It’s that time of the year again: grad school applications season! Applying to grad school is a long, stressful process for many. There’s several decisions to make: choice of schools and/or advisors, scouting for letter writers, drafting a great research statement, taking language tests (Oh wait! Many schools don’t require these beginning this cycle).

Over the years, I’ve helped people I know with various facets of their applications; most commonly, reviewing research statements, expanding their wishlist of schools/advisors, and sometimes merely talking them through the application process. This has often resulted in several interesting conversations about grad school life, how-tos, and research. Typically, most such conversations happened in private/limited-access channels.

To share some of my perspectives with the broader set of people that are applying this cycle, I have written a series of posts each discussing a different facet of grad school applications.

  1. How to pick your grad school
  2. Writing a statement of purpose
  3. Demystifying letters of recommendation