Whether it feels like a lifetime ago or just yesterday, the high school “COVID class” of 2021 is now eligible to apply for graduate school – a milestone that could be the next step in their academic and professional journeys. The transition to grad school is no small step; as students navigate the application process or consider a more specialized area of study, new challenges require students to adapt. Though it’s not the only possible path, it is one that can help shape students’ professional futures in meaningful ways.
Before engaging in the grad school process, fear and hesitancy can make even the idea of applying seem daunting. Claire Brakel Packer, a CORE career coach for fields in the Humanities, said that connections to knowledgeable people can assuage these fears.
“There’s no person who’s just born understanding how to apply to grad school,” Brackel Packer said. “It really is a process that benefits from mentorship.”
Whether unsure about applying or halfway through their umpteenth application, students can turn to resources like CORE in the Olin Center for that mentorship. Meeting with a career coach or faculty mentor can provide clarity to the questions students may have.
“All the career coaches here work with students who are applying to grad school,” Brackel Packer said. “We’ll have an initial meeting where we’ll talk about your goals and how they’re connected to grad school, help you through the research process and guide you through that [application process].”
Not only is it important to have those connections and conversations through mentorship and guidance to walk students through the process, but it’s also crucial to do research outside of meeting with coaches and advisors. Sumita Amrik, a CORE career coach for STEM fields, said that self-reflection is an important first step.
“Look at the labor market, see why you’re going to your grad school [and] tell me why you think you need grad school,” Amrik said.
In framing grad school as primarily a need rather than a want, Amrik identifies a key role of Augustana’s career coaches: helping students decide. In the face of various social pressures promoting and dissuading grad school applications, speaking about the “why” at the center of the decision can help students ground themselves and make their most informed choices.
Those choices don’t just apply to higher education, either. At Augustana, career coaches are not major-specific but field-specific. Based on students’ interests, rather than their specific course load, they provide advice and guidance to students in areas of internship and employment, too. For those set on attending grad school, the question goes from ‘why?’ to ‘how?’. Niah Tyler, a senior majoring in geology and environmental studies, began searching for a suitable program during the summer of 2024.
“Last summer [I reached out to] different professors whose work that I liked, asking, ‘are you taking students next year?’”
The answer to that question is not always yes, as programs may reach capacity quickly and lack funds or numerous enough research opportunities. For a process that can be as competitive as grad school applications, time spent lingering on rejections or closed programs might be too valuable to waste. It is okay to take ‘no’ for an answer; Tyler did so more than just once.
“I reached out to probably 15 schools and a lot of them weren’t taking students,” Tyler said. “A lot of it’s just trial and error and finding [schools that] would love if you applied.”
In addition to flexibility in area of study, students have flexibility in deciding when to pursue grad school. Whether pursued immediately after undergrad or later in life, graduate programs can be very accommodating to prospective students’ needs. Those programs also have their own requirements that students must meet: deadlines.
While most undergraduate applications are due during the spring, the majority of grad school applications set their deadlines for December and January. Lanie DaSilva, a senior recently accepted into Colorado State University, recommends getting a head start to avoid piling application stresses onto existing academic ones.
“I finished my application in November but if I could have done it over the summer so that I could focus on my classes by first semester, it would have been a weight off my shoulders,” DaSilva said.
Students who get a headstart early on will have the chance to focus more on forming strong personal statements, securing letters of recommendation from professors in undergrad and preparing for standardized tests, if required. Though it’s far from the only part of a student’s application, a personal statement is just what it sounds like: a chance to express goals, interests and accomplishments while being yourself.
There are plenty of misconceptions about what is required in a personal statement, and many will write their first one for a grad school application. Although it is commonly assumed to be a narrative version of a resume, Brakel Packer says it requires more.
“What schools want to read in these personal statements is a story that sounds like you, not what you think they want to hear,” Brackel Packer said. “Reflect on what you’ve done in the past, how that shaped who you are and what you want to do in the future.”
Even something as simple as reading your statement out loud can demonstrate where it’s authentic and where it feels ‘off’. Amrik shared an experience she had guiding a former student through her personal statement.
“When she read it, she said, ‘I don’t think I’m sending this out’,” Amrik said. “She and I met several times to make her personal statement stand out, so much that [she received] scholarships from her grad school.”
Through the CORE office, students can connect with alumni and discover open internships. However, they also help students build a LinkedIn profile and even take a headshot for the profile picture. Networking in these ways doesn’t just help future graduate students, but anybody seeking employment after college.
“When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I did make meetings with CORE and I even talked with some of my old teachers from high school,” DaSilva said. “You can learn a lot from someone who has lived experience.”
For alumnus Atticus Garrison, now the head reference and instruction librarian at Black Hawk College in Moline, Augustana set him on the right track for graduate school. Being at a smaller school meant closer connections with professors and bigger opportunities for internships and jobs. From a young age, he loved the study of history, and has remained motivated by his interests.
“The scene at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” where the Ark of the Covenant is put in a box and carted off to a warehouse, was one of the coolest when I was six or seven years old,” Garrison said. “My grandpa was a museum curator and my mom practically lived at the Putnam Museum, so I knew I wanted to deal with history.”
When he started attending Augustana, he wasn’t too sure of his career direction. His advisor guided him to a job in Special Collections, which contains rare, fragile and valuable resources and the archives of Thomas Tredway library. Additionally, Garrison worked with the Augustana Historical Society and received an internship at the London Canal Museum through CORE.
His eventual transition to the University of Illinois as a graduate student was a big shift in location, workload and community. Those changes came with others, such as greater freedom to specialize in one area of study and the ability to dive more deeply into readings that relate to existing knowledge.
“By the time you get to graduate school, you more or less know what to do… it’s all in your discipline,” Garrison said. “I can’t speak to other master’s degrees, but it didn’t feel as stressful because I generally knew what the expectations were.”
Even better news for students aspiring to Garrison’s position? Career coaches won’t leave you behind once your time at Augustana is over.
“We do work with alumni so, even if it’s three years after Augie, you should definitely make an appointment with us,” Brakel Packer said.
In Amrik’s view, grad school is only one of many important ways students can take strides towards fulfillment and success.
“As long as you’re happy waking up when the alarm goes off and doing the job you’re doing everyday, then you have won the biggest battle of your life,” Amrik said.