UnderDoGs Meeting Minutes: October 17, 2006

Hosted Dr. Yarnal for a discussion of grad school application process and other factors.

If you are interested in grad school at all, he would be more than happy to meet with you and talk.

#1 factor for going to grad school - drive and interest!

3.0GPA is usually a standard, around 50th percentile in all the GRE exams (preferably at least 80th percentile in at least one)

"AAG Guide to Geography Programs in North America" - cost $25 from AAG (ask Dr. Yarnal or Jodi Vender for URL), Jodi and the Geog office have copies to look at.

Important steps:

Send letters (emails) of inquiry to professors or faculty directly, look on faculty list of schools for faculty you may be interested in studying with
Follow up with them, get to know them a little, visiting is never a bad idea to get a more personal experience
Take GRE by mid-November, takes ~6 weeks to arrive; get application in by end of winter break

Applications due dates vary, but remember - better programs have EARLIER due dates! Get them in ASAP!

Get letters of recommendation from current or previous professors, make sure they are tenure-track faculty! Makes friends with your teachers so you can ask them for letters!

TA vs. RA - teaching assistant usually requires about 20hrs/wk of grading/TA tasks in addition to research for thesis… RA allows you to do research for your thesis as your research projects.