The Deliberate Owl

When you apply to graduate schools, you may have the opportunity to choose between multiple programs at different schools. How do you know which program to pick? How do you decide if a graduate program would suit you?

(Read: Is Going to Grad School Worth It?)

Admission to graduate schools

If you haven't applied to grad school yet, there are a host of factors to consider when deciding where to apply. Think about what you want out of the degree: are you looking to advance your career? Learn something new? Pursue qualifications and skills, or learn to conduct research? Who can you learn from in your field? Consider both who is competitive in the field and who might be a good mentor—these qualities don't always coincide. Where will you want to live—will you be willing to relocate or do you have geographical constraints? My book Grad School Life include an entire chapter on factors you'll want to consider.

If you have already applied to graduate school, but haven't been admitted yet, wait to decide until you hear back. That way, you can include factors such as available funding in your decision—and so you don't waste anyone's time learning about a program you may not even be admitted to.

If you have been admitted to a graduate program, you may be invited to campus for a visit day. On visit day, you may have meetings with professors, students, and administrators. Even if you don't have a scheduled visit, you can contact current faculty and students to ask questions.

Interviews with faculty and with current and past students

Interviews are one of your best tools. You'll want to ask current students about their experiences in the program. What do they think of the school, the department, their classes, and their advisors? Setting up interviews with potential advisors can be more difficult—professors are busy people!—but highly informative if you can get them.

Do a search for "informational interviews"; you'll find some useful questions. I've also included a vetted list of great questions to ask current students, potential advisors, and department administrators in my book, Grad School Life.

(Read: Can You Have a Baby in Grad School?)

How do I pick a graduate program?

The nebulous quality "fit" is the biggest factor. You will, of course, want to verify that the program meets your financial and personal concerns: do you have adequate funding for that program? Is it located where you want to live? But sometimes there are several equally good options that you will have to decide between, and that's where fit comes in.

Fit is demonstrated best through a story. I was admitted to several of the graduate programs that I had applied to. Before visiting each school and meeting the professors and students there, I wasn't sure which program to pick. I visited my top three.

At the first, the computer science department had the feel of old dudes writing pseudocode on whiteboards, underfunded programs, depressed graduate students, students who didn't seem like they wanted to be there are all—maybe they loved their research but the slog, the daily grind, the weight and oppressive feeling in the air got them down. They were grad students who didn't love their lives. One of the professors here talked about that feeling. He was a quieter sort, I think, and appreciated the slower pace of the department. He asked where else I had been admitted. I told him, MIT. Ah, he said. The pressure of such a high-status, competitive university can get to you. High status is often paired with high stress.

(Read: Deploy or Die: Moving Research Into the World)

The second school I visited was a better fit. The location wasn't ideal, but it had a better vibe. Big connections, big goals, an eyebrow are real world impact, not just students coding in basements. It was a little higher status and more competitive, which I liked. Students and faculty felt like they were driven to succeed.

A professor at this second school—whose lab I hadn't even applied to, but who read my application to the department anyway—invited me to his lab on visit day. He said he had had loved my personal statement (all that jazz about grad school being fun) and that I was exactly the kind of student he was looking for. I visited; his lab felt drab. He had a couple students packed into an office, quietly working at their own computers at their own desks, and they didn't seem obviously happy - or unhappy. They weren't animated. There was nothing about his lab that announced fun. Nothing whimsical. The professor's philosophy may have been sound; the reality in his lab didn't jibe.

Then I visited MIT. The energy at the MIT Media Lab was contagious. The people there felt driven, excited about their work, eager to impact the world. Did I want to be a big fish in a small pond, like I might be at the first school, or have the constant pressure to excel? The flair and sense of opportunity at the Media Lab appealed to me. I chose MIT. You might choose otherwise.

One of my undergraduate advisors put it this way:

You're looking for a program with the right vibe, and the best way to check out the vibe is to talk to people and/or visit.

Like this post? You'll find even more detailed advice about choosing a grad program, and managing grad school and life in my book, Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research. Order it today!