No uniform procedure exists for graduate admissions in the United
States. The graduate admissions office almost always shares the
responsibility for admissions with the academic departments, and
most commonly there is a graduate admissions committee for each
department made up of faculty members and graduate admissions office
staff. However, the roles and the relative authority of the graduate
admissions office and the academic departments, as well as the
relationship between them, vary markedly from institution to
institution. To make your admissions experience more positive, it is
a good idea from the beginning of the process to network with both
the graduate admissions office and your specific department of
interest. Develop a clear understanding of the institution's general
admission requirements and the department's academic and research
objectives to see if they match your personal and professional
goals.
In addition to the match between the strength of your application
and the admissions standard of a school or department, two other
factors may influence your chances of admission. First, graduate
student research may be highly specialized and dependent on the
availability of a faculty member who shares a student's interest,
and on resources available in the department. A department may
suggest that you be admitted because your research interests match
well with those of a particular faculty member, or may advise
against admission because faculty members and resources for your
research are lacking. Secondly, since faculty members review
applications to decide who should receive any available research or
teaching assistantships, departments often look for applicants who
can teach or do research in particular areas. |
|
