While talk continued amongst my classmates about the up-coming interviews and job offers each was entertaining, my focus shifted once I committed myself to the pursuit of graduate school. This time, however, unlike the college search in under-grad, the process, procedures and outcomes were far more refined. Like before, I had to decide what schools I wanted to apply to. The type of program offered at each school was an important factor because I would devote the following years to the mastery of the specialization I chose. Still, a university with breath, in addition to depth, could give me a broader, inter-disciplinary competency and offer more opportunities if I didn't know exactly what research I intended to conduct. So the choice I had was not as simple as looking at national rankings, physical environment and support services. With advice from my professors, campus career counselors, friends and family, I gradually developed boiled-down criteria for my decision process.
1. Environment and location: I quickly narrowed down the scope of graduate school inquiry to exclude all out-of-state programs. Living in Santa Barbara was far enough from home to travel for my taste. So I cut out southern California from my considerations. After all, I had already determined that the only good engineering university South of Santa Barbara was not warm to the idea of a blind student on their campus unless he had a thick pocket book. So this left between the bay area, and Santa Barbara open for possibility.
2) Increasing your opportunity via renowned research and graduate programs: Once one has a graduate degree, nobody cares as much about where you went and what you did for your Bachelor's degree. The choice of a graduate program, so my professors told me, would affect the quality of my specialized education, the chances for funding along the way, and most importantly the opportunity for references to jobs in academia or industry afterwards. Going to a big name institution would carry a greater weight because the name would be more widely recognized by employers and review committees. Professors who were well published would likely have more connections to institutions around the country and world and make it easier to publish your first papers. Going to a top research-level institution with a doctorate tract in your field of interest was essential for anyone with the slightest aspiration of a career in academia. My search for graduate programs in mechanical engineering at well-regarded institutions narrowed down to just three campuses in my target region. I put U.C. Santa Barbara, U.C. Berkeley, and Stanford on my list of good candidates.
3) The research group: Beyond the selection of a campus, at the graduate level prospective students should identify professors and research groups that are doing "interesting" research in a field you might want to specialize in. Now sometimes under-graduates, I included, don't really know what sort of research they want to do or what even has merit. But you can get a feel for the areas of expertise a department, and its professors have based on publications and course offerings. After all, your faculty will be the greatest asset in mastering the field you choose. Making contact and better yet working with research groups ahead of time will help in determining your match on an academic level and also on a personal level. You will do best with a group that works in a way you are comfortable with (independent with few meetings versus highly collaborative with regular, mandatory meetings).
4) Financial support: Just as under-graduate education has a price tag, a graduate degree is not free. That being said, depending on the type of graduate program pursued, there is a very different dynamic in the graduate level education than that of a Bachelor's degree. The top students are sought after by all institutions and as such can expect some form of recruitment fellowship to be available. Additionally, faculty with a flourishing research group are always looking for the next batch of students to bring under their mentorship, often in the form of a research assistantship. While departments offer teaching assistantships as well, having a promise of an RA/TA position for the duration of your graduate studies is ideally what you want to receive. Naturally this does not often get set until you officially begin as a grad student and formally select an advisor. Still, knowing ahead of time may influence your manner of negotiation and final choice of school.
5) Doctorial candidates: The last tip truly applies most for the student who has potential for completing a doctorate degree. So, while as a Senior frantically working towards completing your bachelor's degree the idea of a PhD may seem so far away as to be unrealistic, if you have the slightest idea of excelling to the pinnacle of the educational latter and gaining the expertise necessary to conduct research and teach at an academy, it is recommended that you apply for the doctorial program right off the bat. Your chances for a good advisor's support and going all the way are much greater are you do.
With the pearls of wisdom from these four points imparted, I plunged on with excitement through the administrative part of the application for graduate school.
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