As we’ve written about before, we know that during times of uncertainty, many students and professionals consider returning to school for a graduate degree.

The past year of graduate admissions, not unlike its undergraduate counterpart, has been exceptionally unusual. Many programs eliminated testing requirements due to the pandemic, over 140 graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences paused their admissions, and programs across the board saw skyrocketing applications.

Demystifying Graduate Admissions

In early May, we partnered with Undergraduate Research and Fellowships to host Demystifying Graduate School, a panel and Q&A with faculty and admissions experts from a variety of programs, to understand the current landscape of graduate admissions. Moderated by Ariella Lang, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, the panel featured:

  • Manan Ahmed, Associate Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies
  • Janet Metcalfe, Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Studies
  • Ron Prywes, Professor of Biological Sciences and Co-Director of Graduate Studies
  • Kathleen Vital-Herne, Associate Director of Admissions at SIPA

In a wide-ranging hour-and-a-half–long conversation, the panelists laid out the admission process in their program, offered advice to applicants, and spoke to specific considerations applications may have when applying to graduate school at this moment in time. Read on for their insights!

The Admissions Process

What happens after you submit your application to graduate school? Well, it varies by field. Here are some themes from the panelists. 

For arts and science departments:

  • You’ll submit a common application to the graduate school, which typically includes transcripts, a CV, an essay, and letters of recommendation.
  • There may be a first round of review and culling by graduate school staff. 
  • Applications will be forwarded to the department, where they typically undergo multiple rounds of review. This might include a first review by a graduate application committee or by faculty in your subfield, who will select or rank their top candidates. Subsequently, applications will undergo another round of faculty review: for instance, they may be sent to a graduate admission committee if they have been previously read by faculty in your subfield, or they may be shared with all department faculty to participate in a ranking process.
  • A small number of applicants may be invited for a campus visit (virtual in the past two years). During that visit, you can expect to have interviews with faculty.
  • After the campus visit, faculty will reconvene to identify which students they would like to invite for admission or offer a place on the waitlist.
  • If you’ve been offered admission, you’ll have the opportunity to speak further with faculty and students as you make your decision.
  • If you’re on the waitlist, the department will get back to you once they’ve received decisions from admitted students.

For SIPA:

  • Applications are due in February. That said, students are encouraged to apply early: You’ll get a decision by the holidays if you apply by their early action deadline (Nov. 1), and Jan. 5 is the final deadline to be considered for their fellowship.
  • Applicants can apply to start in fall or spring, with no advantage to either.
  • The application requires transcripts, 2+ recommendations, a personal statement, a video essay, GRE or GMAT scores (currently optional), a resume, an “academic resume” (showing quantitative and language skills). 
  • You can submit an optional essay to explain a gap in your academic or work history or a low grade and an optional diversity essay.
  • A committee with faculty and administrative representatives will review your application according to holistic review criteria.
  • Decisions are released in mid-March, followed by opportunities to connect with faculty.


Application Tips

“They want to know that you’re going to make it, that you’re going to be a contributor to your field.”

Panelists shared their tips for each part of the application. Click through to the section that interests you to read advice to help your application stand out.

Personal Statements

  • It’s great that you’re passionate about your field, but show the reader, don’t tell them. Be specific and provide concrete examples to demonstrate why you’re a great candidate and why you want to pursue this degree.
  • Avoid making general, grand statements! Definitely do not start your personal statement with, “I wanted to be a [insert your field here] at age #.”
  • For research-oriented programs, name which professors you’d like to work with—two usually works. Departments want to be sure that there’s not only one person who could advise you.
  • Have your academic interests changed over time? Your personal statement can help explain this shift or evolution in your interests.
  • Check out our other tips on getting started on your personal statement or statement of purpose.

Resume or CV

“We have a limited amount of information and we’re trying to put a person together from that information. Be as explicit about why your academic and extracurricular activities make you a good candidate — help out the reader!” –Professor Ahmed

  • In addition to your essays, your resume or CV is where you’re most likely to be able to demonstrate your interest in the field. Consider classes, extracurriculars, projects, volunteering, or work that helps show this! If it feels even remotely relevant, consider including it.

Letters of Recommendation

  • Ask for letters of recommendation from people who know you and your work well and can speak to your ability to perform grad-level work. This person should have had the chance to observe you in the classroom (ideally 2+ classes), lab, field, or workplace, and should be able to describe your work (research, seminar paper, thesis, etc.) and provide concrete examples about how you think, write, tackle problems and projects, or engage in your communities. With relationships built over time, the recommender will be able to speak to your consistency and growth.
  • Speak to mentors to understand field-specific expectations around recommenders, both on the recommender and reader side. For instance, Professor Prywes shared that as an application reader, he finds letters from the PIs of labs you’ve worked in (starting with the lab you’ve worked in the longest) more compelling than those from professors whose classes you’ve taken.
  • Working closely with a graduate student or postdoc in lab? They will typically collaborate with the PI on your letter of recommendation.
  • Help your recommender write you a strong recommendation! Share your resume or CV and a draft of your personal statement with them and give your recommenders as much advance notice as possible.

Test Scores

  • Many schools were test-optional last year, and plan to be again in the 2021–2022 application cycle. In these cases, you do not have to take the usual admissions test for your field, but you can if you think it would strengthen your application.
  • Learn about whether or not your test scores are important for the type of graduate program you’re applying to. For instance, Vital-Herne told applicants to SIPA, where they accept the GRE and GMAT, that they use a holistic review process and have no minimum scores: “Don’t torture yourself by taking and retaking tests,” she urged.

Coursework and Grades

  • What grades matter? Primarily, your grades in relevant courses. This might include science classes, for biology; or psychology, statistics, and coding classes, for psychology. If you got a bad grade in an unrelated course, don’t sweat it too much. As Ahmed put it, “In almost 10 years on history admissions committees, I don’t remember seeing a bad grade in an unrelated course being an issue.”
  • What if you struggled in courses relevant to your graduate studies? Readers will notice and appreciate improvement over time—for instance, if you had a hard time in first-year biology, improved over time, and excelled in advanced courses. You can include this story of improvement in your essay, if you like. If you did poorly in a class that shows an important skill for your graduate studies, like statistics for psychology, take another such course—and do well in it.
  • If you take any grad-level courses in your graduate field as an undergraduate and do well in them, admissions committees will see this as an indication of your potential ability to succeed academically in the program.
  • Admissions readers know that P/F grading was fairly universal in the past year, so you don’t need to explain it. That said, if you did well in a relevant course with one of your recommenders, you can request that they include information about your performance in their letter.

Answering Frequently Asked Questions

Should I reach out to faculty members in programs that interest me?

The short answer: It depends on the program, but is less common for preprofessional master’s programs than for PhDs, where you work closely with a specific faculty advisor. 

For instance, Vital-Herne shared that SIPA faculty will usually send any student inreach along to the admissions office. In contrast, in the Psychology department, establishing yourself with the faculty member(s) you’d like to work with is very helpful—most successful applicants have had some kind of communication with their faculty of interest. You may be able to do this by reaching out via email to set up a call, or chatting with a professor at a conference you’re both attending. In Biology, most candidates are accepted without meaningful contact with the department—though writing an email to a professor you’re interested in working with certainly does not hurt!

Why do this? For programs where this is part of the culture, speaking with your potential future advisor before you apply has three advantages. 

  1. On a practical level, you can find out whether the people you’re interested in working with are taking on new advisees (a function of funding and bandwidth). 
  2. It gives your future advisor a sense of you and your work, so they can potentially advocate for you in the admissions process. 
  3. It gives you a sense of the person with whom you’d potentially be working with for 5–7 years! Are they someone you think you’ll work well with?

Not sure whether or not it’s okay to reach out? Speaking with current graduate students in the program can help you understand what is appropriate or expected within the culture of the department.

How does funding for graduate school work?

The answer to this question is very program-dependent.

For instance, master’s programs do not typically fund most students (though there are definitely a handful of exceptions out there!). At SIPA, for instance, about 30% of students receive some sort of funding, which is both need- and merit-based. Vital-Herne encouraged students to begin looking for external scholarships early—if you secure something, it can even make you a more competitive candidate!

On the PhD side, admission to many programs is accompanied with the offer of a set, standard stipend, which you can see in your offer letter. There is not typically room for negotiation on this stipend, which is set by the graduate school. 

Panelists encouraged candidates evaluating a PhD funding package to consider:

  • How many years of guaranteed full funding you’re being offered. If the funding is guaranteed for 4 or 5 years, ask: What happens in the sixth year?
  • Whether your stipend is for 9 months or 12 months. If it’s a 9-month stipend, what additional funding options are available over the summer?
  • What benefits are included. For instance: What health insurance options are included? If you want to increase your health coverage, what will the additional cost be? Do you help cover relocation?
  • Whether there are any perks if you bring in external funding. At some universities, if you bring in external funding (like a NSF grant) to cover the cost of your stipend, the university may offer a small bonus.
  • What additional funding resources are available at the department level. For instance, do they offer funding for traveling to or attending conferences? For research-related travel?

You should also consider factors like the cost of living in the place where you’ll be completing your program, whether there is guaranteed graduate housing (and its cost), and whether you’ll need a car, as well as personal considerations.

If I’m pursuing a PhD, do I need to do a master’s first?

This is another one where it really depends on the program. Prywes shared that in the Biology department, 75% of their incoming PhD students come straight from undergrad; in the History department, Ahmed shared, about 50% come in with a master’s. 

As referenced above, most master’s degrees require you to pay out of pocket—so there’s a steep financial cost associated with doing one prior to the PhD. Ahmed acknowledged that though they are seeing an increase in applicants with master’s degrees, he sees this as an equity issue that should be addressed moving forward. Thus, it’s important to understand the landscape of your discipline and carefully consider whether a master’s would be appealing, feasible, or valuable to you before deciding to do one.

Here are some additional considerations:

  • Undergraduate grades not great? Didn’t take many classes in your intended PhD field? Doing a master’s could be helpful to improve your candidacy.
  • Some PhD programs may give you credit for your master’s coursework, and others will not. If you’re hoping to transfer credits, research whether this is a possibility for your programs of interest.
  • In most PhD programs the first couple of years are designed to help you build an advanced foundation in the field through coursework and to hone in your area of interest: for instance, by rotating through labs or creating an extensive reading list for comprehensive exams. If you’re hoping to hit the ground running with your PhD, doing a master’s can be helpful, but is only one of many ways to try out, reflect on, and hone in on your areas of interest before starting the PhD.

If you’re thinking about a master’s before the PhD, and would like to explore funded options, we definitely encourage you to connect with our colleagues in Undergraduate Research and Fellowships to learn about post-graduate fellowship options!

How much research experience should I have in order to apply to a PhD program?

Since the PhD is a research-focused degree, having research experience going in is usually essential. How much varies. 

For instance, Prywes shared that some applicants will have done research for only a couple of semesters, some all summers, and some for 3–4 years in the same lab. He advised students to do as much as possible on a research project, but that 2+ semesters can be sufficient for developing a record in a lab. Similarly, Ahmed shared that they usually look for students who have experience conducting archival research and writing a research paper using primary sources.

One great way to build research experience as an undergraduate is by doing a senior thesis. You might even be able to get a head start before senior year if you’re building on previous research or if your department offers summer funding for thesis projects!

Metcalfe suggested that if you haven’t had a chance to dig deep into research during college, it may be valuable to pursue post-grad experience in a research setting. Spending a year or two working as a research assistant or lab manager before pursuing your PhD can help you build valuable experience and confirm that you like doing research full-time.

That said, panelists acknowledged that students may have not had as many research opportunities in the past two years due to the pandemic, and so are looking for ways to evaluate applicants who may have less experience than usual. Your recommendations and personal statement may be particularly important in this context, in showing your capacity to do grad-level research and thinking.

If I’m applying to PhD programs and am considering a variety of post-PhD career options, can I be open about this in my application?

The million dollar question! 

We’re sure that you won’t be surprised by the answer panelists gave: it depends. 

Panelists recognized that academia is not the only path students in their departments pursue after the PhD—in part because of the shortage of tenure-track jobs, and in part because there are other attractive options out there for people with PhDs.

For instance, Prywes shared that about 40% of the department’s PhD students go onto post-docs, about 40% go into pharmaceuticals or other science-related fields, and the remaining pursue work in other fields (such as finance or consulting). There is a student group in the department that organizes events to introduce PhD students to different career paths that they can pursue with a biology PhD.

Metcalfe, similarly, acknowledged that Columbia psychology PhDs are currently in high demand at technology companies, which are applying insights from psychology and behavioral sciences to the development and design of products. The department understands that these may be an attractive option for some students.

That said, both acknowledged that some faculty will prefer candidates who express an intent to pursue a career in research or the professoriate. So, it’s generally best to understand your audience before declaring your intention in an application to use your PhD outside of academia.

Our advice: As you’re researching programs, learn about the careers that graduates have pursued after their degree and the professional development programs the department offers. If a department publishes career outcomes on their website that include jobs outside of the academy or outside of research, or has programs to encourage students to explore non-academic applications of their work this is a good signal that the department culture may be more friendly toward career diversity. Nevertheless, talking to current graduate students is often one of your best channels for truly understanding department culture and the perspectives of specific faculty members vis-à-vis careers beyond the academy.

Got Questions?

Feel free to connect with us in career counseling to discuss your interest in graduate school, check out our online graduate school resources, or let us know what you’d like to see in terms of future graduate school resources or programming.

If you’d like to learn more about building your research profile, connecting with faculty, or exploring fellowship options, check out Undergraduate Research and Fellowships’ robust opportunities database and events, or connect with a member of their team for a one-on-one advising appointment.