Written in: March 2000
By John Bailey (jbailey@soest.hawaii.edu
or jeb999@hotmail.com)
The Basics
My initial stop was the university careers library,
which provided me with old (about 3 years out of date)
Peterson's guides but very useful as they listed university
programmes by subject. I also obtained contact details
for the Fulbright Commission - and I wrote away for
the introductory booklet, which tells you all the necessary
basics about taking GREs etc.
Making Contact
The most important thing for me was to look for a
strong department and faculty. Some methods I used
to do this: I contacted graduate students at US universities
- this is easy and useful. Graduate students are generally
helpful because they know what it's like to go through
the process themselves. The best method is to find
department homepages, which will have lists of student
emails and links to those with their own homepages.
These can also be helpful insights. It is essential
that you contact faculty you're interested in working
with to see what opportunities are available. Most
application acceptances to grad school are made for
a specific project or with a specific advisor or on
a specific scholarship due to the financial requirements
of further studies. Even more "general" applications
will require the "sponsorship" of a department member
when considered by the admissions committee. The best
way I found to build these links is through email.
How to Choose
I found it helpful to talk to the international student
services of my UK university as it had a large exchange
programme with the US and so staff there were very
knowledgeable. I found that the best way to narrow
down the list of universities was to first consider
everywhere and using guides and internet resources,
produce a list of all universities offering the subject
you want to study. Then using the basic information
reduce this to about 20 or less with some broad questions
such as "Would I really want to spend 3-6 years there?"
I halved this number again (to about 10) with more
critical questions which require in depth research
(using Internet etc) to answer.
Examples:
- What are the application criteria? (I rejected
any places requiring the GRE subject test)
- What is the prospect of funding?
- What are the faculty/dept expertise and reputation
in my subject?
These were then the best prospects and I wrote/emailed
asking for application materials. I started thinking
about all this as a freshman at the University of
Kent…and now I live on a tropical island and
get paid to travel the world and run around volcanoes.
Proof anything is possible!
