Advising Grad School Readiness

Are You Ready for Graduate School?

Assess your goals, needs, and interests

Assess your motivation

Are you ready to remain in school for five or six more years?
Are you prepared to live on a low income while studying and conducting research many hours each day? Are you prepared to postpone financial rewards for your work, even after leaving graduate school?
Do you give up socializing when you have a lot of studying or lab work to do?
Do you welcome challenging term paper topics or essay test questions?
Do you enjoy reading scientific books and articles even if they are not assigned?
Do you attend graduate or departmental seminars on occasion?

Determine whether you have what it takes

Are you developing an intense interest in a particular area of biology?
Do you enjoy laboratory research?
Do you have patience when things go wrong and the stamina to hang in there and fix things?
Do you organize your time well?
Can you concentrate on your studies for hours at a time?
Can you carry out projects and study without direction from anyone else?
Do you prepare for exams by studying regularly over time rather than intensively for a short period?
Do you enjoy relating new theories to what you already know as fact?
Do you take courses that you're interested in, even if you think you might be the only undergraduate in them?
Do you enjoy small seminar courses in which you read original papers rather than textbooks?
Do you take responsibility for knowing requirements, important dates, etc.? Are you prepared when you talk to your faculty adviser about course enrollment, etc.?
Do you seek out faculty members and graduate students to discuss your interests with them?
Are you comfortable giving verbal presentations of academic material in front of groups?

Determine whether a school has what you want