What is graduate school all about? An intro for undergrads.

I just got my bachelor's degree! Why would I want to go right back to school?

People go to graduate school for many different reasons. Some go to increase their earning potential. Some want jobs that require an advanced degree. Some love what they do and want to keep doing it. Some go to graduate school to begin or continue their research into subjects that fascinate them. Some find it is a good way to "do good" in the world by contributing to research in a field they're passionate about.

What's the difference between college and graduate school?

Generally speaking, your undergraduate career focused on receiving knowledge—taking in what other people have learned, written, done and so on—while in graduate school the focus will shift to creating knowledge and synthesizing knowledge in a unique way. Practically speaking, your graduate education will be much more intense than your undergraduate education, will require more time, more effort, more motivation and more self-discipline. The trade-off is that in your graduate program you can contribute to the base of knowledge in your discipline. It can seem a daunting prospect, but it's also an exciting opportunity.

Isn't graduate school just for people who want to be professors? 

Not at all. As more people attend college, an undergraduate degree is quickly becoming the "entry-level" degree in many fields; in other words, a person with a bachelor's degree might meet the minimum requirements for a job but would not be a top candidate based on that degree alone. Graduate education is the only route to a career in research in most fields and will significantly increase your earning power and enhance your career trajectory in practically any field. Though it varies by field, as a national average, continuing on to a master's degree will boost your annual income by about 25 percent. In many fields, the income differential is much greater.

I got my bachelor's degree in one discipline, but as I went through the program I realized my real interest lies in a slightly different discipline. Do I have to study the same thing in grad school that I studied in undergrad?

While it would be very unusual for a chemistry major to decide to get a master's degree in history, it's not uncommon for a communications graduate to study marketing in graduate school or for a math major to study computer science. Students from fields other than the proposed field of graduate study may be admitted under the condition that they take a few specified undergraduate courses to complete the necessary educational foundation for study in that particular graduate program.

Is graduate school right for me? Am I right for graduate school?

One fundamental difference between undergraduate and graduate study, generally speaking, is that undergraduate education consists of the student learning facts and theories discovered or developed by other people, while graduate education focuses on the creation of new knowledge in a field. Consequently, in graduate school there is much less memorization and much less emphasis on demonstrating that you have acquired knowledge identified by your professors as important in your discipline. Graduate school involves more reading and emphasizes the synthesis of existing and new information, as well as applying concepts. Graduate education is typically less structured than undergraduate study, and is more tailored to your specific research and goals.

Is graduate school more or less expensive than undergraduate school?

Of course it depends on the institutions involved and how you calculate the cost of graduate school. If you attend graduate school, you will almost certainly earn less while you're attending graduate school than you would have had you gotten a full-time job in your field immediately after graduation. However, the out-of-pocket expense of graduate school is often surprisingly low. At Clemson, for example, graduate tuition is lower than undergraduate tuition, and more importantly, a large percentage of graduate students receive financial support in the form of fellowships and assistantships. Graduate students who receive an assistantship or fellowship pay little or no tuition. For students who need more financial aid, student loans are also available. In some graduate programs at Clemson, every graduate student has an assistantship or fellowship. In addition, your increased earning power will last your entire career.

Can I even get into graduate school?

While graduate school admissions standards are usually somewhat higher than undergraduate admissions, there is more to being a successful graduate student than a 4.0 undergraduate GPA. There's no magical GPA or test score you have to have to be admitted to a graduate program. People who do well in graduate school are independent thinkers who can motivate themselves in the less structured environment of graduate education, and graduate program coordinators look at more than your GPA and test scores. Letters of recommendation, a personal interview, your statement of interest and other factors are just some of the components that may be used to evaluate if a graduate program is right for you.

What should I do if I think I may want to get a graduate degree?

One thing you can do throughout your undergraduate career is seek out opportunities to do research and to contribute to the body of knowledge in your field. More specifically, when you are in your junior year, investigate graduate schools you might want to attend. Location, funding availability, the reputation of a program, and the specific interests of the graduate faculty there are all considerations. You can do preliminary investigation at sites such as Petersons.com and GradSchools.com. One of your best sources of information will be faculty in your department; drawing on their knowledge of the current state of various programs will be a tremendous advantage to you, and enlisting their support will be invaluable when it comes to making a decision, getting excellent recommendation letters and so on. Once you have identified graduate programs that interest you, check out their websites. You will probably find basic information such as tuition, funding availability, faculty research interests, etc. By the summer after your junior year, you will want to consider taking the GRE or other tests required for consideration at your target schools. Taking them early allows you to re-take the test before application deadlines if you aren't happy with your scores.

Application deadlines for the fall semester are usually between the beginning of December and the end of January of your senior year. Therefore, you should be getting your applications ready in the fall of your senior year. Do not hesitate to use posted contact information to e-mail or call a program director to express your interest and ask questions. Likewise, you might want to contact a professor who shares your research interest at the target institution for the same purpose; you and the target program will need to know how you will fit in and contribute to the ongoing research taking place there. Familiarize yourself with application requirements, such as a statement of purpose, recommendations, and so on.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs, visit www.grad.clemson.edu.