Insect Ecology at NDSU The Harmon Lab

How do I get in to graduate school?
Because of the specialized, individual nature of graduate school, because of the job-like aspect of the funding, because of the tight relationship with your advisor, and because of its extremely competitive nature, getting in to graduate school is very different than getting in to an undergraduate program. Below I've tried to address how things work in my group while giving you some specific advice about how to proceed if you are interested in applying to graduate school.

How graduate students are chosen. One of the most common questions I'm asked is "How do I get in?". There are a large number of people who want to get in to graduate school, have the minimum qualifications, and would probably work extremely hard to succeed, but there just isn't enough space or funding to admit them all. Again, think about this more like trying to get a job as opposed to what you went through to get in to your undergraduate institution. You might have the "minimum requirements" to apply for this job, but there are probably dozens of others applying for the same job who also have those same minimum requirements. At the end of the day, the boss (the advisor) has to pick the one person that s/he thinks will do the best at that job.

So, what is it that the advisor will be looking at? Decisions about admissions to the Entomology Graduate Program and who will be awarded a research assistantship are made based on a number of factors, including:

1) Minimum requirements set by the graduate school: http://www.ndsu.edu/entomology/prospective_students/admissions_requirements/

Meeting these requirements DOES NOT mean you will be admitted. You also need:

2) A faculty advisor who has an opening in his/her lab and funding for a new student.

3) A very good match between you as a prospective student and a potential faculty advisor. It is very difficult to say exactly what makes a good match between student and advisor, because things will be different depending on the advisor and even depending on what kind of opening the advisor has. However, the bottom line is that the advisor is trying to find someone that s/he thinks is going to be successful as a graduate student. To determine that, the potential advisor will probably look at why you want to go to graduate school, what kind of research/science you are interested in studying, what experiences and schooling you've had, and what you are like as a worker and as a person.

Contacting potential faculty advisors. Since you have to find a faculty advisor who will accept you and offer you an assistantship, the usual first step to applying is to contact potential faculty advisors. There are two approaches you can take to figuring out who you might contact.
Faculty with positions. There are a number of web sites that list faculty members who are looking to find students to fill research assistantships (or similar positions). In addition, many faculty will list opportunities on their own web pages. The benefit of searching through these sites is that you know that these particular faculty members are looking for new students and you usually find a bit more information about what kind of opportunity there is and what kind of student s/he is looking for.

If you are contacting someone about an advertised position, make sure that you carefully address everything that s/he asks you for. Again, think about this like applying for a job and take the time and energy to impress them and show them your ability to effectively communicate.

Faculty that match your interests. The other approach is to identify faculty members who have interests and experiences that match what you are looking for as an advisor. They may or may not have openings, but the idea is to find ones that could be a good match for you if an opportunity arose. As you are looking for potential advisors, make sure to look for lab research pages and other web sites that will tell you more about them, you may get lucky and find that s/he is actually looking for students.

If you are contacting faculty that may be a good match first ask if they have an opening for a graduate student. Then briefly communicate why you are interested in working with this person. If you are contacting this person for the first time, you don't need to write pages and pages of information, but you do need to tell a little bit about yourself, specifically why you would like to work with this person, and give them a taste of why you are going to be a good graduate student. Attaching a CV can provide good information, but you need to personalize your communication so that the advisor knows why you are interested in working with him/her. If it looks like you sent the same email to dozens of potentially faculty members, you are very unlikely to get a positive response.

Whichever route you choose (feel free to do both!), I STRONGLY urge you to put some time and effort in to your communication. As faculty members, we receive numerous emails from people looking to work with us. If we put out an advertisement looking for students that number exponentially increases. If you want to stand out from all the rest of these people it is important that you effectively communicate with your potential advisor.

If the advisor does have a position and is potentially interested in you, s/he will likely contact you and ask you for more information and/or ask to talk with you more. However, this first communication will go a long way in deciding whether or not the advisor chooses to invest more time and energy in talking with you further.

Formal applications to graduate school. To get in to graduate school here, you must complete a formal application to the North Dakota State University Graduate School and be accepted as a new graduate student in the Entomology Department. This formal application process is almost always necessary wherever you want to go. As I've said, to be accepted in our department, a faculty member must agree to be your advisor and be willing to provide you with an assistantship. Therefore it is crucial that you make that connection with a potential advisor. By completing the formal application to our department all our faculty members will read your full application and will determine whether s/he has the opportunity and interest in working with you and providing you an assistantship. However, you may wish to contact faculty members directly either before applying or while you are in the process of completing the formal application.

Links to the application process can be found here: http://www.ndsu.edu/entomology/prospective_students/how_to_apply/

Here is a list of the major questions I discuss to help you navigate through everything

What is this page? What is it for?
Important disclaimer - Not all graduate programs are the same.
What is graduate school?
Why should I go to graduate school?
How is a graduate program different than my undergraduate experience?
What does it take to succeed in graduate school?
How is graduate school paid for?
How do I get in to graduate school?