Dear Aspiring Graduate Students

It’s that time of year when undergraduates find out whether or not they have made it into their desired graduate programs. Some students may have gotten interview invites or wait-list notifications months ago, and are waiting for the final decision to be made. Others may have gotten the anxiously awaited acceptance letters, and are preparing for their next step. Unfortunately, many students have gotten those kindly worded letters of rejection.

However, to all of those disheartened undergraduates, we at The Novice Professor wanted to send you some words of encouragement. Over the next week, Karly & Jen will share their perspective on the tumultuous route to graduate school. While it may seem like you have hit a roadblock on your pursuit to graduate school and your career, it is really just a minor detour.

Check out the series here:

1. Karly's post about the importance of establishing a clear program of research. 
2. Jen's post about being persistent and thoughtful as you pick your grad school options. 

To those undergraduates out there that are considering applying (or reapplying!) to graduate programs, don’t give up! We are here at The Novice Professor are planning to share our advice for applying to graduate school in an upcoming post, but in the meantime, here are some relevant links:

• APA’s advice for Applying to Graduate Schools. Through that page they have a ton of resources, such as links to helpful videos, advice for preparing your personal statements, and key questions to consider before you apply, just to name a few.
• 7 Tips for Applying to a Psychology PhD Program by Dr. Todd Kashdan at Psychology Today. Dr. Kashdan gives some great advice and reflects on how the application process as evolved and become more competitive.
• How to Handle Graduate School Denials, from Dr. Don Martin at U.S. News. I will admit I don’t agree with 100% of their advice (for example, I haven’t heard of students writing thank you notes for rejection letters), but they are speaking to a wider audience beyond just psychology students, so norms in other fields may differ from that of psychology programs.

Keep a lookout this week for posts from us about our experience with the graduate school application process and the seemingly inevitable rejection letters. If you are a student, feel free to reach out to us with questions, or share your experience with the grad school application process. If you are a professor, we would love to hear your perspective on reviewing applications. Leave us a comment below or email us at thenoviceprofessor@gmail.com.
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Written by Karly Schleicher