Some general grad school application questions

Hello all,

I'm an American undergraduate finishing my senior year (studying political science with an overall gpa of 3.5). I made a career change from pursuing journalism to museum studies in the last few months, right now I'm applying for a curatorial internship and volunteering at a local museum. Ideally I'd like to live and work in the UK permanently - my five year plan involves the HSMP scheme.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what the competitiveness of grad programmes is, as compared to U.S. schools? I'm a bit worried because the applications are very simple, c.v./statement/transcript and that's about it. I have a lot of journalism experience, but they don't really have "student profiles" offered as a guide.

I'm applying to about ten universities (UCL is my top choice, followed by Leicester, Newcastle and Manchester) for an MA in Museum Studies. I'm also just wondering how to figure out the caliber of the programmes..? An example is, I studied at Durham Uni over the past summer and I loved it, but, I have no clue how "good" their museum studies course is, and I'm afraid to choose it just because I fell in love with the city (part of my career change was the possibility of not living in a box while doing something I love).

Thanks! These forums are SUCH a help!

My first thought is that you're applying to way too many schools. Narrow it down because the universities will usually want to know where else you're applying to. They do look at this.

You can tell how "good" a program is by a variety of outside ranking sources, but what some magazine ranks as the "best" might not be the best for you.

Do some research. While you still have database access as an undergrad, do some searches for who is doing work in the area you want to study. See who the top people in the field are and then find out where they're teaching.

For grad school, arguably the most important thing is who you have as an advisor. You need to study somewhere where there are professors who can guide you on your thesis topic.

As for the applications, I'm not sure how competitive grad schools over here are. You should be able to find out that information through a google search. Keep in mind that you will almost certainly have to do an interview, which, combined with your personal statement, is the place to prove that you're a student they want studying at their university.

One thing that I can tell you right off they'll ask you about is your focus. Based on what you've said, you seem to be all over the place -- Poli Sci major, but something about journalism, and now museum studies? I got grilled because I was switching from English literature to Television Studies, even though I'd spent the previous year presenting papers at Television Studies conferences in the US and UK and my undergrad thesis was on allusions to sitcoms in post-War American literature. Because my last course work was in Chaucer, all of the interview panel wanted to know I was serious about the career change I was making.

My first thought is that you're applying to way too many schools. Narrow it down because the universities will usually want to know where else you're applying to. They do look at this.

Really?  I wouldn't have thought that 4 schools is too many for a graduate program.  I applied to about 4 for my master's degree, and my husband applied to about 5 for his PhD program.

Really?  I wouldn't have thought that 4 schools is too many for a graduate program.  I applied to about 4 for my master's degree, and my husband applied to about 5 for his PhD program.

4 or 5 are okay, but the OP says they are applying to 10 universities, including the 4 mentioned - which I have to agree seems quite a lot, especially when you consider that students are only permitted to apply to up to 6 universities with UCAS for undergrad study. It may also come across that the OP is unsure about what they want to do and perhaps hasn't put enough research into how each course will meet their specific needs.

It's difficult to say anything about the competitiveness of getting onto UK postgraduate courses - every course and every university is different. I'd recommend perhaps emailing or phoning the departments in the universities and asking for some information about the course. It's really going to depend on how many places are available, how many people have applied/are applying to start on the course that year, etc. Some universities are much easier to get into for postgrad study than for undergrad study (i.e. a student might have a better chance of getting into Oxford or Cambridge as a postgrad rather than an undergrad) and others can be harder.

Last year, I applied to 3 universities for postgrad study - Bristol, UCL and Leeds - and I was offered a place on each course, so it was up to me to pick and choose which one to take. I turned down UCL right away because the fees and living costs were too expensive (£5,000 home fees plus they recommended having £11,000 in living costs). I also turned down Bristol, but since the letter from Leeds stated that the course would not run if there were not enough students enrolled, I asked Bristol if it would be possible to attend if the Leeds course did not run. However, in June of last year, I realised I wasn't comfortable about going to Leeds, so I went to meet the course tutor at Bristol, loved the department and went there instead.

The applications were fairly simple, including CV and personal statement and a list of the other universities I was applying to, but I did not have interviews for any of the courses. I was offered a place at each in January 2006 and then after I'd accepted, I was invited for an interview at Leeds for scholarship opportunities. With Bristol, I called them in mid-June 2006, stating that I might like to attend Bristol instead and was invited to come and meet the tutor and see the department before I made my decision (not really an interview though as the place was mine if I wanted it).

In terms of competitiveness, I didn't feel there was much for any of the courses in my subject area (Geophysical hazards/Earth Science) - the course at Bristol has a different intake each year - 7 students in 2005, 14 students in 2006, 19 students in 2007, so I think places are offered to most applicants, including both UK/EU and foreign citizens (there have been students from Belgium, Italy, Chile, Africa, Asia etc.).

A few months ago, while at Bristol, I applied for a PhD program in the US (at the same US university I studied abroad at in 2003/04) and was offered a place on the program with no problem. It was the only US university I applied to because I had contacts at the university and would just be another face in the crowd if I applied to any others (my supervisor suggested I apply to Harvard, MIT, Berkley etc. but the applications were very long, I couldn't afford the application fees and I knew there would be a lot of competition).  I thought it would be better to apply to a university I knew I liked and was likely to get into rather than putting myself through the stress of applying to the other universities and then getting rejected (i.e. the MIT application was 10 pages long and required me to list every single class I'd ever taken and which textbooks had been assigned to each class, whereas the application for the other uni was just 1 page long!).

You're in a similar situation as I am. I graduated with a BA in Political Science, studied abroad here (Leicester), am currently here for my masters (Portsmouth) and want to live here permanently (IGS+HSMP are in my five year plan).

I don't remember how many universities I applied to but it was definitely more than 4 but less than 10 (vague much?!) and I don't think there was really any harm in it. As far as competitiveness, I didn't apply to the top tier unis but I felt that it wasn't as competitive as apply to grad school back home would have been. It could be because I'm doing a marketing course and it's not as important to have basic prerequisites as it would be for say a biology course so even if you didn't study marketing at the Bachelor's level you would be acceptable for the course.

As I mentioned above I studied abroad at Leicester for one year, but I was on the Politics programme so I dont know about their museum studies course but if you have any general questions about Leics feel free to ask.

4 or 5 are okay, but the OP says they are applying to 10 universities, including the 4 mentioned - which I have to agree seems quite a lot, especially when you consider that students are only permitted to apply to up to 6 universities with UCAS for undergrad study. It may also come across that the OP is unsure about what they want to do and perhaps hasn't put enough research into how each course will meet their specific needs.

That was my thinking in saying it was too many. Many programs want you to know why you're applying to their university. For me, it was asked in my application process and interview. If you're applying to that many schools, it really does come across as unfocused. (Which will only reinforce the questions about the career change stuff.)

When I started the application process, I had a list of 15 universities in three countries. I did some research and ended up applying to two -- Roehampton and Bristol. I got offers from both and accepted Roehampton's because they told me up front who my research advisor would be (who is at the top of the field) and were willing to work with me as a distance student (I live in Weston, but the university is in London).

I think it helped my case that I had done tons of research on TV studies programs. I knew who was doing what and where, and I knew why the programs I was applying to were the best fit for what I wanted to do for my thesis/dissertation.

A few more questions for the OP... Are you looking to do a degree by research or a taught degree? What do you eventually want to do with the degree?

4 or 5 are okay, but the OP says they are applying to 10 universities, including the 4 mentioned - which I have to agree seems quite a lot, especially when you consider that students are only permitted to apply to up to 6 universities with UCAS for undergrad study. It may also come across that the OP is unsure about what they want to do and perhaps hasn't put enough research into how each course will meet their specific needs.

Ah yes, sorry, just caught that!

I just wanted to add that I work in a museum (I did my MA in the states) and a good number of our senior curators did their degrees at Leicester. My boss, in fact, is doing a distance MA at Leicester at the moment.

Can the unis 'check up' to see if you're disclosing all the unis that you're applying to? I ask because I wanted to apply to two rather poorly-regarded ones as well as my main choices as backup schools, and I'd hate for their inclusion to make admissions take me less seriously.

I don't think they can check up on it, though I'm not entirely sure what the information sharing is between universities. Of course, I know from talking to professors involved in applications that they will sometimes talk with colleagues from other universities.

You're always going to be better off disclosing everything on your application than having them find out that you made a false statement on it. If you're applying to safety schools, you can tell them that if they ask. The main thing, from what I can gather, is that you have a concrete reason why you're applying to every school you're applying to.

I don't think they can check up on it, though I'm not entirely sure what the information sharing is between universities. Of course, I know from talking to professors involved in applications that they will sometimes talk with colleagues from other universities.

That was my thought too.

As far as I can tell, there is no 'database' or anything with information about where you applied, so the only way a university could find out would be to call every single university in the country and ask them!
 
However, as jen252 said, professors in the same field do talk to each other and often research collaborations occur between members of different institutions - you don't want to be in a situation in the future where your supervisor meets up with someone from one of the other universities you applied to, but didn't mention on the application, and your name comes up (e.g. "My master's student 'John/Jane Doe' is doing some research for me in this area."; "Really? I interviewed him/her for our masters course."; "Are you sure? I was under the impression he/she didn't apply to your university."

To give a couple of examples, I had an phone conversation with the professor who will be my supervisor in the US and she knows my current master's supervisor in the UK. On another occasion, when I was looking at PhD projects in the UK, I considered applying to study under a particular professor in Liverpool. I didn't apply, but a couple of months later, I discovered that he was the guy providing my data and will be a co-author on the paper I'm supposed to be writing between now and Christmas - he went from being some anonymous lecturer on the other side of the country to one of the collaborators in my research project!

Regarding finding out what schools have the top departments in your field: one of the better ways to do this is find out who the top scholars are in your field and then find out where they teach. My DH did this for his MSc, his PhD and now is doing it for post-doc work. So for example, Durham is top in the UK in his particular specialization (quaternary enviroments).

Thanks everyone for the help - just to follow up on the OP, I have a list of ten schools, but I haven't actually made the applications themselves, I'm waiting on having some experience to put down on the resume to show seriousness.

The "for sure" application list is (ranked according to my interest) UCL, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle. Durham I'd love to go to, but it's more for personal reasons, hence the question - but from what I have found it's not as professionally orientated. I have solid "I want to be here reasons" for each of them though. I also get the impression these are all top-ranked, highly competitive schools, and can't help but think I'm not going to be good enough.

My real worry is safety schools, especially because, as an undergraduate, I ended up applying early-decision to one school, and when I got offered a scholarship, that essentially made my decision. I'm finding it very hard to tell what is and is not a safety school, even in the States, and among my big reasons for doing a program in the UK is that I want the faster, more intense, experience. I want a masters, but cannot see languishing for two years (and spending $80k!).

Finally, I'm looking at taught, not research MAs, but I didn't realize an interview was part of the application process. While I'm not worried about my focus seeming to jump a bit, I can explain it through a constant interest (South Asia, and general intellectual curiosity  ). Is the interview more of a chat with a professor, or are you grilled by an admissions officer?

I can speak for Leicester... I applied for a job in that dept and although i didn't get it, I was sufficiently impressed with the department - the people, the curriculum, the liaisons with museums and just the overall attitude - that I would highly recommend it.  I can also tell you what it's like at the uni and living in Leicester if you want to PM me!  (I work in the science end of things)

I have solid "I want to be here reasons" for each of them though. I also get the impression these are all top-ranked, highly competitive schools, and can't help but think I'm not going to be good enough.

Not necessarily. A couple of years ago, Bristol was ranked behind Cambridge and ahead of Oxford for Earth Sciences (number 2 in the country), but there didn't seem to be any competition to get in for the masters programme.

My real worry is safety schools, especially because, as an undergraduate, I ended up applying early-decision to one school, and when I got offered a scholarship, that essentially made my decision. I'm finding it very hard to tell what is and is not a safety school, even in the States, and among my big reasons for doing a program in the UK is that I want the faster, more intense, experience. I want a masters, but cannot see languishing for two years (and spending $80k!).

For me, Bristol was my safety school - I only applied because it's in my hometown and was a back up in case I couldn't afford to go to one of the other universities (i.e. I could live with my parents).

You wouldn't be languishing for 2 years if you did a masters in the UK - masters degrees are only usually 1-year courses unless you do them part-time and pay the 1-year fees over 2 years (which I don't think international students can do with their visa regulations).

Finally, I'm looking at taught, not research MAs, but I didn't realize an interview was part of the application process. While I'm not worried about my focus seeming to jump a bit, I can explain it through a constant interest (South Asia, and general intellectual curiosity  ). Is the interview more of a chat with a professor, or are you grilled by an admissions officer?

As an international student, you are not likely to get an interview (although possibly an over-the-phone chat) - because you won't be in the country to be interviewed. Most universities don't carry face-to-face interviews with international students due to the obvious issues of distance.