Preparing for PhD Applications

If you’re anything like I was, you’re nervous. You’re not sure what the process will yield. You don’t know whether it’s worth applying. You don’t know if you have what it takes to get in. And you’re probably wondering if you have what it takes to even apply. I get it. I was there. 

Applying to graduate school was one the biggest decisions I have ever made. On top of that, I applied during one of the hardest seasons of my academic life. But before I embarked on that journey, I went through a process that made  it just a little bit easier.

After speaking with PhD students and professors in the summer of 2020, I decided to commit to the process and apply to graduate school in fall 2020. Yes, schools were accepting fewer students due to the pandemic—they needed to extend funding for current students, which limited the number of new students, in addition to the fact that acceptances in humanities PhD programs were dwindling in general—but I figured I’d rather try and fail than not try at all and miss an opportunity. So I chose to shoot my shot. And shooting that shot required a lot of strategy and scheduling.

First, I compiled a list of graduate programs. I began with schools for which I had done virtual visits (I recommend the Rutgers English Diversity Institute for my fellow English scholars out there). I also listed schools that had scholars whose work I admired. I asked my English advisors for their recommendations on a range of programs given their knowledge about my intellectual interests. The one key difference between graduate and undergraduate school selection is that it’s less about the school’s ranking overall, and more about departments/programs. More specifically, the process is about which of the scholars in your field you’d like to work with. 

Personally, I used an Excel sheet to break down my list of schools. I aimed to apply to 8-10 schools with 12 being my max. I had the following columns to organize each school’s information: 

1. School name
2. Area of study (I applied to some English and African American Studies programs)
3. Potential Advisors (with their research pages hyperlinked)
4. Location
5. Funding (# of years)
6. Application Deadline (I hyperlinked the site)
7. Application Components (Statement of Purpose, Writing Sample, C.V., Letters of Rec)
8. GRE (if they need it and if so what the code is)
9. Contact for Questions

The most helpful part of this process was identifying the people that I wanted to work with because when it came time to write my statement of purpose for each school, I already had a sense of who I wanted to work with and why.

Next, I worked backwards from my application deadlines and scheduled what needed to get done in order for me to achieve my goal of applying. I aimed to have all my application materials done 2 weeks before my first PhD deadline, so that I could use that time for proofreading and filling out the actual application online. 

With that in mind, I then made monthly goals. So for example, my September goal was to take the GRE. My October goal was to draft my writing sample and my personal statement. Then in November, I took the time to revise my sample and statement, in order to have it ready to polish by November 17th. The monthly goals really helped me break down my weekly goals, which further organized my daily goals. I appreciated having weekly goals, because if I didn’t finish something on a specific day, I still had the week to meet my goal.

Lastly, the MOST important part of the process for me, and what truly helped me achieve my goals was accountability (and the GRACE of God, of course!). I once heard a quote that said we are “97% more likely to get something done when we have accountability.” In the application process, what accountability looked like for me was having weekly meetings with a writing tutor to review the writing that I did for my sample and a weekly mentor to stay on top of my application material goals. The fact that I had to send my writing to somebody else really helped me stay on top of doing it. If I tell someone that I am going to accomplish something and then need to report back to them, I am so much more likely to do it. I don’t keep it to myself because if I don’t do it, no one knows.

The journey will be tough, but take heart, you are not alone! I was really encouraged by people who had gone through the application process not too long before me as well as my peers who were going through it right alongside me. You can also find community online, nearby, or on campus to support you in the process (i.e. Mellon Mays, Cohort Sistas, etc). Everything’s better together! And most importantly, God was with me and He’s with you too. This verse really held me down: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3). He really did!

Where will you find community during this process?

Writing song: We Have Hope by Tribl