Preparing for Grad school with a cool head

Sean Ellis has known for quite some time that Informatics is the field for him. He is a second-year graduate student at IU, studying Human-Computer Interaction. As opposed to going out and working in the "real world" before going back to graduate school, as many of his peers did, Ellis dived right into the graduate school experience. He earned an assistantship at the School of Informatics, which enabled him to receive financial aid as well as a salary for his work as an assistant instructor. \nStudents like Ellis, who aren't going to professional school, don't want to get a job immediately or maybe just don't feel like leaving the college atmosphere, might consider graduate school in order to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of their desired career field.\n"Grad school isn't anything to be too worried about," Ellis said. "First, find out what you want to do for the next two to three years (after graduation). Do some research. Get a job for a couple of years and come back (to graduate school) if you get a clearer sense of what you want." \nEllis said some people jump into graduate school before they are sure of what they want to do with their lives; he advised prospective graduate students to take time in making such important decisions.\nAbout 15 percent of undergraduates stay at IU for graduate studies, said Kim Bunch, the University Graduate School's Director of Graduate Admissions. At IU, 60 percent of students who have completed their undergraduate degree are graduate students, as opposed to law or medical students. \nBefore anyone can begin graduate school, however, they must take a standardized test, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), which consists of sections labeled "verbal," "quantitative" and "analytical," each worth 800 points. Students can find information on registering for the exam by visiting IU's Career Development Center, which also offers the advantage of taking GRE prep courses for only $250 as opposed to commercially-sold courses, which can cost thousands of dollars. \nIU currently bases graduate admissions on the minimum of a 3.0 Grade Point Average and a GRE score of at least 600 points in one of the three sections. Bunch said, in general, IU's graduate school for the College of Arts and Sciences has a very open acceptance policy. There is no real line drawn where the acceptance of qualified students stops. Rather, the school's objective is to enhance the quality of admitted applicants, as opposed to obtaining the lowest possible number of students. Bunch advises students to get more details from the actual graduate departments of the IU schools to which they might be interested in applying.\nEllis said the process of applying to graduate school is not as overwhelming as it might seem to apprehensive seniors. Ellis did well on his GRE by simply studying preparatory resources he found online through database searches. His application was due during the month of January, and he obtained his letters of recommendation ahead of time, while giving himself enough time to write a quality application essay.\nFor students who feel helpless in their quest for the perfect graduate school, the CDC has drop-in advising on weekdays from noon to 4 p.m. for any student who needs help with resumes, cover letters, job search strategies, graduate school applications, registering for the GRE, finding an internship or getting feedback on graduate school essays. \nJan Van Dyke, the CDC's Senior Assistant Director for Career Resources, said it's important for students to do their best work now to prepare for the heavy workload graduate school will require. \n"It's going to be more intense studying with a focus on a narrower area," Van Dyke said. "Graduate students will probably do more things with colleagues, team projects, more presentations and not as much class-oriented work … It's taking the undergrad workload up another step and incorporating more time management and concentration. Students can expect their personal life to get squeezed."\nBunch said two of the best resources for information on graduate schools are U.S. News & World Report's "Best Graduate School's Index" (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex_brief.php) and Peterson's Graduate Schools and Programs' Web site http://www.petersons.com/GradChannel/).