How to navigate the Graduate School application/process?

anon94785555
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 19:12:29 +0000

You did your job, parent. Now you need to back off and let him navigate. Your role is providing use of your credit card for those online expenses such as paying for the GRE and applications. Otherwise- nothing you can do except be a sounding board IF he wants one.

His advisor and other professors who know him are the ones he goes to for advice. They are the ones who know programs and people. They are the ones who will be writing letters of recommendation and making suggestions.

I would assume he would get funding for any program that accepts him. This could be being a TA (teaching assistant) then a RA 9research assistant). The schools he applies to will be good in their field- not always the big names for undergrads. His profs will know which programs are more likely to take him.

So, your job is moral support. Please do not bug him by trying to be helpful. This is very different than applying to a whole college/university. He is applying to a specific department. No generalized application et al.

Our son overreached for math grad programs (a brutal field- math GRE has a top score of 900 and of course people from all over the world, they typically will have an 800 on the regular GRE) and ignored less than top programs. He discovered from a fellow math major at his U that the “lesser” programs had merit. He changed directions and finished the second major in CS, never reapplying. You can only follow your son’s path, sigh. btw- given how many PhD’s, even with elite credentials, do not get jobs it worked out for the best for son in his field. He is being intellectually satisfied et al.