Play the Game: How to Get Accepted and Succeed in Graduate School

By Alan M. Paredes Ph.D.

See Publication Notes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 13, 2000
• ISBN: 9781462827862

Alan M. Paredes Ph.D.

Dr. Paredes graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla with a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering. He then attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he received his Masters and Doctorate. He has taught at Southern Illinois University, Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky and Kentucky Junior College in Lexington, Kentucky. Presently, he teaches and writes at Midstate College in Peoria, Illinois.

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Copyright © 2005 by Alan M. Paredes Ph.D.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

INTRODUCTION

In January of 1988, I began my graduate work at the age of 28. At that time, I was naive about the reality of a graduate school. Nine years later, in December of 1996, I officially finished my Ph.D. Along the way, I picked up a master’s degree, changed fields, met and spoke with hundreds of graduate students, saw many people fail, had my share of unpleasent experiences, compared horror stories with dozens of friends, discovered the truth about graduate school, and gained a wealth of information that I feel may be useful to others.

My experience in graduate school has been both stimulating and difficult, with many highs as well as many lows. There were times when I thought I was the most intelligent person on the face of the earth. This was usually after succeeding at some task or writing a paper that had been complimented by a professor. However, the lows I experienced have been excruciatingly painful. These were after failing at some task or having a paper criticized and torn to shreds by a professor with no compassion.

I decided to write this book to help students understand one basic point. It does not take a genius to earn a graduate degree! In fact, all you need to succeed in graduate school is average intelligence, common sense, persistence, and a knowledge of how the system works.

In the following pages, you will see that I am very cynical when it comes to academicians, the graduate school process, and higher education in general. My cynicism comes from the many unpleasent experiences I have had, and these recounted to me by friends and acquaintances. Although highly cynical at times, you will also notice that I have a healthy respect for academics. This comes from the fact that I have met many excellent professors, as well as many outstanding graduate students. Further, the antiquity of academics and why it has survived so long also holds a positive appeal for me (see section: The History of Graduate School for more details).

In general, my opinions about academics are not popular, but they are based on my experiences and the experiences of others I trust. I believe, if you take the words in this book seriously, you will be able to succeed in graduate school and get that coveted piece of paper, allowing the doors of opportunity to open to you.

I chose the title of this book in honor of a successful officemate I had who was extremely cynical. He thought graduate school was a farce and that most things that were learned in graduate school could be easily picked up while working in the real world. He had only one reason for being in graduate school; it was a requirement for him to climb the corporate ladder. He also said, Graduate school is all about sucking up to the professors and getting the busy work over with so you could get on with your life. His standard response to all my complaints about graduate school was Play the game. For awhile, I adopted this cynicism because he seemed to be right. This was because many of the assignments from our professors seemed meaningless and given to us only to keep us occupied. This cynicism was further intensified by a quote I read early on in my graduate education by Sir Paul Chambers, an English scholar who, stated:

Life at the University, with its intellectual and inconclusive discussions at the post graduate level, is bad training for the real world, and only men of very strong character surmount this handicap.

Many things are wrong with graduate school and academic life. The first is the prerequisite of publishing in order to climb the academic ladder. This results in countless studies on the same research question without any definitive answers so that professors can publish just one more paper. Second, due to publishing pressures, teaching classes becomes a low priority for many professors. This leads to both undergraduate and graduate students not getting the quality of education they are paying for, allowing many students to just go through the motions instead of earning their degree. Third, government agencies that fund research programs are often good old boy networks that finance the same researchers year in and year out, without giving any consideration to other, perhaps more qualified, researchers with fresh ideas.

Although academics sounds like it is in a state of decline, I did learn some definite skills. I have upgraded my writing skills from poor to good; I have gained the ability to organize my thoughts into a working process. I am able to make smooth presentations to large groups of people without completely making a fool of myself; I can solve problems and think critically about important issues; and my self-confidence has increased dramatically. If this was the intent of graduate school, then I guess it worked for me. I learned these skills, and learned them well, in graduate school. But, in order to make it through graduate school, I had to learn the most important thing: how to play the game.

CHAPTER I

HOW TO GET INTO

GRADUATE SCHOOL

A wise man will make more opportunity than he finds.

Francis Bacon

Introduction

Every institution (universities, private corporations, government agencies, sports teams, etc.) that has a limited number of positions to fill and a large supply of candidates from whom to choose, has to go through an evaluation process to see who best fits the needs of that institution. In universities at the graduate level, selection committees must rely on grades, standardized tests, and letters of recommendation to evaluate candidates to fill the limited supply of openings.

However, selection committees also look at intangibles (qualities that cannot be measured very well by standard processes) in order to determine who is admitted to graduate school and who is rejected. These intangibles include the Statement of Purpose that you write, work and volunteer experience, and proposals submitted with your application, among other things. These intangibles are the things you can use to strengthen your chances of being admitted into graduate school.

There are over 250 universities in the United States that confer doctoral degrees and over 700 that confer the master’s degree. Each university can have over one hundred departments. Each of these departments can have anywhere from 5 to over 100 graduate students slots that need to be filled. Added to these numbers are the high drop out rates among graduate students. This means that universities, as a whole, do have many positions open for graduate students every year. The more places to which you apply, the greater are your chances of getting accepted. Remember, if you don’t apply, you can never get accepted.

This chapter focuses on the actual paperwork needed to apply to graduate school and how to increase your chances of getting accepted by strengthening the intangible elements of your academic record. In many instances, the intangibles are looked at as closely as the concrete aspects of your academic record. Therefore, if you have a modest academic record, you will have to rely on the intangibles to help you get into graduate school.

In order for you to make intelligent decisions about your future, it is important to have some basic information that relates to the culture of Graduate School. This chapter also discusses some issues that are debated in Graduate School. Although it is not a comprehensive list of issues, it will give you some idea about the climate prevailing there. It will also give you some important information about whether or not graduate school is right for you.

Average is Acceptable

Graduate school is part of the educational process that is greatly misunderstood by most people. When I was an undergraduate student, I thought graduate school was just for those incredibly smart people who did extremely well as undergraduates. I was wrong. As discovered out by going to graduate school, many graduate students had only modest academic records.

Most undergraduates I have talked to who had not considered going to graduate school also thought that you had to be very intelligent to get into graduate school. They always told me that they were not smart enough to make it in graduate school and that their grade point averages (GPA’s) were not good enough. Many of these undergraduates had grade point averages ranging from 2.0 to 3.5 in fields ranging from engineering to social work. If most of these students had applied to graduate school, many would have been accepted. All they would have needed to do was to submit an application package that highlighted their strengths (and not their weaknesses) and submit extra materials that showed these strengths (see section: The Application Process for more details).

Family, friends and acquaintances who knew I was in graduate school thought the same as the undergraduates. When they questioned me as to what I was doing with my life, their response to my answer that I was in graduate school was Oh, you must be smart. Although you can’t be a village idiot and get into graduate school, you would be surprised to know that average people are accepted and have made it through graduate school.

One of the most essential skills that you need in any graduate program is the ability to write well. However, writing well is one of the most difficult skills to learn how to do (see section: A Word About Writing for more details about learning how to write well). The keys to becoming a good writer are persistence, determination, and the willingness to take risks.

In graduate school, since you will be given many writing assignments, you will have to be able to turn in these writing assignments (i.e., a research paper, draft of a proposal, or a chapter of a thesis or dissertation) and let someone critique it. This is not an easy task. Unlike an undergraduate research paper, a proposal, or chapter in a thesis or dissertation is read more thoroughly by a professor. An undergraduate research paper is usually assigned a one-time grade with little chance to change or improve the writing or the content. On the other hand, graduate work is usually highly scrutinized carefully for content, grammar, and organization, as well as other factors. Since no one can sit down and get everything right the first time, you will probably get back a piece of writing in which you will have to amend many things. Since, in most cases, you will be getting a paper back with a lot of red ink, you will start having doubts about the quality of your writing and your ability to do the work. This is the time when you will have to start taking risks.

Once you’ve done the work and you get the writing assignment back, you have to be willing to work on it again and again and again! It doesn’t matter if it takes you twenty times to get it right. You have to keep trying and ignore your feelings. If you are serious about earning a graduate degree, you have to start developing a thick skin now!

Another factor that intimidates many students is the mystique of the professors. This is one thing you will have to get past very quickly if you want to become successful in graduate school. Professors aren’t magicians who have solutions to all the problems of the world. They are people who have taken the time to learn a set of skills in a particular field, like a plumber or an electrician. Also, these professors, at one time, had to start out somewhere. They didn’t wake up one morning and have all the answers. At one time, they were just like you. So try not to let their position as an authority on a particular subject intimidate you. If you look at them as ordinary people who have worked hard, you will be able to unshroud their mystique and be in a better position to succeed.

Minimum Requirements

As was stated before, there are many universities that offer graduate degrees. Some of these universities offer very high quality education, and it is very difficult to get accepted. The Gourman Report: Rating of Graduate and Professional Programs is a good place to look for the best graduate schools in every field, including the best medical and law schools. This book comes out every year and can be found in most university and junior college libraries. If you are really ambitious and get accepted and earn a graduate degree from one of these prestigious universities, you will then probably find it easy to get a high paying job with little difficulty. Although there might be some students who have earned graduate degrees from Harvard, Yale, or Stanford and are struggling to find jobs, I will bet that most of these graduates are working with prestigious companies and earning higher than average salaries.

However, you can get a good quality graduate education from one of the less prestigious universities, where it is not that difficult to get accepted. These universities are numerous and located throughout the United States, and many have a distinguished faculty. Some of these universities pride themselves on and provide good quality teaching while others conduct innovative research.

The minimum requirements of a particular graduate school are listed in the university’s graduate school catalog. These catalogs are usually free and can be obtained by writing to the graduate school of your choice and requesting for one. Usually, in order to be admitted to a graduate program, you must first apply to the graduate school of the university that you want to attend. After you are admitted by the graduate school, the department to which you are applying will review your qualifications.

The minimum requirements vary from university to university, but the average minimum requirements are that you must hold a degree from an accredited institution. If you have not finished your bachelor’s degree, you must complete all undergraduate degree requirements prior to the semester for which you are seeking admission. At most universities, the minimum grade point average (GPA) is about 2.7 and the minimum GRE score is about 500 (If your credentials are lower than these, see section: The Application Process for details about how to still get into graduate school). Depending on the university and the department, the minimum requirements may vary. You should call the university you are interested in to learn its minimum requirements and to speak to an advisor.

The Application Process

The application process is very simple and is much like applying to college for an undergraduate