirements for some classes. A practicum is smaller in scope than an internship and usually only lasts as long as the length of the course which requires it.

Thesis
In a nutshell, a thesis is one huge gigantic research paper! A thesis is almost always required if you’re pursuing a Ph.D., but some master’s programs require them as well. Your thesis is your shining academic achievement, an original and significant contribution to research in your field.

Students should also know the abbreviations for degrees and grad school exams. For example, GMAT is the general test for persons going into an MBA program, GRE is the general test for general areas of graduate study, and LSAT is the test required of students going into law programs. In addition, PhD is the abbreviation for a doctorate of philosophy degree, MBA is the abbreviation for a master of business administration degree, and M.Ed. is the abbreviation for a master of education degree.

• Harvard University (MA)
• Stanford University (CA)
• University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 
• Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)
• University of Chicago 
• Dartmouth College (Tuck) (NH)
• University of California–Berkeley (Haas) 
• Columbia University (NY)
• New York University (Stern)

Their ranking consider many factors, including peer assessment score, recruiter assessment score, average undergraduate GPA, average GMAT score, acceptance rate, cost of program, number graduates employer within a certain amount of time after graduation, and the number of students that are enrolled in their programs full-time.

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This new exam, scheduled for release in September, would have featured the biggest changes to the GRE in over 50 years.

Gone would have been the computer-adaptive format, by which a section becomes easier or harder according to how a student performs on early questions. Instead, the new linear test – almost twice the length of the current exam – would have been the same for everyone taking it on a given day. It would also have introduced many new question types that required more student interaction with the computer.

After careful review, ETS decided that the possible risks to worldwide testing access outweighed the benefits of the new format. Because the new test would be offered only 35 times annually, instead of year-round as it is now, ETS worried that fall testers were no longer guaranteed seats.

This is good news for students because they can continue preparing for the GRE in its current format. ETS says that they are still working on an update for the test, though they’re unsure when any new changes will occur

1. Teachers College, Columbia University (NY)
2. Stanford University (CA)
3. Harvard University (MA)
4. Vanderbilt University (Peabody) (TN)
5. University of California–Los Angeles 
6. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 
7. Northwestern University (IL)
8. University of California–Berkeley 
9. University of Washington 
10. University of Wisconsin–Madison 

Their ranking consider many factors, including peer assessment score, assessment score by superintendents, average GRE score, acceptance rate, student-teacher ratio, number of Doctoral/Master’s Degrees awarded, and the amount of research funded to both students and members of the faculty in previous years.

Financial questions are the biggest explosions of light at the end of a great fireworks show. For many people, those grand explosions are the main reason they gathered to see fireworks in the first place. Consequently, the financial situation is often the biggest factor in a student’s ultimate grad school decision. If a school’s tuition seems too much, keep in mind there is always financial aid.

Talk to students and professors. See what they have to say about the school. Hopefully they will be happy with where they are, and if so, find out why. If they aren’t, you definitely want to know that. Learn what their personal experiences have been. What they like and dislike about the place. This may seem a bit obvious, but ask questions that relate specifically to you. If you like to shop, find out if there is a good shopping district in the area. If you are into science, ask about the quality and availability of the chemistry labs. Ask if there are good movies theaters in the area. Or good restaurants. Or any details that truly matter to you. Take this time to learn the intricacies of a school that brochures can’t address.

In the end, students should simply feel grateful that they were accepted into several grad schools rather than none. And, because you choose the school that fit you when you applied, don’t fret too much over the decision. Most likely, you’ll have a fantastic experience wherever you choose.

In general, even though we know that marks aren’t the only thing that reflect a student’s ability, they are the easiest way to compare one student to another when you have many, many applications and not very many spots to offer. So excellent marks are very important.

That said, someone without excellent marks can also be a great graduate student and can be convincing in their application that they would be a great graduate student. But if you don’t have good marks, you are going to have a harder path ahead to convince the program that you are ready to perform well.

Something that we hear from professors a lot is that students who want to go into research oriented graduate programs, it’s really great if they can get some research experience first either as an undergraduate or even volunteering after their undergraduate degree.

Also, take some additional course work. Something that would be typical if a student decides they want to go to grad school in microbiology but their grads are not quite high enough, they can confer with the department at the university they are interested in and ask what sort of courses they could take to show that they are up to the task.

Students shouldn’t worry about volunteering unless the volunteer work directly correlates to the program they’re applying to in grad school. Grad schools aren’t looking for well-rounded individuals like undergraduate schools. Instead, they’re looking for focused individuals who are primarily concerned with succeeding in their field.