When you consider your career goals, graduate school may come to mind. You may be thinking about it as a means to further pursue academic or research interests, to prepare to enter a field of work, or to advance your career. CCE can support you with your graduate school planning within the broader context of graduate school advising at Columbia.
We can advise you throughout the five phrases of your graduate school planning process. As with many aspects of career development and planning, these phases are often iterative. You may benefit from reflecting on your strengths, interests, and opportunities throughout the graduate school planning process.
This information is an overview of our career services and resources related to planning for graduate school. These services and resources will help you reflect on factors to consider around attending graduate school, learn about researching programs, develop a compelling application, prepare for interviews, make decisions, and identify additional graduate school advising resources on campus.
Phase 1: Exploring and Planning
Your graduate school planning starts long before you apply, as you explore your academic and career interests, try out research, internship, and volunteer experiences, and build relationships with faculty.
In the exploration and planning phase, CCE career counselors can support you with:
- Reflecting on your possible academic and career interests, or identifying new ones
- Determining whether a graduate degree is required or recommended for the jobs or careers that interest you
- Learning how to explore your academic and career interests by connecting and building relationships with faculty, fellow students, and alumni
- Identifying what type of experiences you’d like to try out to help you refine your career interests, evaluate whether you want to pursue graduate study, and build a strong candidacy
- Discovering how to build your research profile toward post-grad opportunities
- Familiarizing yourself with graduate school timelines
- Identifying people and resources who can provide you discipline-specific advice and guidance on applying to graduate school in your field of interest
- Considering things to think about before taking a gap year or two, including the benefits as well as sample gap year programs and additional resources
Phase 2: Researching Programs
In this phase, you have a pretty good sense that you’re interested in graduate school, and want to develop a list of programs that you might apply to.
In the program research phase, career counselors can support you with:
- Reflecting on what you’ve learned from your preliminary research and exploration that inform your thinking about graduate school
- Learning strategies for researching programs, and possible factors to consider
- Identifying your top priorities and criteria for refining your list of programs, such as areas of faculty expertise, courses offered, location, funding options, co-curricular offerings like internships or fieldwork, and program culture
- Planning how to track your research on programs of interest and program requirements to inform future applications
- Refining your application timeline and next steps as you gather new information
Phase 3: Applying
In this stage, you are actively working on applications. The application process may happen over an extended period of time, since you may take admissions tests many months before you actually apply.
When it comes to applications, CCE career counselors can support you with:
- Identifying the application requirements for your programs of interest and creating a plan to fulfill each of them
- Understanding key application components, like the personal statement or statement of purpose including for a PhD program, resume or CV, and letters of recommendation
- Brainstorming or outlining your application essays, by acting as a sounding board
- Engaging in reflection to identify the core story of your application—the answer to the questions, Why graduate school? Why now? Why this program?
- Revising your essays or resume/CV, by providing generalist feedback on structure, story, and tone
- Thinking through who you would like to ask for letters of recommendation and how to do this
Phase 4: Interviewing
Not all graduate programs require interviews, but for those that do, we’re happy to support you with general resources and practice.
Support from CCE on interviews might include:
- Sharing general resources and tips on interview preparation, many of which will apply to graduate school interviews
- Connecting you with the graduate school section on Big Interview, a platform for interview practice that you can access for free through our office
- Doing a 30-minute traditional & behavioral interview with you and providing feedback
Phase 5: Decision-Making
Now you’ve heard back from programs, and have a decision to make! We know that career decision-making can be challenging, and we’re here to support you.
With decision-making, we can help you with:
- Identifying and discussing the main criteria you’re using to make your decision
- Evaluating whether there’s additional information you want to gather to inform your decision and identifying ways to gather it
- Reflecting on your decision-making process and considering additional strategies
- Understanding best practices around how to accept or decline offers
Additional Resources
Here are some additional resources for your graduate school planning:
WORKSHOP RECORDINGS
- How to Get Started on Your Graduate School Personal Statement workshop recording and presentation deck
ADVISING RESOURCES
- Center for Career Education: Career counselors can meet with you to help you think through factors to consider, learn how to research programs, and give generalist feedback on your materials, like essays, resumes, or CVs. Schedule a 30-minute appointment with a career counselor for support—wherever you are in the process.
- Undergraduate Research and Fellowships: For advising on post-graduate fellowship programs for research and study. URF advisors can meet with you 1:1 about your fellowship plans or applications. As a GS student, you can also meet with the GS Fellowships Office.
- Writing Center: For support on any written materials, from brainstorming through revising.
- Faculty and PIs: Mentors in your field of interest are a crucial source of support, and will be delighted that you are interested in pursuing advanced study in their field. You can visit professors in office hours or set up 1:1 meetings with your research mentors to discuss your interest in graduate school, seek discipline-specific tips, find recommenders, and even get feedback on your materials.
- Preprofessional Advising for Law School and Health Professions:
- From the Berick Center for Student Advising (CC/SEAS): All students can check out their fantastic resources on how to prepare, the application process, timelines, and more! (You will see this menu of options from the main navigation bar.) Sign up for their listservs to learn about info sessions with law and medical schools and other opportunities.
- From the GS Dean’s Office: Learn about their annual Graduate School Coaching program.
