Trapped inside a laboratory working on an experiment for the next 4+ years of your life? Sounds like torture to some people, but to UBRPers at UA, it sounds like a match made in heaven. However, graduate school is not quite what it seems from the outside, so the UBRPers investigated the looming monster that undergraduates call "grad school." A panel of four with varying experiences and opinions on graduate school spoke with us, and revealed their secrets to applying, getting in, and staying in graduate school.

Dr. Stuart Ravnik, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas began by saying that UBRP students are headed in the right direction if they want to get into graduate school. He explained "the top forty grad schools in the country will not take you without at least some lab and research experience." So it is best to get started right away as an undergraduate student, finding a laboratory to work in and getting comfortable in the research environment.

Dr. Ravnik suggested that you research the schools and laboratories that interest you well in advance. He mentioned that university websites are a good way to get general information, but it is also a good idea to contact someone there to get more specific information. Brian Hawkins, a 6th year UA graduate student in Neurobiology advised us not to "limit [ourselves] geographically more than needed, because you may find hidden opportunities." After talking with, or emailing the principal investigators at several laboratories, it is a good idea to select eight or nine schools to apply to. This list should include two to three schools that you will definitely get accepted at, your "safe schools," and two to three that you feel you will never get into, but are still interested in, your "long-shot" schools.

An important part of your application is your personal statement. This is your opportunity to show the evaluating committee who you really are, and what your passion is. And if you are considering graduate school, it better be research! Dr. Ravnik stressed that non-science extracurricular activities are trivial in a graduate school application, contrary to a medical school application. The whole panel agreed your personal statement should be creative, but not "cutesy." It should be to the point, but not "dry." It should show your intelligence and understanding of your research, and not be a list of what techniques you can perform at the bench.

The other most important element of the application is the recommendation letter. It is important to have three solid, strong, and positive recommendation letters, two of which absolutely must be written by people in science academia with a PhD. Most likely, one will be your current principal investigator. Make sure, when asking someone to write you a letter, if s/he is comfortable writing you a strong, positive letter. Julie Bordowitz ‘03, alum with a bachelors degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, headed for a doctoral program at Michigan State, said that she knows of people asking for letters of recommendation, and who received letters that were not strong, or sometimes not even positive. Make sure to give them notice at least a month in advance of the due date, along with an addressed and stamped envelope. Also, it is a good idea to send a thank you email a week before the due date, which also works as a polite reminder. Dr. Ravnik advised us to start now by keeping in contact with potential recommendation letter writers, and to send them email updates on yourself every few months, just to keep that line of communication open, for when or if they might write you a letter.

The next step in the process is waiting for your letters back. Then, make sure you attend your interviews. Dr. Carol Gregorio, faculty member and also UBRP sponsor in Cell Biology and Anatomy stressed going to all your interviews, especially because graduate schools usually pay for you to come interview, versus medical school, where you have to pay for travel and other expenses when you interview. Going to all your interviews gives you as many opportunities as possible. The important question that every panelist recommended asking during the interviews was, "Do you have the space and money for me?" It is very important to make sure that a potential faculty advisor for your study as a graduate student will have enough space and money for you to conduct your research.
Once you are there, the key to enjoying graduate school is finding a laboratory to work in where you feel comfortable, with research that you are interested in. Hawkins emphasized that it is critical to take advantage of your first year of graduate school. This is where you get to experience the lab rotation schedule, where you get the chance to work in several different labs over the course of a year. He said, "It can give you a chance to learn about a variety of research and really know that you are comfortable in a particular lab."

Julia Nimlos, UBRPer in Dr. Linda Restifo’s lab, Neurobiology