While many fourth-year students are eagerly anticipating graduation and never having to write a paper again, some are applying to school all over again - gathering recommendations, writing essays that will please admissions officials, and studying for standardized tests reminiscent of the SATs from high school. Graduate school application deadlines are approaching and students are deciding whether they should continue their education before entering the workforce.
First-year Law student Paula Fitzgerald said she chose to go to law school because there is "lots you can do with it - you can open doors in many different areas" with a law degree.
"There is a narrowness of focus [in graduate school] academically, socially and psychologically," said Glenn Cummings, director of pre-professional advising at University Career Services. "You are much more highly specialized."
Despite the potential benefits of attending graduate school, sending out applications might be the last thing on some fourth years' minds as they enjoy their last year as undergraduates.
This time around, students won't have their parents or high school guidance counselors to remind them of application deadlines and critique their essays. Instead, students must take the initiative to research programs, prepare for standardized tests and complete applications on their own.
Some of the components of a graduate school application include sending in transcripts, paying application fees that can run from $30 to over $75, test scores, letters of recommendation from professors or employers, and a personal statement that describes your interests to the admissions committee. Sometimes even an interview is necessary.
The personal statement
The personal statement is similar to many of the essays that appear on undergraduate applications but narrower in scope. The essay usually specifically addresses why the applicant wants to go into a particular field of study.
A personal statement is a great opportunity to demonstrate a student's personal interest in a school, Cummings said.
"It's not the time for broad universal statements," he said. "You can focus on your research interests and try to relate it back to yourself."
Cummings advises students to write about a small experience, such as "one day in an internship, or one lab got you excited about medical school or law school," rather than writing about a broad period of time.
Second-year Law student Tanya Wang said a personal statement is an advantage because medical and law school students do not often have a personal interview with the admissions committee.
"The rest of the questions on the application are the same for everyone - what's your name, address, etc.," she said. "It's the only personal part of the application."
University Career Services provides resources to help students with this portion of their applications.
"Having someone from University Career Services or faculty members look over your statement is a good idea," saidLori Nicolaysen, an assistant director for University Graduate Career Services.
Standardized tests
Most graduate schools also require applicants to take a standardized test as part of the admissions process.
The tests include the LSAT for law school, the GMAT for business school, the MCAT for medical school and the GRE for a wide range of liberal arts disciplines.
Each test measures analytic ability, critical thinking and reasoning skills. For instance, the LSAT presents students with different types of situations and asks them to use logic to draw conclusions.
Some tests measure factual knowledge as well, such as the MCATS, the test required for medical school. The 12 different GRE subject tests assess skill in more specific areas.
Students prepare for standardized tests in different ways, such as going over old exams in practice books. And more and more students pay professional services to take classes designed specifically to boost students' test scores.
The Kaplan Educational Center, located on Arlington Boulevard, is a branch of one of the many businesses in the country that specialize in test preparatory classes.
"A very high percentage of pre-law and pre-med students come to" Kaplan, director Kim Mattingly said. "There is an exponentially higher percentage of people applying for spots for medical, law or business school than there are applying to other schools."
A rising number of students use "prep" courses because of the increasing competitiveness of pre-professional and graduate programs, she said.
She added that fewer students applying for graduate programs in the humanities take prep courses.
Cummings said he does not endorse any particular test-prep company.
"It just depends on the kind of person you are," he said. "People who are very structured and disciplined with their time, who will sit down and study every day, don't need to spend $1,000 on a prep course. People who are not disciplined need the course more, because it's easier for them to hire someone else to carve out that time for them."
Test-prep courses at Charlottesville's Kaplan Education Center cost from $999 to $1,299. Smaller online workshops run from $29 to $199, and private tutoring can cost up to $3,999.
Many companies offer free tests and preparation options that are much less comprehensive, but can nevertheless give students a taste of the exam.
The Princeton Review offers a free online GRE prep course and a practice MCAT (www.review.com); the LSAT Center offers free sections of the LSAT online (www.lsat-center.com); and Test Tutor offers a free online GMAT prep course (www.testtutor.com).
Getting recommendations
Another important part of the application process is gathering recommendation letters from professors for graduate school applications.
"I recommend that students get more than the minimum number of recommenders," Fitzgerald said. "You should give them a packet with your resume, personal statement and activities."
She also advises that students ask for recommendations early and make sure the professors or other mentors know the deadlines for submission.
Choosing the right school
In addition to requesting recommendations, students must spend time looking into programs of interest at different schools across the country.
Students can decide what kinds of programs and schools to apply to by studying rankings and asking the faculty in their undergraduate departments for advice.
"They can refer you to someone in the faculty of the school you're applying to who is in your field of interest," Cummings said.
University Career Services also offers resources including advisers and programs that help students decide where to apply.
Some graduate schools are tough to get into, but University students applying to professional schools have a higher acceptance rate than the national population, Cummings said.
University students' acceptance rate to medical schools is 65 percent and the acceptance to law schools is 81 percent, he said, while the national acceptance rate for law schools is 67 percent, and the national acceptance rate for medical schools is 47 percent.
He added that last year, about 250 University students applied to medical school and more than 400 University students applied to law school.
University students also have the advantage of high-quality graduate and professional schools right here in Charlottesville.
The University Law School, now ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, fielded almost 300 applications from University undergraduates last year. The year before, 75 University undergraduates were offered admission out of 235 University applicants, he added.
University students applying to law school sent the most applications to the University's Law School, followed by George Washington University and Georgetown University, both in Washington D.C., Washington & Lee University in Lexington, and New York University.
Most University students applying to medical school choose in-state medical schools, which are highly regarded, Cummings said. The most popular are the University Medical School, the Medical College at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.
Straight to graduate school?
Many alumni recommend taking a year off before heading into several more years of academia.
Alumni "suggest a year of service, travel or some other pursuit that gives students a break from school," Nicolaysen said.
She added that many graduate business programs require applicants to gain work experience in their fields before applying. For example, Darden's admissions prerequisites states that "In a typical Darden class, more than 99 percent of the students have gained full-time work experience. This is the standard to which you will be compared."
Wang said sometimes she wishes she had worked before going straight to graduate school.
"You get kind of burnt out going to school so many years in a row," Wang said. "A lot of people work for a while first - I think the average age of a law student is something like 26 or 27."
If a student takes a graduate school admissions test and decides not to apply until later, he or she is in luck. An LSAT score is good for 5 years and an MCAT score is good for 3 years.
Cummings said some students go to graduate school for the wrong reasons.
"Some people go to graduate school because they know they can, and they didn't give thought to how they're going to use their degree," he said. "They're scared of graduating."
The right reasons for applying to graduate school are to continue "a longtime interest in that subject" and to keep abreast of new developments in that field, he said.
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