All right. Welcome. It's about 4:45. And I think we'll give people a few more minutes to join and we'll probably get started in about two minutes. Okay. I'm still seeing a few more people joining, so I'm just going to wait another minute longer here to see if we can capture everybody before we start. Okay. It looks like it's slowing down, so I think we're good to get started here. Welcome to Preparing Now for Graduate School Later. I am Greg Foster, I'm currently the Interim Executive Director at Cornell Career Services and my sort of day job, my normal job as the Pre-law and Pre graduate Advisor for Cornell Career Services. And really appreciate everyone attending today. And I just kinda want say that we've got a crowd that's a reasonable number for asking questions. So if you have questions, please don't hesitate to, to unmute and ask. Or if you want to put a question in the chat, I will try to keep track of that as well. Sometimes when I'm screen-sharing, I don't manage to do that as well. So if I'm not getting to your question, please, please don't hesitate to unmute and let me know. And so we'll go ahead and get started. All right. Before I start any presentation, really about any kind of Career Services material, I like to talk a little bit about our understanding of the Career Development Cycle. And we think that this is a cycle that goes through many times over the course of your career. Not just as you're transitioning from undergraduate work into what you do next. And we think that this cycle is really made up of three different sequences. The first is Understanding Yourself. What are your interests, your values, your strengths, your goals. The second sequence is Exploring Your Options. That can be anything from taking a look at online resources, to doing networking, to getting involved in activities on campus, and to engaging in internships or other experiential opportunities. In the final phase is really the Take Action phase. And that is applying to something. Applying to a job, applying to graduate school, or professional school. That is, that's typically where you are in today's presentation, will actually be exploring a little bit of information in each of these different sequences. This is kind of an overview about graduate school. And again, I would just encourage you to ask questions if you've got them and given the size of our group, again, you can just unmute yourself and call out the question that totally works for me. All right, so our goals today are generally these. We want to learn about the types of graduate and professional programs that are out there. Kind of a big picture about that. We want to gain tools for choosing programs. And we want to understand that timing and content of applications to graduate school. Finally, we want to at least introduce you to the methods for financing that graduate education. All right. Now, what is the purpose of graduate education? This may seem like a kind of a funny question, but I think it's always good to keep it in the forefront of your mind. You know, why? Why would one do this? And so really, first of all, graduate education is becoming more and more important for having a fulfilling career. More college graduates than ever at some point are going on for the graduate and professional degrees. Not necessarily right after graduating under undergraduate studies, but, but many times within a few years after that. And part of this is because it helps to raise your value in the marketplace, basically puts you in line for advancement in your career. But also because many, many fields that we work and now are becoming so specialized that having that additional understanding in that field really is important for success. In 2019, 23 percent of Cornell graduates entered graduate education immediately after graduating Cornell. Many others do continue on to graduate education, even if it's a few years after they finish up their undergraduate work at Cornell. It'll be interesting to see what happens this year. My own sort of anecdotal experience so far as it feels like some people have sort of pulled forward their plans to go to graduate school because the pandemic might have created what seemed like a tough job market. So it may be that that 23 percent number climbed a bit this year. All right. So in general, what kind of graduate schools are there? There are a very wide range. As I mentioned at the outset, I do pre-law, pre-law advising as well as graduate school advising. Pre-law advising I always share with my advisees is kind of straightforward. There's basically one kind of legal education. There are about 200 schools while basically teach the same thing. And the intent is you finish with a Juris Doctorate and then you can sit for the bar, and then you can practice law. Graduate school is much broader and there are so many different ways and directions that you can go to. Just really simple, simply kind of break it down. Typically, graduate programs emphasize adding to your existing knowledge through research. Where professional schools focus on applying knowledge that you gain at the schools in order to meet the requirements for professional practice. So law, medicine, a number of other areas like that are our professional schools. If you're wanting to kind of look at the full landscape of the graduate programs that are out there. A really good tools is Peterson's Grad Schools search platform, which is online in that. And I just want to reiterate that a lot of the information that I'm sharing here will also be published very soon in our Career Development Toolkit in our Pre-grad module. So if you see some links in here, what I'm referring to, I've actually pulled some of that content forward into this presentation and you'll be able to click through those links in the Toolkit. Probably in a matter of days, we're almost done and ready to publish it. Now, some examples of professional degrees we've talked about could include MD, a DO, a Juris Doctorate for lawyers, there are many specific professions that require professional degree. There are also master's degrees that range widely. As you can see, you put a bunch of acronyms in here that'll make it crazy trying to figure out what each of them are. But basically these are all master's level programs. And then finally of course, there are doctoral degrees. And this tends to be what we call a terminal degree, meaning that it is the highest level you can attain in a particular field, highest level of education. So let's kinda break that down just a little bit. So in terms of differences between graduate school and professional school, in this chart, I've tried to kind of lay out some comparisons. So for graduate school, obviously the degrees available, our master's degrees or PhDs. For professional schools, you can see there are a number of specific degrees based on that profession you're entering. Your time investment for these programs can differ pretty broadly. So for a master's degree, I have in here two to three years. But really this point there are a number of one-year master's programs. So master's degrees can really run from one to three years. PhD programs from five to seven. Typically, with graduate school, you're not working toward licensure. You're basically working toward the degree and, and a development of expertise in a particular field. Where with professional school, usually the outcome is you're, you're trying to qualify for licensure in a particular profession. And let's see. You kind of read the rest of these comparisons here. And again, these are, these are, this is information that's about, that will be available on our Canvas site. You don't need to necessarily write this down you'll just be able to refer to that very soon. Alright. So what does graduate school like? It's different than undergrad, for sure. It starts with the graduate programs are usually much more specific and much more career focused. They tend to be less structured than undergraduate programs. Your grades are going to count, but not as much, especially as you move through the program. So that's a little bit different than your undergraduate experience. There's going to be emphasis on publishing papers, teaching classes, presenting at conferences, serving on, on various committees. You'll be really focusing on relationships. While you're there, you'll be kind of building a reputation, building relationships within the field that you're interested in participating in. Your faculty and advisor perceptions of you are going to need very important. They're going to help to advance you out of the graduate program and into the field you want to work. And so it's, in those ways, it can be quite different than the undergraduate experience. Alright. So you're considering graduate school... How do you know if it's right for you? I think that the most important thing to start with is having a clear idea about what you want to study. And why are you getting into this? What, what field are you interested in? What are the job opportunities in that field once you complete your program? If you know that a lot of other things start to fall in place. First of all, that means that the money you're investing in the time that you're investing in graduate school will lead to an outcome that you actually intend - that you want. But it will also help you apply better to those graduate schools. We're going to talk near the end of the program about, essays, and one of the  essays that you often have to write is called the statement of purpose. And it's important in an essay like that, to be able to explain to the Admissions Committee why you're applying to a particular program and how it fits with your career goals. So the more work you can do on that up front, the better. So that kind of begs the question, how do you learn about those careers? How do you learn about which graduate degrees support which careers? All right, So first of all, I'm going to point you back to the Career Development Toolkit, which is our Canvas module. There is an exploration through chapter or module within the Toolkit that will give you some great tools for sort of self-reflection and career exploration. I think that's a nice place to start. And if you think about that, wheel we talked about at the beginning of the program. That's really in that Understand Yourself phase. But most importantly, you're going to be talking with people. Those conversations you have a really going to end up sort of filling out much of your, your understanding of the programs that are out there and in which programs are right for you. So who can you talk to? Certainly, you can talk to a career or academic advisor. You could be talking to somebody in our office at Cornell Career Services, or at the Career Services Offices across campus. Your academic advisor is also a great resource for, for asking these kinds of questions. Also, it's a great idea to talk to your current professors. So ask them about whether your current academic work and  your current research, If you're doing any, are sort of at the point where graduate or professional school would be a good next step. And they should be able to give you some insights. Particularly, they are from a field that you're, you're considering. Another great resource is the faculty, the admissions officers or advisors, and other students or alumni from Cornell who are thinking about going to graduate school. Or I've already been there and talking to them about what their decision-making process is like or was like. How did they decide to do what they're doing? Now, maybe, you know, people who fit those descriptions. And that's great. And you should definitely go to your own sort of personal community to start those conversations. Many of us need to supplement that were needed a different resource to really begin that process is start building that community. And if you haven't already worked with it, I would highly recommend using CUELINKS to find Cornell Alumni and to start conversations about graduate school. And really, it's never too early to do that. If you're thinking about it, even if your first year, second year at Cornell. If you're thinking about it now, if you have these conversations, they should really start to set you on a path that, that helps you to be where you want to be, when you want to apply. So we can talk in more detail about CUeLINKS. If there are questions, but that's a great tool, Cornellians have to start building a community around their process. All right, now, let's say you are able to, to get a hold of some people to ask questions to - have conversations with. Well, you know what, what can you ask them? I've set for us some questions here that you might be thinking through while you're deciding whether graduate school is right for you. And some of these questions you might want to run past people that you reach out to. So right off the bat, I think it's important once you've identified that at field you want to work in, to ask yourself, as a graduate degree, is that going to help me advance more than just gaining on the job experience? And it may be hard to know that as an undergraduate right now. And that's really where asking people who are out there in the field doing that kind of work you want to do. Whether they think you need a graduate degree to really build your career in that particular field. That they're really the experts because they're out there doing that work. Now the question you want to ask this financial question. How about my lifetime earnings? Am I going to earn more money over the course of my career? If I do get that graduate or professional degree, I'm not going to like the work that I'm doing more. If I get that kind of degree. What are the rewards, the financial or the status rewards? And having a master's degree or a doctorate in your field. Again, good questions to ask people who are already out there doing that kind of work. Now, the graduate degree or a professional degree is probably going to cost some money, serve in two ways. And it's going to cost some money, potentially to be paying for tuition and your living expenses. But there's also an opportunity cost. What could you have been doing if you are not studying in graduate school? There's a there's a something called a Grad School ROI Calculator, which I've highlighted in screen here. First, that would be a hotlink. If, if this is clickable, that's also going to be linked to our Canvas module. It runs you through a bunch of different scenarios and kinda helps you calculate whether or not the expenditure of time and money in grad school is going to pay off for your particular career goals. That's kind of interesting to look at. Another, sort of another question to kind of ask yourself is, how defined are your career goals? Is graduate school necessary to meet those goals? Are there alternatives? So there's graduate school there's on a job experience. But more and more prevalently, there are credentials or alternative degrees that can help a person reached the same goal. So a credentialing program might actually not take very much time. Might not take that much money. Might be something that you can do while you're working. And could get you nearly where you want to get to or, or as far as you want to get to in your in your field. So it's worth knowing whether those credentials or certifications would be a good alternative to a full blown masters degree or more. In terms of graduate education. Also think about how long is it going to take to complete this degree? How do you feel about that? If somebody says to you, well you might get your PhD in the next six years. Is that alright with you? Is, and how you want to spend the next six years. Or there are things you'd rather be doing. I think it's important to kind of put yourself in that position and ask yourself that question. Now before you commit. Obviously, if the thing you want to do requires a license, you need to know that up front. And obviously choose the professional program or professional school program that helps you get that license. All right. Now, once you decide that you think graduate school is right for you. How do you choose a program that really is a good fit? And again, this is much more challenging for graduates students than it maybe for professional school students, professional school students, sort of know they have to, they've gotta choose among those programs that will get them licensing. Graduate schools may not be as directed. So doing good research here is important. One tool you can use, you want to look for sort of guides to programs. One tool you can use is that among the different professions, their professional associations often publish guides regarding graduate departments. So just I'll talk about law because that's easiest for me. I'm a lawyer by trade. And and so the American Bar Association is a disciplinary Association for lawyers. And they publish all kinds of really good material about law schools that can really help you narrow down your choices. Other disciplines, other professional disciplines do the same thing. There's a general guide to graduate study called the Peterson's. There's a searchable database online. Peterson Searchable Database is a great entry point. You can you can filter by field, you can filter by location, by degree level. There are just so many different ways to, to look through or to search  programs using that database. I'd recommend that as an entry point. You can also look at the National Center for Education Statistics, College Navigator. And if you use that, you want to filter by advanced degrees. And you can search for programs based on your zip code too. So you might say, I really want to go to graduate school and I want to be in the Philadelphia area. So this, this particular site can help you identify all of the graduate programs that are in the field that you're interested in, but are also in the geographic location that you're interested in. Again, I'm gonna sort of nudge you back to talking to professors and advisors though in terms of choosing a program, as well as current graduate schools. In particular, professors and current graduate students are going to be very close to the information. If professors are going to be possibly in the same field, they're going to know which programs are really outstanding and which programs will kind of help you get to where you want to go. Current graduate students in those programs are going to be able to give you some insight about what it's like to study there now or what they went through recently to apply. So that's an important, those are important conversations to have. That might be the highest value search that you do is talking to those folks. You may also want to, and actually this is, this can be quite important. Start to be in contact with faculty members at programs that you are interested in. Because when you get to that program, ultimately, there's a good chance, particularly if you're working on a PhD, that you're going to be working closely with the faculty member. So beginning that relationship early, sort of reaching an understanding about that person early, can really help you choose programs. So if there's a faculty member whose work you find compelling, don't hesitate to reach out to that person and say, Hey, I'm thinking about graduate school. I'm interested in your program. I find your work very interesting. Can we, can we talk about that? That that can be a good way to, to investigate this further. Under other circumstances. Visiting a program and sitting in on a class. Great idea. Right now, for a little while, longer at least, that's probably going to have to be done virtually. But it's still available for a lot of programs and I'd recommend it if you can arrange it. Also, in the fall, we host the our Graduate and Professional School Day. That is a really important day for people who are interested in graduate and professional school. We bring in hundreds of graduate and professional schools. Who are there specifically to meet with students, to tell them about their schools, to learn about their students, It's a good time for the potential students. It's a good time for you to really do some discovery about their programs and begin to make an impression on them. In some cases, they're sending people who are involved in the admissions process as well. That can be helpful. We will probably do that virtually this year. And it shouldn't happen in mid September. We're waiting just a little bit longer to to decide whether it's virtual or in person, but my guess is it'll be virtual this year. All right, again, more staff about how you choose a program. More information. You're going to be exposed to rankings for sure That's a very normal thing to, to take a look at. It's important to at least gain an understanding where rankings agencies place schools by reputation. Those rankings formulas are often heavily reliant on input from peer institutions. So other graduate programs in the same area, talking about each other, essentially evaluating each other. And that can definitely be helpful. They are the experts on their area. One of the drawbacks to that is it can also be a little bit limiting their basically evaluating themselves - in some way. So it's good to be aware of it, but it's good to do your own, your own critical thinking here and to do your own research. So things to think about other than rankings. Get to know what's happening with the faculty at these programs. What kind of academic training do they have? What kind of research activity are they involved with? Are they productive? Are they good teachers? What's  their reputation as teachers? Do they care about student development? What is sort of morale like in the program? You're going to be spending a lot of time with the faculty members. And if you're hearing positive or negative things about, about this faculty members from maybe students who they work with. It's good to keep that in mind or at least evaluate what you're hearing. Again at getting a know something about the students who are at that program is also important. Is it a selected program? Are the students who are entering, demonstrating pretty strong academic ability at the time they enter the program? What are they achieving while they're in the program? Are they involved in research that gets published? Are they involved in programs that you can identify? Or doing, or doing experiential opportunities you can identify that sound good to you? How are their graduates doing? Are they, what kind of jobs are they getting? What is the reputation of the graduates in the field you're going into? I think those are really important things to understand about programs. Also, what kind of resources are available? Many of these programs will have libraries or labs or facilities that are very important to completing the work that you're going to do. It's good to know about the quality of those facilities. It's also good to know how well financially supported they are. And again, that's going to take talking to people in the field like professors, like current students. And of course you want to know some of the basics about how the school operates. What are the courses? What are the program offerings? What are their admission Policies? Things like that, that helped you kind of understand what's going to happen when you get there. What can you expect to be doing as a student there? So lots, as you can see, lots of research. But when you're thinking about talking with people like professors or current students. These can be fuel for questions to ask them. All right. Let's say you decide you do want to go to graduate school and you, you want to think about when to apply. So we've developed kind of a timetable that, that's maybe hopefully easy to follow. It's based on... so the example I'm going to show you, it's two slides, is based on a person who wants to go to graduate school the fall after they graduate from Cornell. It's also based on kind of what I would say, an ideal and general set of circumstances. Meaning nothing goes wrong, there are no distractions. And you're kind of following. What I would say is sort of a normal path there. Of course, things come up. People change their minds, steadies get interrupted. Lots of things can happen and you need to make adjustments. Doesn't mean that you can't get into graduate school, it just means you need to rethink the timeline a little bit. But just in a very general way, if you were going to try to attend graduate school the fall after you graduate from Cornell. You might do it in this way. So in the spring of your junior year, that's when you really want to kind of understand what the graduate schools that you're looking at are looking for in you. What are the admissions criteria? What kind of degrees are they going to offer? Is this going to be a master's degree a PhD? Good to get to know that then. We want to do some research into the areas that you're interested in, and the programs that, that sort of address those areas. You want to register and start getting ready for any admissions tests that you're going to take. You won't necessarily take the tests in the spring, might take it in the summer. But in the spring you might be looking at the dates for when you'll take it. And starting to look at your calendar in terms of - When am I going to study? How much time do I need to put into it? It might also take a look at any national fellowships or scholarships that will be available for a student pursuing that, that area of education. And then we have, we'll talk about this little bit later. But when it comes to sort of the more prestigious fellowships and scholarships, There's an advisor in our office, Beth Fiori, can be very helpful into walking you through that application process and assisting you with your application. In the summer, you'll want to make sure you take the graduate admission test. You want to start to get the application materials from the programs that you're interested in. And it used to be long ago that you'd have to send a letter to them and say... Please send me the application  materials. Much easier now, most of these applications are on their websites. You go to their websites and you basically click into their application materials. If you have a chance to visit any of the programs, and again, pandemic is really interfering with this. But hopefully it'll change soon. Do take a look at the at the school, see if you can visit them. In the short term right now again, virtual tours can be really helpful. You can begin to work on an application essay. We'll talk about essays them a little bit. But you can start your work in the summer. You can also begin applying for fellowships or scholarships that you've identified that are not tied directly toward to getting admitted to a particular program. So there might be some nationally available fellowships or scholarships could be applied to any program you end up choosing. If you decide you want to pursue them. Applying in the summer. Not a bad time. You also want to make sure you keep track of the application deadlines for the programs you're interested in. So for those of you like spreadsheets, you, might start building a spreadsheet that lists the programs that you're interested in and various different factors that you need to consider for this programs, including the application deadlines. Alright, sorry that the text is a little bit small, I kind of force, forced this slide a little bit. So then in your senior year, in the fall, that's when you really want to start obtaining your letters of recommendation from professors or other references. Now, I should back up here. That's when you want to obtain the letters. Sort of the ideal situation is that maybe you spoke with those people several months before, in the spring. And maybe you find those people that you're interested in getting a recommendation from, you have that conversation with them. But you say to them, I just want to know if you're willing to write that letter and then I'll come to you in the fall and ask you to write the letter. That way they had plenty of time. And they don't just say no because they're they're pressed for time. So spring is when you would make the initial ask. Fall is when you would hopefully collect them better. You would also in the fall hopefully attend the Graduate and Professional School Day that I referenced earlier. Any start to have your applications critiqued. This is optional, but I think it's a good idea. That means having someone like me or someone in a Career Services Office on campus that you'd like to work with, start to look at your essays. And give you some feedback that gives you time to work on them before you actually submit them. And if you haven't already taken your graduate admissions test, or if you're deciding to take it a second time, try to - you need  to get that done in the fall. By December or January, depending on the deadline for the program that you're applying to, you're going to need to submit your application. So typically that's going to happen December or January. There are definitely exceptions to that. But this is just kind of the general rule. Then in the spring, you're going to send in,  in January, your financial aid applications. And you're also going to check with the schools to make sure that your, that your file is complete. And then hopefully the job is keeping track of acceptances where you are if you're on a wait-list or at least noting, okay, I haven't been accepted at that particular school. And again, if you can try to visit the schools that you have been accepted to, to help you make a decision about which one to attend. You should probably expect decisions around the middle of April. I'm sorry. You should expect to make a decision around the middle of April. And obviously you want to be professional at that point. And let the schools know that you applied to that you're not going to attend, either accepted in different, uh, different offer. All right. What goes into the application itself? What are the components? Well, first of all, there are components. They are holistically reviewed, meaning it may feel like, gosh, my GPA is the big thing. That's what they're going to be looking at. Or my essay really is, is what is going to drive this decision. Or I got to nail the GRE and that's what's going to get me in. Really. All those things together are what are what's considered by the admissions committees. Look at your GPA, they're going to look at the letters of recommendation. You're going to check out your admission scores. They're definitely going to read your essay. You're going to want to make sure that your, your background is a good match for the program, so you have the right undergraduate degree. They also are going to look for, in some instances, sort of evidence of your talent. So some graduate programs might, might review portfolios or they might look at prior, previously published material. And you're going to have to kind of sort out whether your program is looking for that when you're doing your research into the programs. Now what happens on your application actually arrives? Again, this is very general. But typically the packages go directly to the academic department that you're applying to. A faculty committee is going to take a look at that application. And then they're going to make recommendations to probably a Dean or MVP in that department who's going to make the final decision. My guess is. most of the time they'll follow the recommendations of the faculty committee, but that's basically the process. So all right. Let's kinda break this down a little bit into the different items that you're going to submit for your application. So first of all, standardized admissions tests. Why do you do this? Basically, it's because the schools need a way to kind of evaluate your, your potential for success at their school. For schools that have high demand and that are particularly selective. These test scores rise in importance. And some programs will use test scores toward merit-based financial aid. So your score certainly does matter. And there are a number of different standardized tests that are out there. And each discipline or program. Basically tell you which tests they need you to take. Hopefully what will happen is you will choose a field that has a certain set of programs that require one type of test. So hopefully you're not taking multiple types of standardize emissions tests. If you are, there might be something and something to check on in terms of your process. Many times the test you're taking, the GRE or the GMAT. Alright. This is, there's no way I can do justice to this in a presentation in the short time that we have. So I'm just going to give you a couple of tips. Obviously, we're here to talk this through with you more and in advising setting and again, our Career Development Toolkit, has more information about this. One of the questions that comes up for admissions test is, How are these programs handling my scores? What if I had multiple scores? So some schools are going to use your highest score. Others are going to average multiple scores. In that case, that can sort of reduce the value of retaking the test. It really kind of depends on which program you're, you're applying to. And I'll just sort of be specific - but talking about law school, for example. The law school admissions test the LSAT, plays unfortunately, kind of an outsize role in the admissions process, both in getting admitted and in attracting merit aid. The only score that law schools have to report to the rankings agency is your high score, if you're admitted to the school. So, you know, sort of whether they say that they're averaging them or they or they don't really say that their taking the highest score. In that case, you can imagine their eyes are kind of drawn to the high score it because that's the one that's gonna help to determine their ranking. Kind of a practical concern. Definitely ask the graduate advisor at the schools where you're going to apply, how they handle retakes, what, what they do, do, they average them and they focus on high score. And then as you're planning your testing process, and make sure you know how frequently the tests are given in case you decide you might need a backup test. Sort of maybe plan to test at a time rather than just one. Preparation. Usually preparation is what makes the difference in terms of succeeding on the test. There are some, these are very general observations about these tests. Some will take maybe a month of preparation, some will take maybe three months of intense, relatively intense preparation. Some people try to put a number of hours on that. So I'm just throwing out there that, that some people will say a 100 hours of preparation is right. Again, for something like the LSAT. I've definitely heard more hours than that for preparation. Now, how do you prepare? Well you want to start by reviewing the admission test steady guides that the test giver makes available. So ETS is one of them. The Law School Admission Council is another one. They will make available some test study guides. It's a good idea, as an entry point, to take a look at those. At some point, you're going to want to be doing practice exams. Probably kind of a large number of practice exams. And eventually you're going to want to get to the point where you're doing them under real test-taking conditions. That means that they're timed. And that the area where you're taking the test would be similar to the area that you would take, the real test. It's sort of that performance in those situations that really starts to predict how you're going to do on the test. There are free practice tests and free test prep tools that are available for these tests. You can also just simply Google free test questions for this specific tests you're going to take. And there will be tests out there. You gotta be careful and make sure that they are valid tests or test questions. So do a little bit of checking on that. Inevitably, you'll consider, should I take, should I use a commercial prep organization, something like Kaplan or, or Seven Sage, there's a number of them out there obviously. It depends. If the free materials seem to be working for you and if when you're taking the practice tests and a real test-taking conditions, you seem to be hitting the levels that you want to hit. Great. If you feel like you need more than that. And then some people find these commercial prep organizations to be very helpful. Of course, they can also be pretty expensive. And the costs can range from $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the course. And so you need to be aware of that. There are some discounts available and you can check into that as well. One of the benefits in these courses, they do give you some structure. We do give you some instruction. They talk to you about test taking strategies. Sometimes that can get you unstuck, when you're in a difficult spot. All right. Let's see here. What our letters of recommendation and how do you get them? So we're moving to another, another criteria  relatively rapidly here. And again, I don't see any yet any questions in the chat, but if you are hitting on questions as we're kinda rapidly going through this, please don't hesitate to bring them up. I'm very happy to answer. And then of course, if we have time at the end, I'll try to answer them, then too. Letters of recommendation, What are these for? These are basically methods, a method for graduate programs to learn something about you that they couldn't gather from other parts of your application. But they're also, basically like an opinion, by the person who's writing the letter, about whether you're going to thrive in the academic environment at that particular program. So many times you'll see that professors can be kind of the gold standard for letters of recommendation. The reason for that is because they're, they're very credible when it comes to whether you're going to thrive in an academic environment. They understand the academic environment. Hopefully you've chosen and professor knows you and knows your work well. And so they can offer an opinion about you that hopefully is detailed, but also relevant to the kind of program that you're applying to. You don't have to use professors. They're not the only kinds of recommenders that can, that can help you be successful. I'm just suggesting that it's important if you can do to have at least one professor as a recommender in most cases. Now, now what, what do these letters hopefully contain? Information that's not otherwise available in your application? Hopefully they will describe your strengths in ways that can't really be measured by grades on test or test scores, admission test scores. And some recommenders do a very nice job of basically comparing you to your peers. So sometimes you'll see a letter that will, that will say pretty clearly, I've been a professor for 10 years. This is one of the finest students that I've ever worked with. That that's going to carry a lot of weight with the recommender. So we're going to talk in a minute, I'm sorry, with a with the graduate program. We're going to talk in a minute about how you get letters of recommendation. But one of the things I'll emphasize is, if when you're talking to a potential recommender and you get the sense that they can't say something like that, that you're one of the stronger students that, that they've worked with, then maybe that, that isn't the right recommender for you. Something that can be a great letter recommendation can be super-helpful to your admission, but a, a lukewarm or not great recommendation can really be problematic to getting to getting admitted. All right. Let's see. I do have a question in the chat. So I want to take this I can honor my statement that I'd like to take questions. So the question is... I spent a few years working between graduation and applying to grad school, but not in my degree area. Could a former employer outside of my grad school academic area, be a good recommender? I'm so glad you asked that question. I kind of almost intensely didn't cover it because I think that's a good question for people to raise. The short answer is yes. A recommender who's not a professor can be very helpful, particularly if you've been out for a couple years and you've been doing other work. You've been growing, you've been improving, your skills, have been improving. Somebody who's observing you're more current work might be more relevant. I think what's helpful with a recommender like that is to prepare them. It's always helpful to prepare a recommender. But basically where with the professor. When you, when, when they're going to write your letter, hopefully you're going to give them a package of information that might be your transcripts, it might be your resume, it might be a draft of your graduate school essay. I like to give them a couple of bullet points about sort of what your research into the graduate programs you're applying to has revealed about the programs. So that's a little directional for them. It gives them a little guidance about topics that might be helpful. With a, with a recommender who's not in academia. Maybe a former supervisor doing those things are, are important. But I'd put even more emphasis on those bullet points. I think it's a good idea to let them know which skills are most important to these graduate schools. So in some cases, I know I rely a lot on law school, I apologize for that. But for example, important skills in law school are written communication, research, and analysis. So if I was working with a former employer or a current and employer as a recommender, I'd say, Hey, can you please comment on those three areas? Maybe you you've done some research in your work. Maybe you've drafted some memoranda for, for your workplace. Maybe you've done some great analytical work. I would, I would encourage the recommender to talk about that because those are the things that are going to matter to - in this example to a law school. Hopefully your research about the programs you're going to, will shed some light on which skills are going to be most important. So that's a great question. I definitely don't want to steer you away from using employers, but you just sort of need to prepare them for success. Alright. Who do you ask? We kind of already been talking about this. First of all, whether it's a professor, an administrator here at Cornell, or an employer. You want to make sure of a couple of things. Do they know you and your work, well? Do they have a high opinion of you? Again, a mediocre letter of recommendation can do some damage. Can they make a favourable comparison of you with your peers based on what they know about you? Do they know about the places you're applying to? Again, maybe they do. That'll be a really good recommender. Maybe it's a professor who's familiar with the graduate program you're applying to. If they don't, it does help to kind of bring them up to speed with those bullet points I was talking about. Is the recommenders, somebody that the admissions committee would know and somebody whose opinion they would value? So that that's great. That's sort of the ultimate. If you, if you've got that too. Again, being a little bit I think careful here about letter recommendation being an appropriate one is important. But I mean by that is hopefully your recommender sort of knows that this is a letter of recommendation. It's not something where they're asking for a favor or something like that that I don't see that happening. But, but occasionally, students will ask me, well, you know, can a person in the committee knows really well, you know, what can they say to them? And I always say and guide them to focus on your strengths. That's probably the best thing. All right. In terms of asking for a letter, when you are approaching those people, and we'll use that example. It's the spring of your junior year. You're going to need the letter in the fall. You want to ask them whether they know your work well enough to write a positive letter on your behalf. And you want to try to ask them with enough time so that they don't just say no. Because they feel constrained by time. All right, what about essays? And I'm trying to be mindful of time here, so I might go a little bit quicker here. I do have another question. Do I have any advice on approaching a professor who, with whom I have a good relationship during school, but haven't been in contact with since graduating? Yeah. That's a really good question. Sort of the flip side of that is, if you think you go to graduate school for a while after you graduate, it's still a good idea to approach a potential recommender before you graduate. Because they might say, sure, I can write a letter now. Or they might say, i'd, I'd be happy to write a letter two or three years from now and you need it. But let's stay in contact so you can keep updating me about about your progress. If you, if you haven't approached the recommender and you're a couple of years out. Yeah, that's kinda where you apply those sort of typical relationship-building skills and you get back in touch with them. Maybe you have to see if they're available for kind of a conversation about career development. Maybe talk to them a little bit in that conversation about your career goals. And then hopefully somewhere in that conversation, it's okay to then ask them about whether they be willing be a recommender. Probably getting back up to speed with them. And we reinforcing your relationship with them is a good start before just asking them cold to be recommender. Alright, what about essays? Okay, essays? There's a lot to talk about with essays and again, can't really covered in the short time we have. So I've got a few tips here. And I would encourage you to check out that Career Development Toolkit because we go into a lot more depth. And definitely to speak with me or another advisor when you start working on your essays because hopefully we can, we can be very helpful in that process. But basically, there are kinda two kinds of graduate school essays - there's a statement of purpose and a personal statement. Statement of purpose is really about. What is the great... Tell us about the great work you've done so far. Then. Tell us about the work you want to do after you graduate from our graduate program. And then tell us how our graduate program will help to prepare you for the work you want to do in the future. So it's, it's pretty directed. A personal statement, on the other hand, is more, it's wide open. It's basically a way for you to introduce yourself to the program and to positively differentiate yourself from other candidates. They can be more about your personal background. It could be a little bit more thematic in terms of driven by story you want to share. But it's not quite as focused as, as a statement of purpose. However, I will say this. Those three areas that we talked about in the statement of purpose can also be a pretty good basis for personal statement. Alright. What, what are the programs thinking about when they're reading these essays? They're thinking about your writing ability. You know, can you write with clarity? Do you develop your ideas well? You want to be able to show them that you're determined. You're going to work hard and that you're excited about this field of study. And hopefully they have some understanding of what you're getting into. You don't have to understand the field completely already. That's why you go into graduate school. But at least you have some understanding of what you're getting into. And again, I'll just refer you back to that, that, that, that Toolkit. Alright. How do you finance graduate school? And I know we're running out of time here, so we are almost done. There's basically four types of funding sources that you'll be dealing with in graduate school applications. Need-based aid, merit-based aid, assistantships, then fellowships and grants. So need-based aid, this is a lot of information, but basically it's related to how do you get loans.  Or can you use the federal work study program to help get some of your wages paid by an employer while you're in graduate school. This is all available on our Canvas website, our Canvas tool. But just need here's a rundown of the available loans that you'll be able to get. All right. Merit-based aid. This is really a way for a graduate program. To, to, help defray your costs based on the merit of your application. Often is awarded based on academic accomplishment or talent, or maybe the kind of career you want to go into. Sometimes you're choosing a career field where they really need some people out there doing that work. And so they get incentivized with that - with merit aid. It's not always clear what's being measured, when they're talking about offering you merit aid. And so that's kinda gotta live with the ambiguity there a little bit. The terms and this aid are often defined by the graduate school you're applying to. So that just basically means some graduate schools are looking for different than other graduate schools. And so you're going to want to get to know what does, what, what the programs you're applying to care about. Hopefully, they'll describe it in their description and the merit aid that's available that you can apply for. And then I'll give you some, some hints. All right. Assistantships in many graduate programs you're going to kind of work your way through. So you could be a teaching, research, a graduate assistant. You will get compensated for that. And it will help defray the cost of your graduate education, or in some cases, cover the costs. It is a good idea to find this out before you go to the program. So basically, before you're applying, maybe start to identify some programs that you're interested in. Maybe be in touch with some faculty members and try to find out what sort of assistantships are available to students in their programs. Sometimes that means writing directly to either a faculty member or a department chairperson and letting them know, that you're going to want to be considered for these positions. So lots more to talk about here, but this is just the entry point information. Fellowships and grants. Again, I'd encourage you to talk with Beth Fiori in our office. She can help you sort out what fellowships and scholarships are available. She focuses mainly on the sort of more prestigious fellowships because they're more complicated to apply for. Also trying to locate where the, where to apply for grants or what's available, does take some research. So kind of plan to spend some time look, locating fellowships and grants before you start applying. That'll give you a sense for what's available. The schools themselves often are, are a good starting point because they might be able to point you toward grants, are fellowships that typically are available for their students. All right. I know we've just run up against the deadline and passed it. Top takeaways for the day... Do your homework before you apply. Research programs. Talk to people that's going to be often where the best information comes from. And make sure before you apply that you know, what the prerequisites are, so that you are targeting the program, the programs that are right for you. Definitely check out the Career Development Toolkit. And when you need that personalized support that's what, what we're here for. So when those questions come up, please do not hesitate to contact me about either the search for graduate schools or the application the graduate schools. All right. I know we're well over time. So thank you for hanging in there. And please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. If there are any questions, I'm happy to hang out for a few more minutes and answer them. Hi, Greg. I was going to type it, but this will just be faster. I'm the one who's spent several years away and have all the questions about that. So is there a specific advisor for alumni or is it the same office for alumni as well? Great question was same for students and alumni and we serve alumni really at any stage in their career. Okay, fantastic. Definitely going to make an appointment. Thank you so much. This was great. Oh, good. I'm so glad and I'm looking forward to talking to you. Absolutely. Thank you. All right.