About Graduate School

Is Graduate School for You?

Graduate school is an in-depth, specialized education within your chosen discipline. Attending graduate school is a big commitment and needs careful consideration. Also, pursuing a gap year, typically 12 – 24 months in duration, is one way to gain meaningful experience if a decision to attend graduate school at a later time is made. For more information see our Gap Year page.

The decision of whether to pursue graduate study usually follows from your professional goals. The Career Center offers appointments, career assessments, and a variety of online resources to help you determine your target career (see: Discover Your Options).

Once you’ve chosen a career path, your next task is to answer the following questions:

  1. Do I need a graduate degree to pursue this career? How will it benefit me? (In some fields, a bachelor’s degree provides adequate training to enter the workforce. In others, a graduate degree is needed for entry and/or advancement.)
  2. What types of degrees do most people hold in my field? Which would be most beneficial to me?
  3. Which institutions should I apply to?

There are many ways to answer these questions. You can visit the Career Center, research online, and talk to people who work in your field. There are also other campus resources such as Retriever Integrated Health and the Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising.

Degrees beyond the bachelor’s degree fall into three broad categories:

  1. Master’s degree – most commonly, Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Science (M.S.) – provides in-depth knowledge in one or more area. A master’s thesis is sometimes required.
  2. Doctoral degree – Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) – provides understanding of how to do structured research. You will complete a dissertation and contribute new knowledge to your field of study.
  3. Professional degree – such as J.D. (Juris Doctor), M.D. (Medical Doctor), M.S.W. (Master of Social Work) – provides specialized training for employment in a specific profession (law, medicine, social work). Clinical or practicum work is often involved in such degree programs.

Graduate degrees may also be pursued through joint degree programs, such as B.A./M.A. programs that allow completion of the requirements for both degrees in five or six years. Other joint degree programs combine graduate degrees into packages, such as J.D./Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. These programs often allow for completion of the two degrees in a shorter period of time than if pursued sequentially. This is achieved by allowing certain courses to count toward each of the two degrees. Joint degrees also offer the advantage of allowing a student to apply for and be admitted to both programs at the same time.

Individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree may also undertake postgraduate certificate programs to expand and document their knowledge in specific areas. In general, postgraduate certificates require less time to complete than degree programs.

The application timeline and procedures for professional schools may vary from those of the typical graduate program described on this site. For example, professional degree programs may:

  • Require the completion of very specific prerequisite courses
  • Have very early application dates
  • Require that application materials be submitted through a centralized service (e.g., Law School Data Assembly Service or LSDAS, American Medical College Application Service or AMCAS).

Medical, Optometry and Dental programs

For students applying to medical, optometry and dental programs, UMBC has a structured process to support students with their application. This program helps students to assemble their materials early for review by a UMBC faculty Health Professions Committee. The Health Professions Committee endorses candidates, provides information about the strength of the endorsement (Recommended without Reservation, Highly Recommended, etc.), and creates a cover letter to the professional schools that summarizes the applicant’s qualifications for admission. See the UMBC Pre-Med website for more information.

Pre-Professional School Resources

Another way to obtain information about preparing for professional school is to become a member of related student organizations such as the Pre-law Society, the Pre-Med Society and the Pre-Dental Society, and the Councils of Majors. The Office of Student Life maintains a complete list of student organizations, including those with an academic or pre-professional purpose.

Be alert to the requirements in your chosen field and seek pre-professional academic advisement from the appropriate advisor at UMBC beginning early in your undergraduate career. These advisors hold information sessions, workshops with professional school representatives, maintain libraries of materials from professional schools, and provide tips for applicants.

Preparing for Graduate School

In some respects, you are setting the stage for your graduate school application the day you walk on campus as a freshman. Your choices of major, extracurricular commitments, development of work habits, friendships and knowledge of support resources will all contribute to your readiness to enter graduate school after earning your bachelor’s degree from UMBC. Above all, your academic performance and your connection with faculty mentors will determine your readiness to enter graduate school and your competitiveness in the admissions process.

UMBC faculty can be your greatest resource throughout the graduate school process. Aside from writing letters of recommendation, faculty members can provide keen insight and advice about selecting a graduate school and particular programs. Often professors can offer a unique perspective on various graduate programs in your field of study. If you haven’t already developed a relationship with a faculty member who shares your interests by your senior year, it is important that you do so now. You should select a faculty member who you have taken classes with and visit him/her during office hours to discuss various issues including graduate school. Developing a relationship will also be useful when it comes time to request letters of recommendation.

Undergraduate advisement coordinators can direct you to a faculty advisor in your department. Faculty advisors may be able to offer some assistance with identifying specific programs in your major:

The PreMedical and PreDental Advising Office – For pre-med, dental, optometry, podiatry, and veterinary medicine, contact Michelle Bulger, CNMS Dean’s office, at mbulger@umbc.edu or in the Dean’s Office of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, University Center, Room 116, 410-455-5850.

For allied health advisement (nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy, and physician’s assistant), contact the Office of Academic and Pre-Professional Advising, 410-455-2729, Sherman Hall, 2nd floor.

Grades and test scores are important factors in the grad school application process, but they are only one part of the total picture. Aside from basic coursework, begin to pay attention to other aspects and experiences that you have that make you a stronger candidate. These include lab work, volunteer or work experience, awards and honors and extra-curricular activities. As you prepare your application, gather any information and materials that demonstrate these accomplishments including letters of recommendation, writing samples, and a resume, which many schools now request in addition to your application. If you need assistance with writing a resume to include with your graduate school application, contact the UMBC Career Center.

Here are some noteworthy accomplishments that should always be highlighted:

  • Laboratory research experience, particularly if it is supported by grants, such as the UMBC Undergraduate Research Award
  • Major creative achievement in the arts
  • Participation in professional conferences, on campus and elsewhere (e.g., UMBC Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day)
  • Solo recitals, major public performances or exhibitions
  • Articles published in campus publications (e.g., UMBC Review, Bartleby) or in external journals or newspapers
  • Completion of a senior thesis or other major capstone project
  • Leadership positions in organizations related to your field (e.g., UMBC chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers)
  • Professional experience in your field
  • Successful study abroad experience
  • Inventing a commercially successful product or holding a patent.

Selecting the Best Graduate Program for You

Even though a program has a high ranking and a sound reputation, it may not be the best choice for you. Although general evaluations and resource guides do offer a broad perspective on a school, your own focus is much narrower and harder to characterize. The key to selecting the ideal program for you is to know yourself and what you want to study. A program may have an excellent reputation, but may not, for example, have the faculty or facilities to support your studies. Also, you may have to relocate to attend a program of your choice and you will need to research the location as well as the student life at that school.

These questions can also serve as your questions during the graduate school interview process:

  • Does this school offer the program I am seeking, at the time and location that fit with my financial and personal situation?
  • What is the student profile for this program? [something about diversity, age, professional experiences, interests, student life]
  • Does the faculty exhibit special strengths and research qualities through their graduate mentoring, published works and funded research?
  • Have my undergraduate academic and/or professional experiences prepared me for this program?
  • Will this program give me an opportunity for hands-on experience, either as a professional practitioner or researcher?
  • As I approach degree completion, what type of career counseling/job search support would be available to me?
  • Does the department have a sufficiently large and varied curriculum to allow me a broad offering of courses and options?
  • How senior are the professors from my area of study? What are their interests and availability?
  • Is financial support available (including teaching and/or research assistantships)?
  • What are the class sizes and what is the student/faculty ratio?
  • How active is the faculty in my field?
  • Are there facilities to conduct my research?
  • What is the program’s reputation versus the university’s reputation?
  • Are the classes I am interested in offered, and if so, how often?
  • What is graduate student life like? Will this institution and location be a good fit for me?

Professional journals in your field of interest will help to identify who is doing what type of research and where they are located. The reference librarian and faculty members can help you to identify the right journals for your area of study.

Once you identify a program that you are interested in, research it thoroughly. Check out the faculty members at the prospective school to learn about their areas of expertise and how they may relate to your interests. If there are a few faculty members who impress you, you should review some of their recent research and publications. You should also ask your UMBC faculty mentor if s/he is familiar with the program you are considering. Faculty members may be able to provide a professional assessment of the program’s quality. If you are interested in a science program, for example, make sure the university has the necessary facilities and laboratory space to conduct your specific research.

Go online and find a local newspaper site to read any recent news or articles on the school, as well as the institution’s internal publications. This will help you to discover background information on the internal culture of the school.

Directories and Guidebooks

University directories and guidebooks should never be the only source used to research schools. However, they can be useful, especially during the initial stages of your application process before you narrow your search to a select short list of programs. Some of the links in the Additional Helpful Websites list (below) will take you to online directories.

Student Organizations

Many student organizations, especially major-specific organizations such as your council of majors, can offer keen insight and advice. Often, these organizations can provide networking opportunities with alumni currently enrolled in a graduate program that can provide direct advice and can answer some of your questions about the quality of the academic program and graduate student life at the institution. Similarly, organizations can serve as a good way to talk with other students interested in the same field.