Getting into Grad School: Get Noticed

As a recent graduate searching for the best way to improve my grad school application, I have come across countless online guides that offer advice on the most effective “buzz words”, fonts and all other sorts of guidelines on how to write your application. The tips below are not so much about how to write the application or how to pass your GRE test, but instead how to use various outlets to help you get noticed by the right people, and enhance your chances of getting into grad school.

If you’ve chosen the university or grad school you want to apply to, then getting yourself noticed by that university can be hugely beneficial. Here are three great ways to connect and get noticed:

1. Get noticed online

I’ll only touch on this briefly, as we already have an extensive post on using social media to help choose a university.

Put yourself in the grad school admission tutor’s place. Imagine you have hundreds of grad school applications to read. Wouldn’t you be tempted to ‘Google’ each applicant?

Assuming that admissions tutors may well search for your online profile, there are two points to remember if you want to get noticed online:

- Clean up your online profile

This includes your online profile on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and whatever other social networks you use. It’s true that whatever we put on the internet can come back to haunt us, and if there are any old photos or comments that you wouldn’t want an admissions tutor to see, either delete them or make sure they’re not publicly available. Check – and double check – to make sure you’ve set up the correct privacy settings.

And of course, make sure anything you would like an admissions tutor to know is on your profile – for example, details of your education to date, work experience, achievements and so on.

- Use social media to connect with the university

When the grad school admissions officer searches for you, imagine how delighted s/he would be if they noticed you had already been engaging with the university or department using social media. Simply retweeting or ‘liking’ a few of their posts could really help you to get noticed.

2. Get noticed on the phone or by email

Another way to connect and get noticed is by contacting the university using email, phone or actually going there yourself. Ask to speak to a course lecturer or the head of department at the faculty in which you intend to study.

Once you have the contact information, take the opportunity to introduce yourself and talk about your interest in applying to the course. You could ask whether there’s any more information available for you, such as a course guide, and also ask for a reading list. Every course has one and asking for it before you’ve even applied shows great enthusiasm.

Reading the course outline and reading list will further improve your chance of getting into grad school, by enhancing your understanding of the course content. This means that if you get to the all-important interview stage, you’ll really be ready to dazzle the tutors with your knowledge and enthusiasm for the course. 

3. Get noticed at university events

Social media is a great way to connect from a distance, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction. Networking is an essential part of building a career, so the sooner you start, the better!

Search the university and department websites, or call a member of staff, to find out about upcoming university events you could attend. These may include open days, class symposiums, lectures, debates, final degree shows, networking events, and other events open to the general public.

From my own experience, I know people who have been declined places, then contacted and offered a place later in the year, because a course leader remembered meeting them at an academic event. This is not to say it will always work like this, but attending university events is definitely a good way to get noticed. Meeting current students and faculty will also add to your personal and professional networks, whatever happens in future.

I must point out that it’s unlikely the person responding to your tweets, answering your emails and talking to you at an event will be the same person who reads your grad school application and makes the final decision. But bear in mind that each university or grad school is a tight-knit network of scholars and employees.

All of these tips will also help improve your grad school application, as they will add to your understanding of the university and the course. And it certainly won’t hurt to start developing your networking skills, both online and offline. It may seem like a lot of effort but well worth the end goal of getting into the grad school of your choice.