Finding the Appropriate University for You

by Brian Freedman

If you have previously read any other article on GradPortal.org, you are most likely aware of the factors that must be considered when choosing the appropriate graduate school. But dig deeper than the typical considerations - the costs, the location, the faculty, and make sure you will fit in on campus, whether that means getting around despite a physical disability, or blending in or being comfortable with skin color or religious beliefs.

Because the more you know before you even start the process, the better your chances are of making the right decisions both during and at the conclusion of your search. And while it's impossible for every contingency to be covered—there are as many of those as there are kinds of people applying to grad school in the first place—there are several things you can do to hedge your bets and to ensure that the most common missteps are avoided. Here’s how.

Express Yourself in 3,300 Pages or Less

All of your personality traits, everything that makes you both a better and more unique person, will be magnified when it comes to searching for graduate schools. So the more fully and honestly you can assess yourself before you begin the process of choosing a school, the better your chances ultimately will be of finding the one that's best for you.

Human beings are so multi-faceted, and composed of so many divergent physical, personal, and intellectual aspects, that it is impossible to sum up one person in his or her entirety. In fact, renowned French writer Marcel Proust spent much of his adult life writing a fictional account of his entire existence (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu - A Remembrance of Things Past), and 3,300 pages later, he was still unable to completely explain who he was. Now, at this stage in your life, you may not be able to fill 3,300 pages (the length of Proust's never-completed work) about yourself, but you probably have a decent grasp of what you want from your graduate experience.

So take a good look at yourself and address the issues that are most likely to affect your grad school experience, as well as those factors that define who you are. What is your ethnicity? Your religion? Sexual orientation? Gender? Do you like city life or the country? A multi-cultural environment or a more homogenous one? The questions go on and on, but the more you can ask yourself and answer, the more informed a decision you’ll ultimately make when it comes to choosing a school.

If the School Fits...

On top of finding a school that allows you to focus on your academics, you’ll also want to find one that meshes with your preferred lifestyle. Grad schools, after all, are often part of thriving university communities, and as such, there are innumerable opportunities for personal and intellectual enrichment along the way. Operas, plays, poetry readings, art shows, scientific research presentations, the natural or urban environment in which the school is located…all of these can and should be used to their fullest advantage.

But your choice of graduate school shouldn't just depend on these preferences. You should also consider the necessities and requirements of your daily life.

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