how hard are phd programs to get into

How difficult is it to get a PhD? The real doctorate struggles.

There is no doubt that getting a PhD is no small feat. It requires dedication, hard work, and plenty of motivation to stay on track.

Getting a PhD can be a very challenging process that requires several years of intensive research, coursework, and writing. However, the difficulty of obtaining a PhD can vary depending on factors such as the specific program and field of study.

Also, I have witnessed that the individual student’s background and preparation, and the level of commitment and effort they are willing to invest also highly influence how hard a PhD is for an individual candidate.

In order to complete in a timely fashion PhD candidates must also be prepared to invest a significant amount of time into their studies in order to complete the necessary coursework (US-based PhDs) and research.

The process can be especially difficult if the student is attempting to balance work or family life while completing their studies.

Quite often younger PhD students find it easier than mature age students due to the fact that they have fewer adult commitments and responsibilities in their private life – but this isn’t always the case.

However, with proper planning and perseverance, it is certainly possible for anyone to reach this educational achievement.

It was something I was very proud to have completed and it certainly opened doors to other opportunities.

Why is a PhD so difficult?

A PhD is an advanced academic degree that requires a huge amount of dedication and hard work.

Ask any PhD graduate and they are likely to say that it is one of the most challenging parts of their life in academia.

That is because it is a lengthy process that involves several years of research, writing, and, at the end, defending a dissertation in front of other experts in the field in order to be awarded the degree.

Typically, a PhD student will:

• have completed a Masters degree to a high standard for acceptance into the PhD program
• conduct a literature review of a field to find research gaps
• generate a research question and hypothesis
• work over multiple years to explore their research question and answer it fully
• fail multiple times and have their work critiqued continuously by experts in their field and that PhD supervisor.
• Write up their work in peer-reviewed journals and their thesis
• defend their peer-reviewed papers and their thesis
• continually stay up-to-date with the literature throughout their entire course
• some students may also have teaching and other administrative requirements at the University in which they are studying.

The entire process can be quite challenging and overwhelming, as students must stay up-to-date with new developments in their area of study while also meeting stringent academic standards.

They must also be able to effectively communicate complex concepts to their peers in things like peer-reviewed papers as well as at conferences and symposia.

All these factors make obtaining a PhD an incredibly difficult task but one that is ultimately rewarding for those who are successful.

It can be confronting when you look at a PhD in one whole chunk. However, by splitting down the tasks involved in a PhD it can become much more manageable and less detrimental on your mental health.

If you want to know more about how doing a PhD part-time you can check out my other articles:

• How long does it take to get a PhD part time? Complete a PhD on your own time.
• Is a PhD worth it now in 2023? [the data]  

What is the hardest part of getting a PhD?

One of the most challenging aspects of obtaining a PhD is that it takes a great deal of time and dedication.

You shouldn’t underestimate how easily your brain plays tricks on you over a multi-year project. Staying on course and ignoring your internal monologue is one of the most challenging parts again a PhD.

It can take anywhere from five to seven years of rigorous study and research to complete all the requirements for a PhD.

During this time, students must master complex topics in their field, conduct independent research projects, write lengthy dissertation papers, and navigate any number of other challenges along the way.

Working with your supervisor

Working with your PhD supervisor can, for some, be one of the most difficult aspects of doing a PhD.

Your PhD supervisor will dictate the outcome of your PhD and therefore it is worth spending a lot of time making sure you select the right PhD supervisor for you.

Some supervisors want to completely micromanage whilst others are happy to allow their students to explore freely.

Taking the time to make sure you can fully nurture this relationship will also ensure a less stressful PhD.

If you want to know more about great ways to build a relationship with your supervisor check out my YouTube video:

I also have a lot of content on my YouTube channel on choosing and working with academic supervisors.

Is it worth getting a PhD?

Whether or not it is worth getting a PhD depends on a few different factors.

For some people, having a PhD is important for career advancement and provides an opportunity to pursue higher-level positions in their field.

It may also be beneficial for those that wish to teach at the university level or conduct research in their field of interest.

On the other hand, pursuing a PhD can be time consuming and expensive, and the long years of study may not ultimately result in any tangible rewards.

I also have a YouTube video where I talk about whether getting a PhD is worth the effort:

There are a load of juicy secrets in this one.

Whether or not it is worth getting a PhD will depend on the individual’s goals and objectives. If they are looking for career advancement opportunities or want to pursue teaching or research opportunities, then getting a PhD may be worth the cost and effort involved.

How hard is it to manage the PhD workload?

You may have heard that a PhD is a massive task because of the workload.

If you are doing your PhD in the United States of America you may find that there are three years of coursework to complete before you start the research component of the degree. This workload can be huge.

No matter where you do your PhD the amount of work and effort it takes to complete a PhD is much greater than what was required for an undergraduate degree.

No longer do you have set deadlines and a structured course – you will need to figure out the pathway through your PhD on your own.

Furthermore, given that most U.S.-based PhD programs are structured like traditional college courses, it can be difficult to stay on top of all the readings and material without falling behind.

If you decide to pursue a doctoral degree you must make sure you are prepared for the increased workload and dedication required in order to be successful.

Speak to your support networks and your family to ensure that they will be able to support you when things get tough.

Is a PhD intellectually difficult?

You may be surprised to hear that PhD isn’t necessarily intellectually difficult. But it does require dedication and effort to work through some challenging intellectual problems.

I often say that a PhD is 80% dedication, 10% smarts and 10% luck.

A PhD can be an extremely intellectually challenging experience for any student because it requires a great deal of dedication and hard work to complete, and it is regarded as the highest level of education available.

The expectations of a PhD student are far greater than those of an undergraduate, and the research process can take years to complete.

Nonetheless, it is your ability to persevere through problems and stick to your research plan by improving on your research little by little day after day that will really dictate how successful your PhD is.

I have seen incredibly smart people fail a PhD whilst others, who have not done so well in undergraduate, have flourished in the research environment.

How long are PhD programs?

Research shows that the average amount of time to complete a PhD across disciplines is 4.4 years. Depending on the country, a PhD will take anywhere between two and seven years to complete depending on whether there is a coursework component (US universities).

The majority of students taking anywhere from five to seven years to complete their degree.

This is due to the nature of PhD programs, which require significant research and fieldwork experience in addition to coursework.

Depending on a student’s chosen field of study, some PhD programs may last longer than others.

Here is data from a study that looks at Australian university PhD completion  published in 1994 .

Some PhD programs may have requirements that must be met before graduation, such as publishing research or completing an internship. It is important for prospective students to understand what is expected of them in order to ensure they will be able to complete their program within the allotted timeframe.

If you want to know more about how long a PhD takes check out my other article:

• How long does it take to get a PhD? Complete a PhD quickly
• How long is a PhD dissertation? [Data by field]

How many hours do PhD students work?

Although PhD students often have to put in long hours of work to complete their degree is not necessary that a student puts in an insane number of hours as long as they were continuously and diligently towards the end goal of getting a PhD.

The amount of hours that a PhD student work will depend on the culture of the labs that they are currently researching in.

Some supervisors require students to be in the lab for many hours every day whilst others are happy from a 9-to-5 “work schedule”.

On average, PhD students work around 40-50 hours per week.

This includes time spent in:

• independent study
• researching
• and much more

Researching and writing a dissertation can require even more hours of work.

In addition to this, many PhD students also teach classes or take on other roles within the university that add to their workload.

All of this means that PhD students can often find themselves putting in long hours and having little free time outside of the academic demands of their program.

Wrapping up

This article has been through all of the difficult components that people may face if they decide to get a PhD.

I was able to complete my PhD in three years and I somewhat enjoyed the process. Of course it had its challenges but overall it was a worthwhile and rewarding experience for me.

However, some people’s experiences are also very different due to different pressures outside of academia and the culture in the research group in which they are working.

The ultimate difficulty depends very much on the individual circumstances and dedication of the PhD student but always involves dedicating yourself to the pursuit of knowledge over many years. This, in itself, can be a very challenging aspect to overcome.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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PhD Admission Guide

Gain admission to your dream school, guide to phd admission.

While some students swear off further education after undergrad, some love the thrill of intellectual discovery and research. For these students, graduate school is a natural choice. Graduate degrees are separated into “professional” and “academic” categories. Professional degrees are JDs and MDs, while academic degrees are PhDs (literally “Doctorates of Philosophy” regardless of what field you actually study).

Whether or not you need to pursue a PhD depends entirely on what career you wish to have. Some require higher education, while many others do not. In this guide we’ll go over how to apply to PhD programs, what they are looking for, and how the application process works. This guide is focused on the US and Canada; Europe has a system which is simultaneously similar and very different.

What PhD Programs Look For

PhD programs want to make sure you are prepared academically for the rigors of the program, and that you have a concrete research goal in mind. PhD programs culminate with each student answering a research question they devise, contributing new knowledge to the world in the process. 

Thus these programs seek to evaluate your intellectual ability, research goals, previous research experience, and how you will contribute to their program. To determine this, they ask for the following:

Letters of Recommendation

We’ll go through each of these in turn, and explain what graduate programs are looking for from each.

Your GPA in undergrad is the single most important factor in PhD admissions. If your GPA is too low your application will be dismissed out of hand. While there are no hard limits, we suggest a minimum GPA of 3.5 for serious contention, especially at top schools. If your GPA is below 3.0 then you will likely not get admitted into any PhD programs.

The reason for this is that PhD programs are a lot of work. Being intelligent is necessary, but is far from sufficient alone. Everyone in PhD programs is intelligent, and everyone is also willing to do the work. Your GPA is seen as the primary indicator of your willingness and ability to do academic work to a high standard, and your preparation for the rigors of a PhD program.

Along with your overall GPA, schools request your major GPA. This is your GPA when calculated only using courses in your major. This is usually expected to be higher than your overall GPA. Your major GPA should be over 3.5.

While taking harder courses in undergrad is a great experience, they can also harm your overall GPA. Of course, the best approach is to take very hard classes and do well in them, but this is not always possible. We recommend taking a blend of courses, so you are never overloaded, and able to give each the attention it needs to do well.

Academic Preparation

Your GPA and transcript is also used to judge your academic preparation for the program. You should have a solid grounding in the field, and have taken advanced courses as well. Taking graduate level courses in undergrad can exemplify this. 

Some PhD programs also require research languages. This is more common in the social sciences and humanities, but all students will benefit from knowing other languages well enough to do research in them. You should look up language requirements when researching programs to apply to.

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test meant for students who intend to apply to graduate programs. Both MA and PhD programs ask for GRE scores. Much like the SAT or ACT in college exams, the test is meant to be a standardized measure of academic preparation and logical skill.

The test consists of six sections. The first is writing, next are two on verbal reasoning, then two on quantitative reasoning, and finally a research or experimental section, meant to test new questions. The entire test is offered on the computer, with one minute breaks after each section, and a ten minute break after the third section. While there is also a paper-based test, almost all testing is now done on a computer. Due to the pandemic, both testing centers and at-home testing are offered. The GRE is a multi-stage test, and how well you do on earlier sections determines the difficulty of later sections and questions. 

The verbal sections each consist of 20 questions, to be answered over 30 minutes. The whole is scored on a scale of 130-170. The quantitative section is scored the same, and consists of two 20 question sections, each of which should be completed in 35 minutes. The writing section is scored from 0-6. For this section, you write an essay on a given issue in 30 minutes, and offer a response critiquing a provided argument for 30 minutes.

Your total score from the GRE is given from 130-170. While the exact scores you need to enter graduate school vary, higher is better. In addition, some programs only care about your verbal score, while others only care about your quantitative score. How much weight each program puts on GRE scores varies greatly.

We recommend studying for the GRE for some time before testing. You can take the GRE up to five times per year, but must wait at least 21 days between testing dates. Only scores from the past 5 years will be released or considered by graduate programs.

Curriculum Vitae

This is akin to a resume, but is dissimilar enough that the two cannot be used interchangeably. The purpose of a CV is, like a resume, to detail what you have accomplished academically and in your career. It is far more focused on academics however, and is widely used for academic careers.

We recommend finding a template for a CV online, or asking your college’s advisors for help in creating one. If you already have a resume, then you will easily be able to convert it into a CV.

What admissions officers are looking for in your activities is primarily signs of research. This should be in whatever field you intend to pursue a PhD in. Publications are also incredibly valuable. All of academia runs on publication, and getting an early start helps your career at every step.

You should try to do research while still in undergrad. What this looks like depends entirely on what field you are pursuing. While the research does not have to exactly line up with what you wish to pursue, it should teach you skills which are cross applicable. Higher level academic research has its own set of methods and language which must be learned, and students who are already familiar with the forms and structures of research have a leg up in graduate school. 

Publication is not required, but is nice to see. If you have completed a master’s degree, you should have some publication history; of your thesis if nothing else. Speak with your academic advisors about getting your work published.

Each graduate school you apply to will ask for an essay. You will be able to use the same basic form for each, but will need to edit it to be about the particular program you are applying to. Most schools only require a single essay, although some programs ask for a second on diversity.

The purpose of this essay is to explain your research interests, what you have studied, your intended area of specialization, and what your focus will be on. Every PhD student is asking and trying to answer a very specific research question. This question forms the basis of their dissertation, and will be the focus of your life for several years if you are accepted.

Thus the essay is the most important part of your application. Your grades and GRE are required to see if you are academically ready for graduate school, but the essay lets readers know if you are a match for their program, and serious about your research.

Your essay should begin by stating which program you are applying to, and why. Next, go through your previous academic experience in the field, both coursework and research. You don’t have to go through every class, but cover the ones most relevant to your desired research topic.

You should discuss any prior research you have done in the field. If you completed a thesis for your undergraduate degree or a master’s program, cover that here. If you have any publication credits, cover those as well. This should relate directly to the field you are trying to enter. If you wish to pursue lab work, discuss your previous experiences; if instead you are pursuing field work, talk about your experiences there.

Next you should talk about the research you specifically wish to pursue through a PhD. You don’t need to have an exact research question worked out, but it is helpful to have some idea; you should at least know the subfield you will be focusing on. The more specific you are, the better. Having some discussion of methodology can be nice, but is not always necessary.

If there are any ongoing research projects ongoing at the school you wish to work on, cover those next. You should discuss how these projects specifically relate to your own research interests. Finally, you should talk about which professors you wish to work with. Professors take on graduate students to advise, and you ideally want one with a specialization at least tangentially related to your field of interest. The more closely related the professor’s studies are to your own, the better.

You will be able to leave much of this essay the same for each school you apply to, changing only the name of the program, the research projects, and the professors you wish to work with. 

This essay should be a page and a half to two pages long, single spaced. You should go into sufficient detail for those reading it to understand the research you want to pursue. These essays are reviewed by the faculty who run the department, and they make the admissions decisions for PhD programs. There are many more applicants than there are spaces, and admissions rates are low. The more specific and detailed you are in this essay, the better the faculty will understand your research aims, and the better your chances will be.

Diversity Statements

Not all programs ask for these, but you will likely be able to reuse the same essay for those that do. The purpose of the diversity statement is to see what unique points of view and experiences you will be able to contribute to the program. PhDs are about learning, and the more viewpoints and ideas within a program, the broader the experience will be.

If you are a member of an underrepresented group, an immigrant, come from an underprivileged background, or come from an area which is generally underrepresented, we suggest discussing that in this essay. You should not write an essay about your interactions with members of these groups, or a study abroad experience.

Above all, this essay should be authentic to you and your experience. The goal is to show how your background has shaped you as a person, and how it impacts your view of the world.

As with college applications, letters of recommendation are required for PhD admissions. These tell admissions committees who you are as a student and researcher, and give their opinion on how you will perform when doing graduate level work. Academic fields are small and often insular, and the professors writing your letters will often be known by those reading them, either by reputation or in person.

Programs ask for two to four letters. These should primarily come from professors who know you and your work well. If you had a thesis advisor, they should write one of your letters. If you’ve worked doing research for some time, then a mentor or lab director can also be a good source of a letter, even if they haven’t taught you in class. Letters should not come from non-academic sources, unless you have worked professionally in that field. 

While you have the option to read the letters that are written for you, you should always waive that right. If you don’t trust your writers to craft good letters for you, then you shouldn’t be asking them for letters. Asking to see letters is considered a sign of lack of trust, and is gauche. Many professors will decline to write letters if you insist on seeing them.

You should ask for letters well in advance of when they are due; we recommend at least a month or two. If you are asking non-tenured faculty for a letter, more leeway is recommended, as they have more on their plate, and are often more stressed. You may need to send a reminder as deadlines approach. You should also share a copy of your essay with letter writers, so they know exactly what subfield you intend to pursue, and can discuss this in their letters.

Finally, you should be aware of politics when asking for letters. Some professors do not like each other at all. If you are seen as the protege of a professor who others detest, this can impact your admissions chances. Always discuss which schools and programs you are applying to with your letter writers. You should also discuss your choices of writers with an advisor (for example a thesis advisor) familiar with the field. Academic politics are incredibly petty, but if you plan to pursue a PhD you need to be aware of the game, and how it is played.

If your application passes the first review, you will be invited to do an interview. This will be with faculty in the program you are applying to. This is to further get to know you, and to understand your research objectives. 

You should be able to clearly explain what you want to research, and how this program will help you do so. The people talking to you will all be familiar with the field, though not necessarily your specific subfield. They are looking for your ability to communicate and explain your view. Be prepared to answer some questions about the specifics of your goals, though it’s ok if you don’t know everything right now.

Interviews are generally in person, though due to the pandemic, virtual interviews have become more common. This is also your chance to ask any questions you have about the program you were unable to find answers to online. You can practice for this interview with an advisor or mentor; many schools have career centers which hold mock grad school interviews as well.

When and How to Apply to Grad School

There is no unified platform for PhD applications. Instead you must apply to each program individually, through the school’s website. This will mean filling out information multiple times, but they fortunately don’t ask for much. Once you have your documents in order, the rest is personal, demographic, and contact information.

You will need to pay to have your GRE scores sent to each school you apply to. Even though this is all electronic, they still charge dearly for it. 

Applications are generally due in December or January, with interviews held over the next few months. Applications open in September or October. We recommend getting your applications in before the due date, though most programs don’t use rolling admissions. Each program sets their own deadlines, so you should track when each of your applications is due carefully to make sure nothing gets overlooked.

Paying for Grad School

PhD programs are for the most part fully funded. This means you will not be paying tuition, and will also get funding to live on. This funding is generally contingent on academic standing, and doing work TAing, teaching, or on ongoing research projects (or most commonly, all of the above). Many grad students also work full or part time to support themselves. 

While you will not need to take on additional debt to pay for graduate school, you will not be well paid either. While the exact amount graduate students receive varies by school and program, it is generally in the range of $20-30,000 annually. This goes towards food, housing, and supplies.

While you are in a PhD program, you will not have to make payments on any government loans you took out to pay for undergrad, though they will continue to accrue interest. Making payments on them during grad school is difficult, but will greatly cut down on the amount you need to pay back later.

There are also outside scholarships available to help pay for graduate studies. While the amounts offered by these vary, most are small. They can help greatly with paying for the necessities however, and applying to them is usually worth the time investment.

Grad School Admission FAQ

Now we’ll answer some of the most common questions about applying to PhD programs.

Can older students apply?

Yes. Many professionals return to school for a PhD long out of undergrad. We suggest taking some courses at a local university in the field you plan on entering before you do this however. Academic research advances quickly, and this will familiarize you with the latest developments. Further, this will introduce you to professors who can provide you with letters of recommendation.

What are my odds of acceptance?

This depends on both your field and program. Generally, however, it is quite difficult to gain admissions to a PhD program, and admission rates hover around 10%. Only the best students get accepted, and this is even more the case at the top schools and programs.

When should I start thinking about applications?

When you choose your major, you should decide what level you want to reach within that field. Some majors lend themselves to PhDs if you want to work in that field, while others allow employment at various levels.

Where should I apply?

You should find programs with professors who are dedicated to your particular subfield. A prestigious institution which does not focus on your area is far less useful, regardless of how famous its name is. You are looking for someone who will be able to advise you, and help you perform worthwhile research. Further, professors are looking for students studying fields similar to their own when they admit graduate students.

How long are PhD programs?

Generally programs last 4-5 years, though this can vary based on field. The exact structure of the programs also varies a lot based on field and program.

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Guide on Getting Into Grad School

Helpful information and exercises for prospective graduate students

Graduate Degrees Awarded at Stanford 2020-21

• 1,822 MA/MS
• 817 PhD, DMA, JSD

If you’re considering grad school for your future, you are probably asking yourself many questions:

• Is grad school the best option for me now? 
• What are the benefits and challenges? 
• What’s the difference between undergrad and grad school? 
• Should I seek a master’s or doctoral program? 
• Which grad programs should I apply for? 
• What’s involved in an application to grad school? 
• What are admissions committees looking for? 
• Who can help me? What resources are available? 
• What are some alternatives to grad school?

These are all important questions to consider, and they should be considered carefully. This guide is organized around the main aspects of the decision-making process and application, which can help address many of your questions. 

Because these decisions and your application for graduate school are complex and time-consuming, this guide was prepared to provide critical information and advice. This guide  also contains questions to ask yourself and exercises to help you prepare your application for graduate programs. Be as honest as possible with yourself, and talk about your answers with close friends and family. You may need to adjust the wording of your answers for your application, but it’s important to begin with an honest self-assessment as you prepare your application.

Using this guide and working on these exercises can help you get started in the right direction. Additional resources and tools are incorporated within this guide. However, remember to also seek help from other people: faculty, advisors, grad students, postdocs, peers, and career counselors. This guide is meant to provide an overview and does not cover everything. Your specific situation can only be addressed by close friends and mentors who know you personally. 

As you address multiple decisions, this can be a stressful time period. But it may help to realize that you are not alone, and that many others have approached these decisions and have  successfully embarked on new adventures. So, remember to find friends to encourage you in this process. We wish you the best in these new adventures.

Undergraduate vs Graduate (PhD) Programs

The experiences of an undergraduate and graduate student can appear deceptively similar. They are both at a university doing coursework and research. However, there are significant differences. Not understanding the depth of these differences can hinder your chances of being admitted and succeeding in grad school.

Undergraduate Programs You are a student “at school X” • Focus on courses and grades  • More objective evaluations of performance from exams and homework • Feedback is relatively frequent • Most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic

You apply to a university or college • Your interests can be very broad • You apply to a discipline or major • Extracurricular activities are valued

Graduate (PhD) Programs You are a student of “Dr. Z” (research advisor) •  Focus on research •  More subjective evaluations and longer periods without concrete feedback •  Collaboration and independence are valued together, which will likely appear to be counter-intuitive— most activities and performance evaluations are individualistic •  Relationship-driven

You apply into a specific graduate program •  Your interests need to be much more specific •  You apply into a specific field within a discipline •  Some programs require you to apply to work directly with a specific professor •  Extracurricular activities are valued less, unless they demonstrate critical skills related to your field

Master’s vs Doctoral Programs

While a typical 4-year undergraduate program refers to pursuing a bachelor’s degree (often a BS or BA degree), a graduate program can refer to pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree.

Master’s Programs (MS or MA) •  Master’s programs usually provide much less financial support.  •  Master’s programs usually last about 2 years, but there are shorter and longer programs, with the range usually between 1 to 3 years. •  All master’s programs require coursework, and only some require research that leads to a thesis (a write-up of your research). •  Requirements for master’s programs are usually less than those for doctoral programs.

Doctoral Programs (PhD) •  Doctoral programs usually provide financial support. •  Doctoral programs have a wide range of typical lengths, from 4 to 8 years. The length of the program is very specific to the field. •  In some doctoral programs (e.g. some engineering programs), you earn a master’s degree before earning a PhD. But in many other programs, the master’s degree is not required before pursuing a PhD. •  All doctoral programs require research that leads to a dissertation (longer than a master’s thesis, a write-up of multiple years of research). •  For some doctoral programs, if you are not able to complete all of the requirements, you might be allowed to exit with a master’s degree.

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Gre prep online guides and tips, graduate school acceptance rates: can you get in.

Even the most qualified and confident applicants worry about getting into grad school. But don’t panic! Graduate school acceptance rates, which give the percentage of applicants that were admitted to a particular school or program in an academic year, can help you determine how likely you are to get into a given program.  But where can you find grad school admissions statistics?

In this article, we’ll first investigate the trends and factors associated with graduate school acceptance rates. Then, we’ll take a look at some of the current acceptance rates and give you expert tips on how to find acceptance rates for your programs. Finally, we’ll show you how to determine your odds of getting into grad school.

Graduate School Acceptance Rates: Factors and Trends

Grad school acceptance rates are the same as any other acceptance rate: the lower the acceptance rate, the more selective the school or program is. Similarly, the higher the acceptance rate, the less selective the school or program is. As with undergrad acceptance rates, grad school acceptance rates vary widely, from extraordinarily selective (less than 5 percent) to incredibly lenient (nearly 100 percent).

Unlike undergrad rates, though, grad school acceptance rates are usually calculated for specific programs or departments and  not for entire universities. This is because with grad school, you are essentially applying to an individual program rather than an overall institution (as you did for undergrad).

Now that we’ve covered all of the basics, let’s look at a few key trends. Our research indicates there are three major factors that help determine grad school acceptance rates:

• School or program prestige
• Degree type
• Amount of funding

Let’s look at how each of these factors influences grad school acceptance rates.

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#1: School or Program Prestige

How prestigious a particular grad school or program is can affect its overall competitiveness and selectivity. In general, the more prestigious a program is, the more competitive it’ll be and thus the lower acceptance rate it’ll have.

An easy way to determine school or program prestige is to consult official rankings, such as those listed on  U.S. News . (Grad schools are typically ranked by field or program and   not by overall institution.)

For example, a 2017  U.S. News  list of the best political science grad programs  ranked Duke’s political science program at #7 and Northwestern’s at #23. Because both of the programs have fairly high rankings, it’s safe to assume they’re probably quite selective.

And this is true: in 2016,  Duke  reported a mere 10 percent acceptance rate to its political science doctoral program, while  Northwestern  reported a 12 percent acceptance rate.

#2: Degree Type

Another major factor is degree type. Generally,  doctoral programs tend to be more selective than master’s programs (though this isn’t always the case as I’ll explain in a moment). This trend is likely due to the fact that doctoral programs often look for higher-quality applicants with proven academic track records and more relevant experience in their fields.

For example, in 2016  University of Michigan’s math doctoral program  had a 17.2 percent acceptance rate, whereas its master’s program  had a much higher 31.8 percent rate. In this case, the doctoral program is clearly tougher to get into than the master’s program.

Still,   master’s programs can have lower acceptance rates than doctoral programs. If we were to take the University of Michigan’s grad programs in computer science and engineering, we’d find that the doctoral program has  a 15 percent acceptance rate  and the master’s  an even lower 8 percent acceptance rate .

Additionally, M.F.A. programs are particularly cutthroat. In 2015, the creative writing M.F.A. program at UT Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers only admitted 12 out of 678 applicants — that’s a mere 1.8 percent acceptance rate !

#3: Amount of Funding

Funding, too, plays a big role in how selective a grad program is.

Well-funded  programs typically receive more applications than those offering little to no aid, thereby raising their selectivity. Competition is especially fierce for fully funded programs — possibly because fewer people are willing to go into debt for grad school.

Compared to fully funded doctoral programs, fully funded master’s programs are somewhat rare and thus pretty competitive. UT Austin’s Creative Writing M.F.A. program, for instance, is not only a prestigious program but also one of the most well-funded Creative Writing M.F.A. programs in the country: it  offers full tuition remission and a $27,500 stipend per academic year . It’s no wonder, then, that its acceptance rate is below 2 percent!

What Are the Current Graduate School Acceptance Rates?

For this section, we’ve scoured the internet to bring you a robust assortment of acceptance rates for popular U.S. grad schools.

Before we dive in, note that not all institutions calculate grad school acceptance rates using the same methodologies. Some offer only a single acceptance rate for all of their grad schools put together, while others offer individual rates by school, field, or program.

Now, let’s see how selective these schools really are!

*Statistics for NYU are based on the number of enrolled students and not the number of admitted students. Therefore, expect actual acceptance rates to be slightly higher.

How to Find Graduate School Acceptance Rates: 4 Methods

Unfortunately, grad school admissions statistics tend to be more difficult to find than undergrad acceptance rates.  But there are ways to search for them — you just have to do a lot of digging and possibly a little reaching out.

Below are our top four methods for finding grad school acceptance rates for the programs you’re applying to.

#1: Consult School Websites

By far the most reliable resources for grad school admissions statistics are  school websites.

Start your search by consulting program and departmental pages, particularly admissions and FAQ pages. Look out for any statistics-related keywords or phrases, such as “admission(s) rates,” “acceptance rates,” “enrollment,” “facts and figures,” etc. Use ctrl+F to move swiftly through large chunks of text.

Not all schools publish grad admissions information online, and those that do don’t always report it in the same way as others. For example, Princeton offers a handy PDF  containing acceptance rates for all academic fields of study. On the other hand,  Notre Dame  gives separate admissions charts for each of its grad programs (which you can access by selecting a program and then clicking “Admissions Statistics”).

Additionally, many schools release admissions statistics without explicitly publishing acceptance rates.  In this case, it’s your job to take the statistics provided and use them to calculate an acceptance rate. To find the acceptance rate of a school or program, you’ll need the following information:

• The total number of applicants in a year
• The total number of applicants granted admission  that year

The acceptance rate equals the total number of applicants offered admission divided by the total number of applicants and then multiplied by 100, or:

$$\acceptance \rate = {\number \of \applicants \offered \admission}/{\total \number \of \applicants}100$$

Be sure to  avoid conflating the number of students who were  offered admission   with the number of students who accepted their offers of admission. These two concepts sound alike but are actually different. What you’re looking for is the first statistic — that is, the number of admitted students (regardless of whether they decided to enroll).

If you’re having trouble finding admissions statistics by browsing school websites, search on Google for “[Your School] graduate acceptance rate” and see if any relevant school pages appear. While searching for acceptance rates to use in the table above, I consistently swapped “acceptance rate” with similar phrases, such as “admission(s) rate,” “facts and figures,” “student statistics,” “admittance rates,” and “admission(s) statistics.”

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Don’t be afraid to get creative! You can also use phrases like “Ph.D. admissions statistics” or “master’s admissions statistics” to narrow your search even further. Try to think outside the box as you do your research. What are other ways people talk about acceptance rates?

#2: Check  U.S. News

If your school or program doesn’t offer any admissions statistics on its website, go to  U.S. News . This website offers official rankings of grad programs as well as lists of the most (and least) selective programs in various fields.

For example, I found a 2016 list of the most competitive online M.B.A. programs  and a 2015 list of the most competitive online graduate engineering programs .

If U.S. News doesn’t offer any relevant lists for you to use, try skimming the current grad school rankings to gauge how competitive your program is compared with others in the same field.

#3: Search Other Websites

One less reliable method for looking up grad school admissions statistics is to  look for (unofficial) websites discussing acceptance rates for your school or program.

The Grad Cafe’s  admissions results  section is a solid place to start. Here, applicants post whether they’ve been accepted, rejected, or waitlisted for grad programs.

Search for your program to get a rough feel for how many acceptances and rejections go out each year. You might notice that certain types of applicants are more active than others. Creative Writing M.F.A. applicants, for example, are prolific posters in winter and spring (during admissions season).

Occasionally, Google itself will provide you with grad school acceptance rates, but this only appears to work consistently for well-known law schools, medical schools, and business schools.

Additionally, while using Google, don’t assume that any acceptance rates that pop up are directly connected to your search terms. For example, when I searched “stanford graduate acceptance rate,” Google gave me this result:

This 4.8 percent acceptance rate is  not  the acceptance rate for Stanford’s grad programs (what I searched for) but rather the acceptance rate for undergrads. So always cross-check any statistics Google gives you.

You can also consult grad school data websites such as  Peterson’s and StartClass . Take their grad school acceptance rates with a grain of salt, though — their data isn’t always verifiable online. If possible, try to compare any data you find on these types of websites with the school websites themselves or U.S. News .

#4: Contact Schools

If the internet isn’t giving you the help you need, call or email your schools. Be polite but upfront: ask whether the school calculates acceptance rates for grad programs and where you can find this information online (if available).

If a school refuses to divulge admissions statistics or simply doesn’t report acceptance rates, see if they can give you estimates for how many applications they receive each year, or for how many acceptances they usually extend to applicants in your program.

Graduate School Acceptance: What Are Your Odds?

By this point, you might be wondering how likely it is you’ll actually get into the grad program you wish to attend. After all, acceptance rates are pretty broad — they tell you what everyone’s odds are but not your odds specifically.

Below are three easy steps for determining your odds of getting into grad school, including advice on when it’s better to go for it or choose another program.

Step 1: Check Program Requirements

First, go to your program’s website and pinpoint the admissions requirements page. Now, ask yourself:  do you meet all of the program’s basic requirements? If not, you’ll likely wind up with a rejection (and might not even be able to apply).

However, if you’re still interested in applying, contact the program and ask if they’ll make an exception for you. Your chance of getting accepted is still low, but you’ll at least have your application considered.

If your program strongly recommends qualities you lack, don’t interpret this as an automatic rejection. Sometimes, applicants can make up for deficiencies in other ways. For example, if your undergrad GPA is 3.1 and your program recommends applicants have a minimum 3.2, don’t write off the program — you might still have a shot at getting in as long as the rest of your application is solid.

On the other hand, even if you meet all of a program’s requirements, you’re not necessarily a shoo-in. Remember, all other applicants have met these requirements, too, so you’ll need to find a unique way to make your application stand out.

Step 2: Find Average GRE Scores and GPAs

Your next step is to look up your program’s average GRE scores and GPA  to see how your own scores and GPA compare with those of previously admitted applicants.

You can usually find GRE score information on admissions requirements or FAQ pages. You can also search on Google for “[Your School] [Your Program] average GRE scores.” For step-by-step instructions on how to find average GRE scores, check out  my article on average GRE scores by school .

For GPAs, you can use the same basic methodology. Check admissions requirements and FAQ pages and use ctrl+F to search for “GPA.” If GPA information is available, you’ll most likely come across minimum GPAs or average GPAs (or both). For more tips on how to find GPA information for your grad schools, read our guide .

Now, compare your own GRE scores and GPA with the averages you’ve found. Below are all possible scenarios and what they mean for you and your odds of getting into the program:

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• Your GRE scores and GPA are both  higher than your program’s averages:  Congratulations! You have an excellent chance of getting accepted, especially if the rest of your application is equally impressive. Keep up the great work!
• Your GRE scores and GPA are both  about the same as your program’s averages:  You’re doing pretty well! You are just the type of applicant your program is looking for. The only drawback is that you probably won’t stand out as much from other applicants who have similar GRE scores and GPAs. So take time to make your application sparkle (I’m looking at you, statement of purpose).
• Your GRE scores and GPA are both lower than your program’s averages (or just one of the two is lower):  It ain’t over ’til it’s over! You can still make up for your deficiencies in other ways. While you can’t change your GPA, you can retake the GRE . If your GPA is low, a great strategy for combating this is to discuss it in your statement of purpose, taking care to highlight any external factors that contributed to the low GPA as well as any attributes of yours that prove you’re indeed ready for grad school.

Step 3: Decide Whether to Apply

Now, we get to the final question: do you apply to the program or not?  This is a vague question that’s difficult to answer as is. The real questions you should be asking yourself are as follows:

• Do I meet all of the program’s basic requirements?
• Do I meet most or all of the program’s expectations of applicants (in terms of GRE scores, GPA, etc.)?
• Is the program’s acceptance rate extremely low?
• Do I really like this program?

Although acceptance rates and GRE/GPA comparisons are helpful, don’t base your decision to apply solely on how difficult the program is to get into. We can’t know for sure what kind of applicant a grad program is looking for or who they’re willing to make an exception for.

Take a moment to think deeply about how interested you are in this particular program. Be realistic about your chances of getting in — but don’t cross the line into pessimism. If you don’t meet most or all of a program’s expectations and you’re not super invested in it, consider applying elsewhere.

But if you meet some, most, or all of a program’s expectations and you’re extremely interested in enrolling, give the application a go. Remember, it’s totally normal (and even encouraged) to have a few reach schools. Plus, you’ll never get in if you don’t apply!

Key Takeaways: Graduate School Acceptance Rates

Grad school acceptance rates quantify for us the selectivity of grad schools and programs. More specifically, acceptance rates tell us  what percentage of applicants were offered admission to a particular grad school or program. 

With grad school, acceptance rates are often reported for individual schools or programs,  not  entire universities. Acceptance rates can vary widely depending on program prestige, the type of degree you’re seeking, and how much (or how little) funding a program offers.

Unlike undergrad acceptance rates, grad school acceptance rates are somewhat difficult to locate online. You can look for them using any of the following four methods:

• Peruse school websites
• Check grad school facts and lists on  U.S. News
• Browse other websites and forums such as The Grad Cafe
• Call or email your schools

When trying to determine your  odds of getting into a program, look at your program’s requirements as well as the average GPA and GRE scores of previously admitted applicants to your program. If your GRE scores and GPA are comparable to those of your program, you have a decent shot at getting accepted. If one or both are lower than your program’s averages, however, you can always try to  raise your GRE score  with a retake or address your GPA in your statement of purpose.

At the end of the day, what ultimately matters isn’t that you get accepted to a highly competitive grad program but that you make the right decision for you and you alone!

What’s Next?

Need help with your grad school application?  Learn about the most common grad school requirements  and get tips on how to write a grad school CV or resume !

Is your GPA good enough for grad school ?  Read our in-depth guide to learn how you can make up for a less-than-stellar GPA and ultimately raise your chances of getting into the school of your dreams.

Do you have to take the GRE for grad school ? When are grad school deadlines ?  Check out our guides for answers to these questions and more.

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Hannah Muniz

Hannah graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in English and East Asian languages and cultures. After graduation, she taught English in Japan for two years via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel. View all posts by Hannah Muniz

Advice on Applying to Graduate School

We asked Duke students, faculty and professors for the tips and tricks they have picked up throughout their academic careers.

Dionna Gamble, Ph.D.

An Excel document keeping track of all the documents required for each school can be very helpful.

Dionna Gamble

Ph.D Graduate, Genetics and Genomics

How do you start researching PhD programs? 

Your research interests along with any geographical preferences you have can be great starting points for researching PhD programs. Also speaking with a college advisor or mentor can provide great insight and add additional programs to your list. 

What should you look for in a PhD program? 

The following are a few of the important things to look for in a PhD program: 1. Caliber/breadth of research, 2. Engaging faculty, 3. Presence of community and resources for graduate students.

What questions should you ask in your campus visits? 

Be sure to ask about resources the program has to support students through the various stages and milestones of their graduate school career. 

What are some common pitfalls to avoid in the application process? 

Avoid sending documents to the wrong program or omitting pertinent information from your applications by remaining organized during the application process. An excel document keeping track of all the documents required for each school can be very helpful.

Jarvis C. McInnis, Ph.D.

Reviewers are far more interested in your ability to think creatively and solve complex problems than what moves you.

Jarvis C. McInnis

Assistant Professor, English 

How do you start researching PhD programs?

The most important factors to consider are your research question(s), preferred discipline and/or methods, and faculty mentors. Ask yourself: What is the question or problem you want to address in your graduate studies? Then, you’ll want to consider which discipline(s) and/or methods will best equip you to answer or address said question or problem. Finally, identify faculty members who are either doing similar work, or whose research will equip you with the necessary training to answer your unique research question or problem. 

What should you look for in a PhD program?

The answer to this question depends on what you plan to do with the PhD. Ideally, you should select a program that can support you in reaching your research and career goals, and where you can thrive both professionally and personally. Make sure that there are at least 2-3 faculty members with whom you can work within the department or at the university. It is often the case that students’ research interests change or their relationship with their primary advisor is less than optimal. So being in a place with multiple potential advisors/mentors is ideal. Additional factors to consider include: supportive mentorship and advising; funding for graduate student research; and opportunities to cultivate the skills needed for career success (e.g., opportunities to teach, if you plan to enter academia). 

One of the most important factors to consider is whether the university’s  location  is conducive to your life and work. Are there opportunities to engage in your hobbies or the various activities or communities that sustain you beyond your research? Try to imagine your personal and professional goals over the next 5-7 years (or however long it typically takes to complete the program), and ask yourself if the university/location under consideration will enable you to achieve them. 

If you are a woman, person of color, queer person, or another underrepresented minority, consider the university’s and department’s track record with people whose identities are similar to yours. Do they tend to thrive there, or do they tend to leave the program prematurely? You should also inquire into the department’s job placement rate and the average time to degree. This information  can  speak volumes about how well the department prepares and supports its students (the economy and the changing landscape of the academic job market notwithstanding). 

What questions should you ask in your campus visits?

You should always ask current graduate students at different stages of the process (from course work to dissertation writing) if they are happy and feel supported in the program  and  at the university. Ask about all forms of healthcare (physical and mental) and whether the living stipend is sufficient to cover expenses. Current students’ experiences are often the best indication of whether the program will be a good fit for you. You should also ask faculty members about their approach to graduate advising and mentorship to determine if their style matches your needs. You might also ask them if they plan to leave the university during your tenure there; losing an advisor can be most disruptive. Time to degree and job placement rates are important factors to consider as well. If your work is interdisciplinary, ask about the possibility of taking courses in other departments and including outside faculty members on your committee.

What are some common pitfalls to avoid in the application process?

Be sure to articulate your research question, problem, or intervention clearly, as well as why the faculty, department, and/or university are the right fit for your proposed project. Refrain from writing about your “passion” and instead focus on your intellectual contribution. Reviewers are far more interested in your ability to think creatively and solve complex problems than what moves you. If you have a blemish on your transcript or below average test scores, address it in your personal statement (e.g., perhaps you had a family crisis that semester, or you have test anxiety), but don’t belabor it. Simply acknowledge it and assure readers that it has no bearing on your intellectual ability or future success in the program. Make sure to ask recommenders to write a  strong  or  favorable  letter of recommendation; even lukewarm letters can be a red flag to admissions committee members. Finally, please be considerate of reviewers. They are often reading hundreds of applications, so please adhere to application guidelines regarding the length of materials such as writing samples and research statements. 

Amanda E. Hargrove, Ph.D.

Research is tough and often fails - what challenges, however small, have you overcome that could show how you overcome setbacks and failures?

Amanda E. Hargrove

Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Think about what types of research you are most interested in, and then look for programs that offer those options. You want to identify places that have multiple PI’s asking questions that fascinate you and you’d love to work on. Research mentors and professors at your current institution are great resources for ideas of places to look. Ask as many people as possible!

In addition to multiple research groups of interest (mentioned above), you’ll want to make sure the culture is one that will allow you to be as productive as possible. For most people, this means specific programs to help first year graduate students acclimate, rotations, etc. as well as career and support resources. Look at the students who are there and who you meet - are they people who you want to be?

Ask about research! See how people talk about it, what they are excited about, and how they respond to questions. Ask graduate students what they love and what they would change. Ask what they do outside of lab (just to make sure there is something). What department and university resources exist to help you succeed? What have students taken advantage of?

Your personal statement should be a balance of personal and research experience. What draws you to research? Research is tough and often fails - what challenges, however small, have you overcome that could show how you overcome setbacks and failures?Common pitfalls include being entirely personal or entirely research-based. Personalize them as possible, but remember the worst is when a student personalizes for the wrong university! Make sure you have as many people read your statement and provide feedback as possible. If it feels like no one else has read it or it was hastily put together, it will appear that you do not care.

Gustavo M. Silva, Ph.D.

Your PhD in sciences will be less about becoming an expert in a field and more about learning how to think science, how to do science, and how to broadly thrive in this field.

Gustavo D. Silva

Assistant Professor, Biology

Start by checking out the institutions where the authors of your favorite articles are located. Also, search for umbrella programs that could provide you with a variety of lab options to explore. Investigate the best departments in your area of interest and always, ALWAYS ask for advice and suggestions from your network (mentors, colleagues, professors). 

Look for the best learning opportunity. Your PhD in sciences will be less about becoming an expert in a field and more about learning how to think science, how to do science, and how to broadly thrive in this field. Look for programs that also offer opportunities for career development. Find a department where you could have multiple choices of advisors who have great track records as scientists and mentors.

Ask your potential advisors what their current and potential research projects are (the website might be outdated); if they are interested in taking students on that particular cycle; about their mentoring style (and whether it matches your needs); and what one needs to do to be successful under their mentorship. Also, talk to people working in their laboratories and read between the lines. Remember, it is your chance to interview the professors as well, and assess your fit in their lab.

Your undergraduate research experience is important, but do not forget to connect the skills you’ve learned to your research vision and future goals in graduate school. We are recruiting YOU and not the work you did in the past. Also, make clear the reasons why you are applying for that particular program/institution. Write a tailored statement. The committee will always look more favorably if you have a legitimate interest in joining their program.

Melyssa Minto

Once you have vetted the program content wise, you want to also want to make sure that it is somewhere you can feel safe, build a community, and have fun!

Ph.D. Student, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

At the beginning of senior year, I started looking into PhD programs. You have to prioritize what is important to you whether it is the faculty, research focus, location, etc. For me, location and research focus were really important. I looked at the PhD programs that fit my research interest in the Triangle and from there I identified faculty within the programs that I wanted to work with by reading through their current research. For the faculty that I felt strongly about, I emailed them about my interest, attached my CV and asked them for recommendations for my application. While most of them did not offer any hard advice, it was good opportunity to ask more questions about their research and to get my name floating around.

Graduate school is a huge commitment so you want to make sure you choose an environment where you will be happy in and have opportunity to grow. Most times programs that satisfy that are flexible to requirements and milestones, diverse both culturally and intellectually, and highly collaborative both within the institution and with surrounding institutions. You should also look into the course requirements and prerequisites and the average time a student spends in the program. Most programs have pre-requisites and it’s okay if you have not completed them. If you haven’t, reach out to the program coordinator and ask if there is any flexibility in the prerequisites.

Once you have vetted the program content wise, you want to also want to make sure that it is somewhere you can feel safe, build a community, and have fun! You should ask about housing conditions and affordability, how the current graduate students feel about the program and their lab, and about the social aspects of the surrounding area. Then depending on your personality, determine if the “vibe” of the institution and its location is a good fit for you. 

When I was applying I spent months revising my personal statement. In your personal statement, you want to make a huge effort in writing about why the specific program is the next step in your career. Spend some time talking about your qualifications but don’t forget to mention some of the faculty that you would want to work with. This will show that you have researched the program well and you are confident in what your interests are. 

Bryce Gessell, Ph.D.

Don't connect your self-worth to your admissions results—there are more important things in your life than getting into the graduate program you think you love.

Bryce Gessell

Ph.D. Graduate, Philosophy

Ask current PhD Students in your field. They have already done the work you need to do; you don't need to do it all again. Learn from their successes and mistakes.

Look for a program that will allow you to become an independent researcher; you should also look for a place where your personality fits, and where you'll have enough money to live on (it is not as easy as you think to figure this last one out).

(a) How many students have quit the program? Why did they quit? (b) Do the faculty support the efforts of graduate students toward professionalization in their discipline? How do they do this, specifically? (c) What is the actual placement record like—not just the placement record reported on the department website?

(a) Don't check websites where students self-report their admissions results; you'll only drive yourself crazy. (b) Don't not have a backup plan: in other words, have a backup plan. (c) Don't connect your self-worth to your admissions results—there are more important things in your life than getting into the graduate program you think you love.

Thomas P. Witelski, Ph.D.

Campus visits are great for forming impressions of quality of life issues, some things that might be intangible and don’t translate directly into email questions or web searches.

Thomas P. Witelski

Professor, Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

US News and World Report's lists of top graduate programs can be a good starting point. Everyone needs to filter lists like these to suit their own interests and priorities, but it identifies some strong programs and shows what are active areas for current study. Digging further is done by looking at department and faculty websites, and even downloading recent papers that look interesting.

Ideally programs should have sets of faculty that cover a spread of current research topics, but share some interests and produce students that are well-versed in broad areas and could potentially do interesting research in several directions. Look for the recent productivity of faculty and the career placement of students.

Campus visits are great for forming impressions of quality of life issues, some things that might be intangible and don’t translate directly into email questions or web searches. Cost of living, housing and neighbors around the school can be an important consideration, just like department culture, office space, campus culture, and typical working week duties.

Start the process early, and leave a lot of time for revising essays, getting letters of recommendation, submitting materials and preparing for GRE's.

Consider carefully who you get recommendation letters from—it's more impactful to get letters from professors that know you in the context of more advanced courses, or more individualized research projects. Make them aware of your goals for graduate school and your broader background (share your CV, essay and other application materials with them so they can write more holistically informed letters).

Write personal statement essays that give concrete and specific examples illustrating your experience moving toward research in the area. Knowledge of the field, contact with advanced topics in courses and showing commitment to struggling with challenging problems can carry more weight than narratives about early motivation and general formative experiences. Readers of your essay will be expert researchers—don't hold back on detail, seek to present your knowledge at a professional level.

Sinja K Küppers

The most important questions in your campus visits are the ones you ask yourself: whom can you imagine working with?

Ph.D. Student, Classical Studies

Browse the departmental websites of different universities. You may want to apply to a university that offers the resources and experts you are interested in and that allows you to build the professional profile you are seeking. You can also reach out to graduate students and faculty in universities before applying to find out more about how the program and the faculty’s research intersects with your interests. 

For a US PhD program check whether the program and faculty reflect your interests, but make sure that the program also allows you to broaden your expertise, in particular in the humanities and social sciences.

The most important questions in your campus visits are the ones you ask yourself: whom can you imagine working with? A good advisor – student relationship is sometimes more valuable than sticking to a topic idea. Consider, too, how much guidance in your research you are looking for. The amount and kind of support an advisor can offer may differ depending on how busy your advisor is. Also important: Do you appreciate the graduate community among whom you will spend the next years? 

Make sure to personalize your application. Address the questions how you fit into the department and how you can benefit from the resources provided. You may also want to include in your application what fascinates you about the research you have done so far or you are interested in. 

Eladio Bobadilla

Metrics might be a worthwhile consideration, but students should also look beyond numbers (such as rankings).

Ph.D. Student, History 

Obviously, a simple web search is the simplest and first step. There is a lot of valuable information publicly available for almost any program in the country. It’s important to look at each program’s strengths and weaknesses, to assess student outcomes, and to reach out to faculty members that students may want to work with. 

Metrics might be a worthwhile consideration, but students should also look beyond numbers (such as rankings). Above all, “fit” should be a priority. Students should focus on finding potential faculty they would like to work with and institutions that serve their unique needs and priorities. There are lots of issues to consider, from teaching expectations to geographic location to whether a program is family-friendly. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to graduate school. Different students will have different priorities and needs, and there is no sense in spending money, time, and effort to apply to programs that may not be good fits. 

Again, I would recommend asking questions that will help determine whether a given university is a good fit: What are the funding policies? What are the teaching/work expectations? What interdisciplinary opportunities are there? How diverse are faculty and cohorts? 

Faculty that do not respond to emails or that are not helpful are red flags. If a professor can’t be bothered to answer a quick question, will s/he be available when you need them as an advisor or mentor? Relationships are crucial in graduate school, and first impressions matter. You want to be in a program that values you, your dignity, and your experience. Look for universities, faculty, and programs that appear open, transparent, and welcoming. Trust your instincts.

Roxanne Springer

In the end, which university you attend is not as important as the person you work with.

Professor, Physics

I would talk to people who are in my field of interest. If you don't personally know such a person you can generally find one within a few degrees of separation. (For example, a work colleague of my brother has a daughter interested in astronomy and they sent her to me because I would know where to send her.) I think it is not so helpful to look at web sites or rankings. These are fickle and often out-of-date and/or misleading. Some great research groups don't maintain web sites and other research groups care way more about selling themselves than doing great work. In the end, which university you attend is not as important as the person you work with. It is your advisor and his/her support, mentorship, and contacts, that will determine your experience and your opportunities. And finding a good advisor match is best done by obtaining information from people who know that advisor—people already in the field.

You want to go to a program that is both challenging and supportive.

You want to be surrounded by a cohort of students and faculty who are excited about research, excited about working on hard problems, and want to see everyone around them succeed at solving those hard problems.                     

You want data, such as time to PhD and placement after PhD. These may be very different for different research groups within the same department. Senior students in the group and the director of graduate studies of the department may know this information. Before joining any research group you will want to discuss with as many students as possible what their experience has been like, both positive and negative. That is because you can read research papers to see if the research interests you, but the only way to know what it feels like to be working until 2am on something due in the morning is to ask someone who has already done so in that group.

(1) Sending a generic statement without doing your research. You will want to know enough about the research done in the department to which you are applying so that you can make an argument for why they should want to admit you. 

(2) Saying that you are interested in a specific group or professor without any back-up. Professors go on sabbatical, switch universities, lose funding, have too many students already, etc. If your statement indicates you have only one person in mind to work with and that person is not able/willing to take you, you won't be admitted. So be sure to be able to speak knowledgeably about more than one group.

Plus it is never a good idea to matriculate to a department that has only one group or one professor who is a good match for you. Personalities clash, life happens, and you want to go to a university where you have more than one option.

Elliot Mamet

Graduate school is difficult in a variety of ways, both expected and unexpected, and you want to live in a place that gives you joy amid these challenges.

Ph.D. Student, Political Science

I would begin researching PhD programs by speaking with your college advisors and mentors and asking them what programs to consider. They often will have specialized knowledge about particular programs—their pedagogy, research areas, strengths and weaknesses—which can help you begin the research process. 

Next, make a list of the senior scholars in your area whose work you most admire. Find out where their institutional home is, and whether they supervise PhD Students. You can also research the editors of the major journals in your subfield, the officers of major disciplinary associations, recent disciplinary award winners, or people who have themselves advised scholars you admire. 

Lastly, acquire data. Consult rankings, but be careful to note the limits of those rankings. Schools specializing in a particular, specialized area of research may not be as highly ranked overall, but still worthy of consideration; highly ranked programs may nonetheless falter at graduate education. Find statistics for placement record, the average time to completion, and the average debt load of PhD graduates. Duke’s Graduate School does a marvelous job of posting this data online, and if other programs don’t have it readily available, email them for it.

First, think carefully about finances. The decision to go into debt for education is a deeply personal one, but at least in the humanities and humanistic social science, I would strongly recommend only attending a fully funded PhD program, which generally includes tuition, fees, as well as compensatory package of some kind. 

You should also look for a PhD program in a location where you will be happy to live for five years or more. Graduate school is difficult in a variety of ways, both expected and unexpected, and you want to live in a place that gives you joy amid these challenges.

You can’t predict exactly how your own interests will evolve over your time in graduate school. You will inevitably pick a school with depth in your own research area—but make sure that program also has the breadth to allow you to explore a range of other questions and puzzles. 

Dig beyond the website and program brochure to find out what a program is really like. Ask if it would be possible to sit-in on a class or workshop, and schedule meetings with as many faculty and students as possible, both within and beyond your research area.

For the graduate students, I would ask: what is life like in that city? How competitive is the program, and how much collaboration is there? What is your favorite part of the graduate program, and what is one thing you wish you could change?

For faculty: how do you advise graduate students? Is co-authoring with graduate students common? What makes your school’s program different from other programs? What kind of research projects are you working on currently?

One pitfall to avoid is to apply for graduate programs without also applying for fellowships, scholarships and grants. These awards can help offset the cost of graduate school—and, in turn, open up new intellectual networks while serving as a signaling device to future employers. A second pitfall to avoid is the assumption the application process works objectively. The vicissitudes of applying are many—and whether or not you are accepted to a given program is not an evaluation of your worth as a person or scholar.

The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

How Hard is a PhD?

Amongst the general population, having a PhD is often seen as the pinnacle of academic achievements but how hard is it to achieve?

Having passed my PhD viva yesterday I now feel I’m in a position to really judge how difficult a PhD is!

Congratulations to Jeff @savvy_scientist who passed his PhD viva today, remotely! Now we're having a celebration – remotely! #StayHome pic.twitter.com/4rI0ZiCF5z — ImperialBiomechanics (@ICBiomechanics) March 25, 2020

A dive into the unknown

Any time we don’t have experience in something, the element of the unknown can make it hard to evaluate how hard it is.

Coming from your previous qualifications you may extrapolate and think that since your undergraduate degree was a step up from high school in work and difficulty, a PhD must be another step change in difficulty.

With PhDs it’s not helped by the fact that a lot of the time only the most academically capable students are interested in them, which may make you think you have to be really clever to do one. Plus, as they’re not that common it’s not always easy to find people with experience to speak to.

Growing up I didn’t know anyone who had done a PhD degree, heck none of my immediate family had been to university, so I appreciate that gaining an insight about PhDs isn’t available to everyone.

So how hard is a PhD?

The reality is that a PhD can be difficult, but mostly it’s just different .

How hard you might find certain aspects of a PhD really depend on your own working style and to a lesser extent personality. Let’s discuss the factors one by one.

How hard is it to manage the PhD workload?

During a PhD there will be times you have to stay late, or work weekends (every so often) but it’s nothing like undergraduate degrees, with relentless deadlines and all-nighters being a regular occurrence for a lot of us.

Something that studying for a PhD does have in common with undergrad is that there is always more work that you can get on with, which can be disconcerting. Though unlike undergrad this feeling doesn’t stop after exams where you can enjoy a long study-free summer, because there are no term times for a PhD. I’ve previously shared how much holiday I’ve taken as a PhD student .

You need to find a way to switch off, otherwise your mental health will suffer.

Prior to starting my PhD I worked as a research assistant for three years and I found it helpful to view my PhD as a full time job. Even all the way through to submitting my thesis, working consistently 9-5ish every day was enough. I do hear of people working every hour of the week but these are the exception rather than the norm.

For a deeper insight into my typical working schedule check out the post below where I shared my calendar.

How Much Work is a PhD?

PhD depth and breadth of study

If you’ve been in higher education for a while, you’ll have probably got used to learning a wide amount of topics in a short time. Topics are covered at a fast pace, sometimes in not much detail, without much time to build your understanding.

I can’t have been the only person who during undergrad was effectively have to fight fires, not having much time to concentrate and fully understand each topic before having to move on to the next one.

PhDs provide a step-change, where you focus in on a single topic to a much greater depth.

For most PhDs there will be a certain amount of knowledge you’re expected to have picked up from your previous degree(s), but the pace of a PhD is undoubtedly much more slow. The reality is that the breadth of a PhD topic is really quite limited, though it can often span several disciplines. It’s common for your project to involve topics you’re not completely comfortable with.

You have a lot of time to focus on just one topic and you’re expected and required to know the topic inside out. The good news is that you’re given more than adequate time to learn the ropes.

As a PhD student there is nothing wrong with refreshing your knowledge of basic topics, especially if it’s something you haven’t studied in years. I still look things up on YouTube and Wikipedia and there is no shame in doing so: you’re in this position to learn and produce scientific outputs, so it’s much better that you’re comfortable with the topic.

I would suggest that for most people a PhD is generally more relaxed than an undergraduate degree. That’s not to say there isn’t work involved, but the pace gives you breathing room to understand the topic comprehensively.

If there’s one key message I’d like to get across, it’s please don’t ever be scared to ask your supervisor questions. You’re not on your own.

That’s assuming your supervisor is interested in supervising, which sadly isn’t always the case. Lack of supervisor support is one of the main difficulties I’ve seen students face (in other research groups I should add!). I wrote some tips here for choosing projects and supervisors .

How to Choose a PhD Project & Supervisor

Essentially as long as you are willing to learn, I wouldn’t worry too much about this aspect of a PhD.

Is a PhD intellectually difficult?

You’ve probably heard the metaphor about standing on the shoulders of giants, and it’s true that as a PhD student you’re building on previous work carried out in the field.

However there usually isn’t an expectation to make massive intellectual strides forwards. In reality you’ll probably be giving a small nudge forwards to a small area of the field. For some people this can be a relief and make the idea of doing original research much more obtainable, whereas for others it may belittle the entire idea of doing research!

The reality of the situation is that PhD students may be seen as a cost effective source of labour to advance science. Although we’re often working on projects with complicated lofty descriptions such as “ nanoparticles impregnated with silver ions for cancer treatment ” or “ biphasic lubrication mechanics of soft engineering materials ” in reality the practical side of them does not require genius level intellect.

Oftentimes you’ll be doing pretty menial things behind these grand topic titles. These tasks require you to know what you’re doing, but rarely will you have devised the whole thing yourself.

Fun fact: at my first job after undergrad, working at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, my boss would sometimes bring in her gardener to pick up any slack, doing the same work as me and some of the post-docs.

A full house for @trayanovalab at the @ImperialBioeng annual lecture. Amazing work & images! #ComputationalCardiology pic.twitter.com/R2dxE7csbg — Jeff Clark (@savvy_scientist) June 18, 2018

Of course you need to be able to understand the concepts behind what you’re doing, but I wouldn’t worry too much if you’re worried that you have to be a genius to complete a PhD.

So is a PhD easy?

In terms of workload and difficulty a PhD isn’t necessarily as difficult as you might think, so don’t be scared off. That’s not to say it’s not without challenges which we’ll now go on to discuss.

How a PhD can be hard

Of course there are differences between projects, supervisors and universities but I’d say generally the main things which can make a PhD hard are:

Self motivation

Looking after yourself, dealing with isolation.

• Your ability to problem solve
• Fear of public speaking

Prior to studying for a PhD, your studies will likely have been structured by a timetable of contact hours, coursework deadlines and exams. Working towards a PhD is the first time you’re likely to experience fully independent working for extended periods of time. It will also involve work where no one, not even your supervisors, know all the answers. This can be daunting and I think this is where difficulties may stem from for many students.

A PhD is a long-term commitment so you need dedication to reach the end of a PhD.

By the end of your PhD you’ll have to demonstrate that you’ve contributed to your field with a thesis and/or peer-reviewed publications. This can be a challenge and without the regular undergraduate format of deadlines and exams, you may quickly lose focus. Regaining that focus and dedication is key to seeing your PhD through.

If this is something you struggle with check out my post on maintaining motivation during your PhD .

At Imperial we have two progress points throughout the PhD: one at 9-12 months (Early Stage Assessment) and another at 18-24 months (Late Stage Review). These formal progression checkpoints help by giving deadlines and a structure to work towards.

Solution: I believe one of the best ways to keep up productivity, and ensure you’re on the right track, is to meet regularly with the supervisor. I suggest meeting at least a few times per month. I do know some people who meet much less regularly and this can work for some people. However, I personally find myself chatting with my supervisor about far more than the types of things I’d want to ask in an email and this is where the mentorship aspect of a PhD can be made or broken.

In summary, working closely with your supervisor can make your PhD a lot less difficult.

It’s very easy to develop bad habits during your PhD such as:

• Eating badly and drinking too much coffee
• Getting stressed and working long hours
• Not getting exercise and sleeping poorly

From not cycling at all I've now cycled 1k+ miles in London, mostly commuting to @imperialcollege . Great way to get around with so many benefits. Started because of a free course by @RBKC & @Bikeworksuk w/ a refurbished bike! Few words about my experience: https://t.co/rGwSqomikD pic.twitter.com/joyVftxuVn — Jeff Clark (@savvy_scientist) August 30, 2019

Solution: Remember that working longer hours won’t necessarily help your productivity. Instead take time out of your day for breaks and go for walks. Dedicate time to look after yourself. If you’re looking for ways to stay efficient, think of doing things like commuting by walking or cycling. I’d also highly recommend cooking your own meals to stay healthy (and save money ).

When I say isolation I really mean a few different things:

Owning your own project

Every PhD project is different, you may collaborate with friends or colleagues for bits of your work but you are the only person driving forwards your project.

This means that you may face problems other people in the research group or department haven’t encountered. Not only could this be isolating but it may also set your project back if you don’t mitigate the risks.

Solution: Firstly, don’t be afraid to ask people for help. Maybe someone from your group doesn’t have the answer to your problems but they may offer useful advice or know someone else in the department who may help. Coffee breaks offer an opportunity to informally chat with colleagues, which can both be fruitful for your work and your mental health: here is a nice Science article about the positives of coffee breaks.

Imposter Syndrome

As every project is unique it can be very difficult to tell how you measure up to other people. At times you may struggle to understand what other people in your group are working on, but this doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for it! Supervisors have a good idea of what’s required for a project when you’re applying: if you’re accepted you’ll more than likely be fine in this regard.

Solution: Don’t compare yourself to others. This is fruitless, especially when every project is different anyway. Make sure you understand your own project well and you’ll be fine. Having a chat with other students can be a good way to reassure you that everyone goes through difficult times.

Staying social

If I asked you to close your eyes and picture a PhD student, what would you see? Personally I used to conjure up an image of a fatigued student wearing goggles and trapped in a lab, rarely seeing daylight.

That’s not always a hundred miles away from the truth, but it doesn’t have to be the case. We’ve already covered how working such long hours can be counterproductive, but also putting yourself in a solitary position like this can be both demoralising and awful for your mental wellbeing. Please don’t!

Solution: Take frequent breaks, get involved with activities your lab-mates or department are organising: or organise something yourself. Find something you enjoy and can look forward to going along to, you can still join clubs and societies as a postgrad. Being isolated can make a PhD so much more mentally difficult: it doesn’t need to be!

Solving problems

You hear people saying that to be a good researcher you have to be inquisitive and questioning everything. These are certainly good traits to have which can make the work more meaningful, but at the level of a PhD student I believe it’s much more important to work smart.

To me this includes the ability to:

• Think on your feet
• Don’t be afraid to ask your supervisor questions
• Be forward thinking and catch problems early

Solution: Set up a framework to overcome problems and always think of ways to mitigate risks by having a Plan B. For example I work with people who’ve waited six months for consumables to arrive: if you don’t consider risks like this you immediately set yourself up for a less productive and more stressful experience. As before, I really do recommend meeting with your supervisor frequently.

Public speaking

I’m not sure whether presenting your work is a requirement for every PhD but it’s certainly an expectation for most. If nothing else you’ll likely have to present in your viva.

A fear of public speaking is very common and as such it’s a common PhD difficulty to tackle.

It’s completely natural to be nervous with the idea of presenting, however that’s not a reason to avoid public speaking completely. On the contrary you’ll only get comfortable with it by practicing. We’re fortunate as researchers to get regular opportunities to try public speaking.

I certainly still get nervous myself but would rather face the fear than shy away from it: plus you feel great afterwards.

Solution: Take opportunities to give presentations, whether it be at lab meetings, departmental events or conferences. The great thing with being a PhD student is that you get to practice with no expectations that you’ll be perfect. It’s much better to face it now than push the problem back later in to your career. I’ve written some tips for how to keep your presentation interesting.

Presentation Skills for Students: How to Stay On Topic and Keep Audience Attention

Some example issues you might have to overcome as a PhD student

Common phd challenges.

Now that we’ve covered the categories of common PhD difficulties here are some common day to day challenges:

• You need to use a technique or piece of old lab equipment and there’s no one to teach you how to use it
• You’re scared to ask for help because you think you should already know the answer
• You’re not getting the results from an experiment you’re expecting to see
• You need to write a code to do something and have never coded before
• You’re struggling to understand a concept
• You’re bored of reading or are losing interest in the topic
• You feel lonely
• You’re stuck waiting for something to arrive
• You need to create nice looking diagrams
• You need to build a rig or piece of equipment from scratch
• You’re worried about giving a presentation
• Your supervisor isn’t providing support
• You’ve no idea what statistical analysis to use
• You’re facing funding limitations, meaning you can’t do all the experiments you ideally would
• You’re struggling to motivate yourself to write a 100+ page thesis!

I’ve written a separate post covering a range of challenges I faced during my own PhD and you can find that post here: Overcoming Academic Challenges and Failure During a PhD .

Overcoming PhD challenges

It’s normal to face problems during a PhD. It’s how you tackle these problems that will be the defining factor in how difficult you find the PhD.

Part of the joy in completing a PhD is knowing that you’ve managed to overcome these difficulties.

In all these scenarios having a chat with other people will help. Even if other students or staff can’t directly provide assistance, most people are very friendly and supportive which will boost your morale.

I can’t overstate how useful scheduling regular meetings with your supervisor is. It’s so much better to face problems early rather than awkwardly have to deal with it six months later. I meet with my primary supervisor every week and we work together to set short-term deadlines for my work which tie in with the larger targets.

For problems outside of your supervisor’s remit lots of universities provide additional support. For example the graduate school at Imperial lays on courses for PhD students covering how to code, using reference managers, statistics etc.

Plus there are usually facilities for dealing with things such as stress and anxiety via counselling, student support and chaplaincies. Don’t make the PhD more difficult than it needs to be, these facilities are put in place to help you.

Has my PhD been hard?

I’ve been surprised by how manageable the PhD has been. I wouldn’t say that any of the research work was particularly difficult, it has simply required dedication.

Good time management and taking my mental health seriously have helped a lot, as has considering it a full time job. Slow and steady wins the race. Simple steps like always having a backup plan to mitigate the chance of getting stuck if things go wrong has served me well.

I’ve never been a fan of presenting but have learned to expose myself to it in an effort for self improvement. Of the five conference presentations I gave during my PhD, I won prizes for two.

Remember that you may lack self confidence but how you come across to other people may not be how you perceive yourself: this can be very uplifting. If I can do it so can you!

Thesis-writing

I’m currently in the process of writing up a separate post dedicated to my experience of writing a thesis. In summary, for me personally, it wasn’t anything like as stressful as I was thinking it would be.

I gave myself approximately six weeks to write most of it. Mine was 190 pages in total which may sound daunting but I actually only had about 120 pages of proper content and it’s all with 1.5 line spacing. Each chapter was only about 20 pages which sounds much more manageable and really isn’t much for 3 years work!

Things which helped me included:

• Having already written up some results.
• Using figures I’d made for presentations.
• Not expecting it to be perfect.
• Setting myself tight deadlines. I gave myself two weeks to write the introduction, literature review and discussion chapters.

Some of us PhD students make things more difficult than they need to be, trying to make everything perfect. I’ve heard some staff say “good enough is good enough” which I’ve found a useful mantra.

I recommend not spending too long on the thesis because:

• Papers are what count, put your energy into them instead.
• There is no point trying to second-guess what your examiners may want to see, you could spend months deliberating and they’ll still potentially have corrections to suggest.

I was a bit nervous before my viva, which is normal. I was confident in the work I had done for the PhD, but was actually more concerned about being asked any theoretical or technical questions you’d be more likely to encounter in an undergraduate course.

Although it lasted more than five hours, mine was a supportive environment, mostly a discussion to give feedback to improve the thesis and publications. Remember to be honest and be reassured that you know your work better than anyone else.

In summary, how hard is a PhD?

• Most PhDs are not intellectually difficult but they do present other challenges
• How hard you may find a PhD depends on your ability to self motivate, look after yourself, deal with isolation, problem solve and master public speaking
• Everyone experiences challenges during their PhD but it’s how you confront those challenges that matters
• Make the most of your supervisor for support and guidance

If you’d like personalised help with your PhD application I am now starting to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please contact me to find out more or click here to book a call.

If you’re interested in doing a PhD but are scared of the difficulty, please don’t be put off.

As long as you’re willing to learn and are dedicated I am sure you can succeed.

Finally, remember to enjoy the experience!

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10 Comments on “How Hard is a PhD?”

I have really been struggling on whether to apply for a PhD. This post has given me the realistic picture I needed. Thank you

Yay, I’m so pleased you found it useful, Ankita! If you can think of any other questions you’d like answered be sure to let me know. Best wishes

Thanks for sharing your experiences and insights, Jeff 🙂 I find this post really helpful in terms of being aware of what’s to come as I start my PhD journey – and more importantly, what I can do to overcome these potential obstacles!

Hey Julie, I’m pleased you’ve found it useful. Best of luck with your PhD!

Jeff, Thank you very much for putting this together. Im a second year PhD student who regularly finds themselves in crisis of confidence. This article really helps to give me a little perspective, empowering me to plough on regardless of nagging doubts!

Thanks very much for your comment, Callum. I’m really glad the article has helped. Best of luck with the rest of your project: you’ve got this!!

I am currently a full time MBA student who will graduate in December. My professor in Leadership actually approached me about whether I would consider becoming a higher ed professor and researcher. She noticed qualities in my writing and research that she said the job would suit me perfectly. I have been back and forth on the idea and your site has truly been a great boost for me in getting the confidence I need to apply for my PhD, so thank you :)!

Hey Sarah. Yay! I’m so glad the website has been useful for you, thanks so much for your comment. Do let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions for other content which would help. Best of luck with the end of your MBA and future PhD application! Best wishes, Jeff.

Jeff, Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I am entering my final term of my MS in Cybersecurity and graduate in May 21 and I was curious on the level of effort for a PhD. When my wife saw me looking at PhD programs however she lovingly made me close the browser so it may not be in the cards right now. Granted I do have 2 young children under 5, a full time job and am an Army Reservist so she isn’t wrong 🙂 However, I do really appreciate you putting this together to help other students interested in PhD programs. This has given me great insight into what to expect and what it will take. Thanks again! George

Hi George, Thanks so much for your kind comment, I’m glad it has been useful for you. In terms of how much effort a PhD is: anecdotally I did mine keeping pretty strictly to normal office hours of roughly 9-5 Monday-Friday and had the official letter confirming my PhD within 3.5 years of the day I started. Admittedly this is in the UK, I expect in the US it would take a little longer overall but the weekly workload doesn’t need to be overwhelming. I think my peers on average worked similar hours. The nice thing about research is that, assuming you have a reasonable supervisor, you are typically much more in control of your hours than in a traditional job. As long as you get the work done a good PhD supervisor doesn’t tend to care how you schedule your time so could fit quite nicely around other commitments such as childcare. Sometimes people think the flexible hours can only go badly for them: being expected to work longer hours than normal, but I don’t think this needs to be the case. Of course chucking endless hours at a task isn’t always useful, better to work smart! Sure some projects may involve intense sets of experiments but these are either usually few and far between or limited to fields like biology with cell experiments. In my experience anything based on a computer tends to be more flexible so you’re good. Basically the level of effort doesn’t need to be any more intense than a normal job. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions or I’d be happy to jump on a quick call if that’d help. Best of luck! Jeff.

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7 Tips for Applying to a Psychology PhD Program

The unwritten rules that i wish i knew.

Posted January 7, 2015

I just sifted through this year's batch of graduate student applications to the clinical psychology PhD program at George Mason University . Here are the emotions that I experienced:

Awe - reminded that if I was applying to graduate school with my 1998 packet, I would never get in. There are some psychology obsessed youngbloods out there.

Elevation - ignore the pessimism in the news, a vast number of hungry characters are coming through the pipelines to improve society. They are already making inroads and want a PhD to give them extra leverage.

Anxiety - the pressure to get near perfect grades, near perfect standardized test scores, and intensive research and clinical experience is palpable. I often wonder how many of these characters pause to enjoy their once-in-a-lifetime college years. I remember reading The Fountainhead on a bench in the middle of campus at 2am on a random Tuesday while the Ithaca snow rained down in slow-motion. Sitting across the quad from me was a muscular guy reading The Celestine Prophecy. The two of us talked about books, women, society's expectations, and the hero's journey for hours. This is the kind of intimacy that creates life long bonds, raising the bar for how strangers should communicate. Then there was the time [insert dangerous, naked, and/or drunken story #4-103]. I never thought about graduate school while attending Cornell University. I lived day-to-day, semester by semester. Not today's graduate school applicants....

Dismay - as someone who takes mentoring seriously, I am disappointed to read poorly constructed applications. Everybody should have a high quality mentor who points out problems before that submission button is pressed.

Inspired - I wish somebody offered me inside information on what professors really care about when they read an application. Because I have a natural distaste for authority, I feel compelled to provide this information to every student aspiring to be a psychologist.

With these emotions in tow, here are my seven concrete suggestions for those masochistic enough to apply to a PhD program in clinical psychology (this will also be relevant for other graduate programs that emphasize science). A strong clinical psychology program will reject more than 90% of applicants. The odds are against you. This post has been designed to improve your odds.

whatever manner works best for you.

Wisdom #1. You will not get an interview without direct research experience. This was not the case 10 years ago. We know that undergraduate courses are required and many universities allow you to retake courses until you get the desired grade. For this reason, grades matter little (get over a 3.2 GPA and I am ready to treat you no differently than someone with a 4.0). Now an honor thesis is optional. Completing one shows dedication, discipline, and devotion to science. Gaining research experience in a professor's laboratory is behavioral evidence that you know about sweat equity and the delay of gratification. My advice is that it is better to aim for an A- in your courses if it means that you can dedicate more time to assist in research with a scientist and eventually conduct studies under their guidance. Nothing in the classroom approximates the skills, knowledge, and psychological strengths that you develop with hands-on research. Nothing.

Corollary - Don't waste your time accruing a wide breadth of experiences unless you are doing it as an end it itself. I don't care if you are vice-president of Psi Chi, a volunteer fire fighter for 6 hours per year, and created the first cultural neuroscience book club at your local library. I am more impressed with hardcore dedication and deep penetration in one activity (where somebody can speak to your invaluable contributions) than a lengthy curriculum vitae (CV). In a similar vein, I don't care if you obtained authorship on multiple journal articles. To me, this says that you work with generous people. One first author poster presentation where you did the bulk of the writing, analyzing, and conceptualizing is all I need. Aim for quality and depth.

Wisdom #2 . It does not matter where you go to college. Ignore guidance counselors and well-meaning parents that argue for the edge afforded by those with an Ivy League education (and those schools that make the capricious top 25 in the latest US News and World Report rankings). I only care about what you did and whether you can hit the ground running in my research laboratory. This year alone, I sifted through applications from Armstrong Atlantic State University, Samford University, Wofford College, and Help University. I never heard of any of them. What I care about is that you can write, possess superior critical thinking skills, and know the agony and ecstasy of following through from a fetal research idea to the initial analytical tests to the interpretation of these results and finally, the dissemination of this work to the world. Don't spend extra money for badges and stars. Spend your time in a research laboratory to understand psychological science.

Wisdom #3 . If you suck at taking standardized tests, take them as many times as you can. This shows me that you are determined. This shows me you care about verbal, quantitative, and analytical intelligence and you are pissed off that the GRE fails to capture yours ( which is often the case ). Take it once, fail, quit and what I infer is that you are unequipped to handle setbacks. The life of a psychological scientist is littered with setbacks and failures. I want somebody who can be counted on when the stakes are high and the probability of success is unknown. Show me you are that person. Don't tell me, show me.

Wisdom #4 . Be interesting. When you sound like a walking, talking scientific article, you are uninteresting. Be a human first. The best way to be interesting is to live an interesting life. Exotic people. Exotic places. Cultural Immersion. A willingness to be vulnerable. Strange experiences. Anxiety provoking experiences. To be psychologically minded and ask great questions, you must truly live. I remember an applicant several years back who at the end of her CV listed the 18 countries she visited. That one bit of information gave the extra edge that landed her an interview. After all, that much travel should give you an interesting lens to view the complexity of human behavior.

Wisdom #5 . You don't need three amazing letters of recommendation, you need one. You must cultivate a relationship with one person who understands what you have done in psychology and more importantly, what you strive to become. Find a great mentor and work hard at forming a strong relationship. Show them what you can do. Ask for experiences and tasks that are beyond your skill level and then deliver - over and over again. You want one person to be able to say that you are one of the top 3 people they have ever mentored in an important skill set - writing ability, critical thinking, work ethic, creativity , teamwork , etc. Show somebody what you are capable of doing and make sure that it is visible to them. When I talk to my colleagues at conferences, I ask them about students who might be applying to work with me. Conversations with trusted colleagues are persuasive. I want you to know that these conversations happen. So be a good colleague. Be trustworthy. Be autonomous. Ask questions when you don't know something. Seize opportunities. Ask for opportunities. Repair relationships when needed. Be the type of person that somebody can speak highly of at all times. You never know when these backchannel conversations are going to happen.

Wisdom #6 . Showcase your uniqueness. Avoid clichés of how psychology is your life's passion (you are just getting started and don't know yet). If this is true, tell a story (show me, don't tell me). When asked what separates you from applicants with perfect GRE scores, a 4.0 GPA, and two years of research experience, do not state that you work harder (72 applicants will make the same claim). Do not mention that the origin of your interest in psychology was the psychological problems of relatives or the social difficulties faced during teenage years (we all need to be loved just like everybody else does so move on). You possess a configuration of strengths and weaknesses that inform a life history and perspective unlike any other human being. Learn how to tell a compelling, emotionally engaging story about how this informs your potential. I am more interested in your potential than your past. Do not be afraid of marketing yourself. Sell me on your potential.

Wisdom #7 . Do not lie. Almost every applicant says they want to be a scientist because they think this is what PhD programs want to hear. Pretend that you are uninterested in clinical practice and you will despise graduate school with me. Lying about your interests will hurt your experience in graduate school and the mentor that selected you from an impressive pool of applicants. Be honest and find the best mentor match. You only get trained once. Make it count. Show integrity. The field of psychology is small and relationships matter.

The goal of the admissions process is to find the best people for the exact mentors available at a specific program. The hope is that the relationships that develop will last far beyond the five years of graduate school. How you get trained and by who matters. I hope the information in this blog post will help your journey. Keep me posted on your accomplishments.

Dr. Todd B. Kashdan is a public speaker, psychologist, and professor of psychology and senior scientist at the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University. His new book, The upside of your dark side: Why being your whole self - not just your “good” self - drives success and fulfillment is available from Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Booksamillion , Powell's or Indie Bound . If you're interested in speaking engagements or workshops, go to: toddkashdan.com

Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D. , is a professor of psychology at George Mason University and the author of The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively .

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Getting a Ph.D. in Psychology

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

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Ph.D. vs. Psy.D.

Job opportunities, earning a degree, specialty areas, alternatives.

Getting a Ph.D. in psychology can open up a whole new world of career opportunities. For many careers paths in psychology-related career paths, a doctoral degree is necessary to obtain work and certification. A Ph.D. is one option, but it is not the only educational path that's available to reach some of these goals.

A Ph.D., or doctor of philosophy, is one of the highest level degrees you can earn in the field of psychology . If you're considering pursuing a graduate degree, you might be wondering how long it takes to earn a Ph.D. in psychology . Generally, a bachelor's degree takes four years of study. While a master's degree requires an additional two to three years of study beyond the bachelor's, a doctoral degree can take between four to six years of additional graduate study after earning your bachelor's degree.

Recently, a new degree option known as the Psy.D. , or doctor of psychology, has grown in popularity as an alternative to the Ph.D. The type of degree you decide to pursue depends on a variety of factors, including your own interests and your career aspirations.

Before deciding which is right for you, research your options and decide if graduate school in psychology is even the best choice for you. Depending on your career goals, you might need to earn a master's or doctoral degree in psychology in order to practice in your chosen field. In other instances, a degree in a similar subject such as counseling or social work may be more appropriate.

A doctorate in psychology is required if you want to open your own private practice.

If you want to become a licensed psychologist, you must earn either a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. in clinical or counseling psychology.

In most cases, you will also need a doctorate if you want to teach and conduct research at the college or university level. While there are some opportunities available for people with a master's degree in various specialty fields, such as industrial-organizational psychology and health psychology , those with a doctorate will generally find higher pay, greater job demand, and more opportunity for growth.

In order to earn a Ph.D. in psychology, you need to first begin by earning your bachelor's degree. While earning your undergraduate degree in psychology can be helpful, students with bachelor's degrees in other subjects can also apply their knowledge to psychology Ph.D. programs . Some students in doctorate programs may have a master's degree in psychology , but most doctorate programs do not require it.

After you’ve been admitted to a graduate program, it generally takes at least four years to earn a Ph.D. and another year to complete an internship. Once these requirements have been fulfilled, you can take state and national exams to become licensed to practice psychology in the state where you wish to work.

Once you enter the graduate level of psychology, you will need to choose an area of specialization, such as clinical psychology , counseling psychology, health psychology, or cognitive psychology . The American Psychological Association (APA) accredits graduate programs in three areas: clinical, counseling, and school psychology.   If you are interested in going into one of these specialty areas, it's important to choose a school that has received accreditation through the APA.

For many students, the choice may come down to a clinical psychology program versus a counseling psychology program. There are many similarities between these two Ph.D. options, but there are important distinctions that students should consider. Clinical programs may have more of a research focus while counseling programs tend to focus more on professional practice. The path you choose will depend largely on what you plan to do after you complete your degree.

Of course, the Ph.D. in psychology is not the only graduate degree option. The Psy.D. is a doctorate degree option that you might also want to consider. While there are many similarities between these two degrees, traditional Ph.D. programs tend to be more research-oriented while Psy.D. programs are often more practice-oriented.

The Ph.D. option may be your top choice if you want to mix professional practice with teaching and research, while the Psy.D. option may be preferred if you want to open your own private psychology practice.

In the book "An Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology," authors John C. Norcross and Michael A. Sayette suggest that one of the key differences between the two-degree options is that the Ph.D. programs train producers of research while Psy.D. programs train consumers of research. However, professional opportunities for practice are very similar with both degree types.

Research suggests that there are few discernible differences in terms of professional recognition, employment opportunities, or clinical skills between students trained in the Ph.D. or Psy.D. models. One of the few differences is that those with a Ph.D. degree are far more likely to be employed in academic settings and medical schools.

Social work, counseling, education, and the health sciences are other graduate options that you may want to consider if you decide that a doctorate degree is not the best fit for your interests and career goals.

A Word From Verywell

If you are considering a Ph.D. in psychology, spend some time carefully researching your options and thinking about your future goals. A doctoral degree is a major commitment of time, resources, and effort, so it is worth it to take time to consider the right option for your goals. The Ph.D. in psychology can be a great choice if you are interested in being a scientist-practitioner in the field and want to combine doing research with professional practice. It's also great training if you're interested in working at a university where you would teach classes and conduct research on psychological topics.

University of Pennsylvania; School of Arts and Sciences. Information for applicants .

American Psychological Association. Doctoral degrees in psychology: How are they different, or not so different?

U.S. Department of Labor.  Psychologists . Occupational Outlook Handbook .

Norcross JC, Sayette MA. An Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology (2020/2021 ed.) . New York, NY: The Guilford Press; 2020.

Davis SF, Giordano PJ, Licht CA. Your Career in Psychology: Putting Your Graduate Degree to Work . John Wiley & Sons; 2012. doi:10.1002/9781444315929

US Department of Education. Bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by sex of student and discipline division: 2016-17 .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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How to Get Into Stanford: The Ultimate Guide

Stanford is one of the top universities in the world. Ranked #6 in the United States, you can expect fierce competition if you want to get into its undergraduate school or one of its graduate degree programs.

If Stanford is your school of choice and you want to maximize your chances of getting in, this guide on how to get into Stanford can help.

Table of Contents

About Stanford University

Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford. It accepted its first students in 1891 and now has more than 6,000 undergraduate and 8,000 graduate students studying at the school.

Located in the San Francisco Bay area, Stanford is right next to one of the world’s top tech hubs. Students get to enjoy the amenities of the Bay area while also taking advantage of the school’s large campus, which includes 8,180 acres of land and almost 700 major buildings.

The university is composed of seven different schools, each focused on a different topic such as law, medicine , business, or education, meaning students can study nearly any topic they desire at Stanford.

Stanford also has significant financial resources at its disposal, with an endowment of $28.9 billion, the third-largest in the United States. This lets it provide significant amounts of financial aid.

The average freshman receives $52,030 in scholarships from Stanford, meaning almost any student can study at Stanford, regardless of financial ability.

Financial Aid at Stanford

Attending Stanford can come with a hefty price tag, but the financial aid program at the school makes attendance affordable for almost every student.

Stanford estimates that the cost of attendance  for most students, including tuition, fees, room and board, and other associated costs, is $78,898. This includes $55,473 in tuition payments.

Most financial aid  is need-based and can significantly reduce the cost of attendance.

For example, students from families with incomes below $75,000 per year can expect to pay no tuition. Most students from families with incomes under $150,000 per year receive significant need-based aid which can greatly reduce tuition costs.

Graduate students can expect significant support as well. Each school has its own aid program and many graduate students receive grants and stipends that can help them cover tuition costs and living expenses while they study.

How Hard Is It to Get Into Stanford?

You probably know by now that Stanford is one of the most challenging universities to get into.

Although Stanford itself doesn’t advertise its acceptance rate, it publishes its applicants and admits each academic year. For the class of 2025 , Stanford received 55,471 applications, from which they chose 2,190 admits. These numbers put the year’s admission rate at just under 4% .

It’s tough to pinpoint a Stanford PhD acceptance rate. Nevertheless, you can be sure that most, if not all, of Stanford’s graduate programs are highly competitive and can be incredibly challenging to get into. Some of the more competitive graduate programs also have few openings available, upping the ante even further.

It may feel disheartening, but don’t lose hope just yet!

What Does Stanford Look For in Freshmen?

So, what does it take to get into Stanford? The institution uses its holistic process for admissions, which means it considers each part of your application to consider you for admission.

Stanford generally considers four main aspects : academic excellence, intellectual vitality, non-academic interests (extra-curricular activities), and context.

Context means Stanford will consider all your accomplishments and credentials in the context of your past, background, educational opportunities, and responsibilities.

The Average Accepted Student’s Academic Profile

To get into Stanford, your grades need to be perfect — or as close to it as they can be. The average GPA for admitted Stanford students leans toward 4.0.

In the below table of admissions statistics for the fall of 2016 , you’ll see the overwhelming majority (58%) of applicants had a GPA of 4.0 or higher. Those with 3.7-3.99 comprise 28% of the applicants, while applicants with GPAs below 3.7 only make up 14% of the total. Additionally, applicants who earned a GPA below 3.7 only made up 4% of 2020’s admitted class.

If your GPA isn’t quite up to par, don’t worry — getting into Stanford is still a possibility, especially if you manage to get high scores for your SAT/ACT.

Stanford’s admissions statistics  for the class of 2025 show that you’ll need at least 1470 on your SAT or 32 on your ACT on the low end, but it would certainly benefit you to aim higher.

NOTE: Stanford doesn’t consider only your grades. The institution also takes the difficulty of the subjects you take into consideration. For this reason, having straight As in relatively easy subjects will not benefit you much on your Stanford application. Challenge yourself with more difficult choices, such as AP/IB classes.

Additional Factors

Beyond your academic performance, Stanford will also consider your extra-curricular activities, experience (if any), and past volunteerism.

Focusing on your academics alone will not guarantee admission to this prestigious university.

You don’t need to excel or be exceptional in your extra-curricular activities, but you do need to excel or be remarkable in something, known as your spike . Your spike  can help you stand out and show Stanford why you would be a good choice for admission.

What Does Stanford Look For in Grad Students?

Graduate students at Stanford must meet the high academic standard required by the institution. Requirements may vary from program to program, which is why it is best to inquire with your program of choice to get the most accurate information.

You must meet every program’s required GPA if any.

As a quick example, you can look at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business’ statistics for the entering class profile , which states that the average GPA is 3.78.

You must also be able to meet or even surpass the average applicants’ GRE scores for your program.

To give you an idea, Stanford’s admitted Computer Science master’s students had average GRE scores  of 166 (Quant) and 162 (Verbal). Admitted Ph.D. students earned 168 (Quant) and 165 (Verbal).

Stanford also considers other factors, such as your previous work experience and accomplishments, your personal statement, and the quality of your recommendation letters.

What Do You Need for Applying to Stanford University?

Undergraduate application requirements.

To apply, students must submit either the Coalition Application or Common Application. Along with these documents, the students must submit an application fee, an SAT score or ACT Score, two letters of recommendation from teachers, and school transcripts.

Students may optionally submit a portfolio to showcase their artistic abilities. Students who submit an arts portfolio do not have to study the arts and students who wish to study arts aren’t obligated to submit a portfolio.

Graduate Application Requirements

Stanford operates eight different graduate schools, each focused on a different discipline and some with unique application requirements. Stanford’s professional schools, including the Law School, Medical School, and Graduate School of Business have unique applications. The university’s other graduate schools use the same application.

To be eligible for admission , students must have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Applicants also have to submit transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose describing their reasons for wanting to pursue a graduate degree in their chosen field.

How to Apply to the Prestigious Stanford University

Whether or not you’ve spent your entire time in high school preparing for this moment, come senior year, it’s time to apply! Now that you’re aware of the requirements to get into Stanford, it’s time to learn more about the application process.

Important Deadlines to Remember

When applying to Stanford, there will always be deadlines to remember. It is vital  that you take note of these deadlines and keep them in mind, so you do not miss any of them.

Missing these deadlines means you can no longer apply to Stanford for the current academic year.

If you can start submitting your materials sooner, do so, so that you have enough time to address any issues that may arise from your initial submission.

UNDERGRADUATE Deadlines

Deadlines for stanford’s restrictive early action application.

• October 15  – applications with art portfolios
• November 1 – standard deadline for the restrictive early action application

September is the last test date for taking the ACT. October is the latest possible date if you want to sit for your SATs.

Deadlines for Stanford’s Regular Decision Application

• December 1 – applications with art portfolios
• January 1  – standard deadline for the regular decision application

December is the last possible date for your SAT/ACT.

GRADUATE PROGRAM Deadlines

If you are entertaining the thought of applying to Stanford as a graduate student, it’s best to refer to this page  to find the specific deadlines for your program of interest. It’s worth noting that this page does include deadlines for applications with financial aid and those without.

Find out your program’s deadline and start planning your application as early as possible to provide yourself with enough time to request recommendation letters and address any issues you encounter along the way.

When to Start Prepping to Apply as a Freshman

Some people may think that it’s not necessary to prepare for college until their senior year. That’s not technically wrong since most of the preparation for a college application indeed does happen within a student’s senior (and maybe a bit of their junior) year.

However, when it comes to applying to any of the Ivy League schools and — you guessed it — Stanford, you’ll wish you spent your whole high school career preparing.

When preparing an application for Stanford University, the earlier you get started, the better off you’ll be. Starting during or even before your first year can help set you up for success.

If you are reading this in your junior or senior year, all is not lost; there are still some things you can do to give yourself the best possible shot at Stanford admission.

If you struggle with planning everything on your own, you may seek help from college admissions counselors.

What to Do When Starting Early

Starting early is the best way to set yourself up for success. You can begin by putting together a plan which includes your academic, extra-curricular, and spike goals. This list will allow you to track your progress and see whether it aligns with your plans so you can adjust the course as needed.

You can also start taking some preliminary SATs/ACTs to help you identify what you need to improve upon and show you what strengths you can continue building on.

As you go through your high school career, adjust your goal plan by adding actionable steps to help you maximize your chances of admission to Stanford (this also works for any other competitive university).

What to Do When Starting During Junior/Senior Year

Starting your Stanford application preparation during your junior or senior year in high school puts you at a disadvantage if  you haven’t been maintaining excellent grades.

Considering the high academic standards at Stanford, you’ll need a competitive GPA to increase your chances of acceptance.

Starting in your junior/senior year doesn’t afford you many opportunities to improve your GPA overall. However, you will still have time to improve other areas of your application, such as your spike, SAT/ACT scores, extra-curricular activities, and volunteerism.

If you’re starting later, you can still put together a plan. However, instead of focusing on improving your GPA, your plan will instead emphasize keeping your grades up as you prepare for taking the ACT/SAT.

NOTE: For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 application cycles, Stanford has declared that SAT/ACT scores will not be mandatory. You can apply without them, but you can also choose to take the exams and self-report your scores. Students who do not take the standardized tests will not be at any disadvantage, but you can choose to self-report scores if you believe you have earned scores high enough to boost your chances of admission.

The Freshman Application Process

Stanford has two options for application. There’s restrictive early action, the early application. Then there’s the regular decision, which is the standard time to apply.

So how do you know which one is more suited to you?

Restrictive early action applications  are most suited to those who feel they’ve earned good enough SAT/ACT scores and already have a well-rounded application. Additionally, this type of application is best for you if you already know Stanford is your “dream” school and your top pick for schools with early action applications. Do not apply at this time if you aren’t sure about Stanford being your dream choice because their policy states that their early action application requires exclusivity.

There are some exceptions to these rules, which you can find on their website .

Note that if you choose to apply to Stanford on early action, you can still apply to other universities on their regular decision plans.

The  regular decision application  is what you may know as Stanford’s traditional process. This is the better decision for you if you aren’t 100% sure about Stanford being your top pick or if you are still working on improving your grades, spike, and standardized test scores.

Applying via the Common or Coalition App

Stanford accepts Common Applications  or Coalition Applications .

Preparing your application through these two services is straightforward and intuitive.

NOTE : While you prepare your Common or Coalition application, there will be essay prompts and questions from Stanford for you to answer. Writing several drafts of your answers to these prompts may benefit you before submitting your application. This is also usually where you can put your personal statement, so ensure you do your best to explain what you are passionate about and show Stanford what makes you tick.

Upon completing your application, you can pay the $90 application fee (non-refundable) or request a waiver  of this fee.

Then, submit your SAT/ACT scores (via self-reporting or having them sent to Stanford). You must also include all the relevant requirements during the final submission.

After you submit your application, it’s time to wait. At this time, someone may contact you for an interview .

Not all who apply get invited to an interview. But if you do get invited, it may be a good idea to sit for it — even if it is optional. This interview, conducted by a volunteer Stanford alumnus, will help show the admissions office why you are a good choice.

The Graduate Application Process

Graduate admissions at Stanford are handled by the institution itself. You may visit this link  to start your application.

It’s possible to start working on your application as soon as Stanford’s applications open for the coming academic year, even if your desired program’s deadline has passed.

You can continue working on your application through Stanford’s website whenever you need.

NOTE: Typically, the graduate application process will involve at least one interview, with many programs requiring multiple.

Best Tips on How to Get Into Stanford University

There’s no universal answer for how to get accepted into Stanford. However, there are a few tips to remember that can help improve your chances.

• If you are applying as an undergrad, having a high baseline academic performance can increase your chances. Aim for a GPA as close to 4.0 as possible while taking a selection of challenging subjects.
• Your standardized test scores must be near perfect. Aim for at least a 1450 in your SATs or a 32 in your ACTs. If you are applying for grad school, check with your program of choice to see what scores to aim for in your GREs. Prepare for these exams through self-study or prep programs and take some mock exams.
• Don’t focus solely on your academics — if you are applying as an undergrad make sure you have extracurriculars and a “spike” figured out. Grad school applicants, on the other hand, can focus more on relevant work experience and accomplishments that show your strong interest in the field.
• Whether you are applying as an undergraduate or graduate student, focus on your personal statements and essays. Ensure you submit the best possible essays you can. Write as many drafts as it takes to reach your best outcome (you can even ask for feedback if you’d like).
• Your recommendation letters make a significant impact on the success of your application. Take the time to choose your recommenders and ensure you give them enough time to write your letters!

Frequently Asked Questions

What gpa do you need to get into stanford.

Although Stanford doesn’t necessarily have a GPA requirement, those who apply typically fit an academic profile. In the Stanford class of 2020 , you’ll see that an overwhelming majority (58%) of the applicants had a GPA of 4.0+. A smaller 28% of the applicants had a 3.7-3.99, and only 14% had a GPA below 3.7. Grad school applicants may have lower GPA averages, though the numbers still tend to be relatively close to 4.0.

Is Stanford really hard to get into?

Although Stanford isn’t a part of the prestigious and renowned group of schools called the Ivy League, it certainly does provide education at a level entirely on par with them. Because of the high standards of education at Stanford University, it does hold the status of being one of the most difficult universities to get into.

The high academic standards at the school mean the requirements are also incredibly high, requiring near-perfect standardized test scores and practically a 4.0 GPA.

Excellent test scores and transcripts aren’t enough either since Stanford’s top-quality applicants are a dime a dozen. You must also find your “spike,” or how you stand out among all the applicants.

It’s also important to remember that Stanford doesn’t look solely at academics — it also ensures that applicants are high-quality individuals who can make a significant impact on the world. And for this reason, Stanford will also look at your extracurriculars and volunteerism/charity work, if any.

Graduate students have similar requirements, although the standardized test score requirements may vary depending on your program of choice. Grad school admissions also take additional factors into consideration, such as your relevant work experience (if any) and any accomplishments you have achieved since earning your bachelor’s. It’s tough to pinpoint a specific Stanford grad school acceptance rate, but it’s worth mentioning that graduate programs at Stanford tend to be highly competitive.

Can I get into Stanford with a 3.5 GPA?

The average academic profile of accepted undergraduate students at Stanford typically leans toward a 4.0 GPA, with a pretty high average . For the class of 2020, only 14% of applicants had a GPA below 3.7, and out of all of those applicants, only 1% were admitted. Applicants with a 3.7 GPA and below comprised 4% of the admitted freshmen of 2016.

Suddenly, having a 3.5 GPA feels like you’re probably worlds away from getting accepted to your dream school. However, having a lower GPA doesn’t entirely mean there’s no chance for you to get admitted — you might  still be able to get in, but under some conditions.

Stanford uses a holistic approach when considering applications. It looks at all of your credentials and not just your GPA. So, if you’d like a chance to get admitted with a 3.5 GPA, there are some things you can do.

First, you’d have to have an extremely high (near-perfect) ACT or SAT score, so prepare as well as you can and retake the tests if necessary (Stanford will superset your scores). Then, you can focus on your spike and show Stanford how else you stand out among the other applicants. You can also pick up more extra-curriculars and do more charity work.

If you are a graduate student , the chances of you getting admitted with a 3.5 GPA increase, especially if you already have plenty of relevant experience or accomplishments after earning your bachelor’s degree. However, even admitted graduate students at Stanford have a pretty high average GPA .

Of course, with so many applicants and so few accepted, you should always ensure your personal statements and recommendation letters will help you shine.

Does Stanford accept B students?

The chances of Stanford accepting a B student are pretty low, especially considering the high academic requirements at the university.

There may be a chance of you getting accepted through Stanford’s holistic admissions process, provided you are exceptional in every other aspect of your application.

However, if you are typically an A student who earned a few Bs due to some struggles, those few Bs won’t likely affect your overall application.

Grad programs tend to be somewhat less demanding when it comes to academic performance. For example, Stanford Graduate School of Business’ entering class  has an average GPA of 3.78. You may get in with less-than-stellar academics as long as the rest of your application meets the mark.

Is Stanford still requiring the SAT in 2022?

During the 2021-22 and 2022-2023 Stanford admissions cycles , Stanford won’t be requiring SAT or ACT scores for transfer or first-year applicants. Stanford understands the continuing difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, including applicants’ limited access to testing worldwide. For this reason, the institution is extending its test-optional policy to 2023.

However, Stanford says students can continue to self-report their scores if they take standardized exams. Students unable to take the exams will not be at any disadvantage.

Stanford is a highly competitive school, but it’s competitive for a good reason.

It’s hard to beat the education you get at Stanford, which is on par with many of the schools in the Ivy League .

We hope that this guide on how to get into Stanford helps you during your application process! If you’re applying to a prestigious graduate school like Stanford, it’s understandable to be stressed about admissions decisions.

For more advice, check out our tips to boost your grad school admissions odds .

Chriselle Sy

Chriselle has been a passionate professional content writer for over 10 years. She writes educational content for The Grad Cafe, Productivity Spot, The College Monk, and other digital publications.  When she isn't busy writing, she spends her time streaming video games and learning new skills.

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DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

• Undergraduate
• Graduate Studies in Psychology
• Areas of Specialization
• Considering Clinical Psychology

What Does It Take to Get Into Graduate School in Clinical Psychology?

Admission to PhD programs in clinical psychology is very competitive. Ratios of 300 applicants to 8 positions are common (though perhaps 10-15 people would have to be accepted to fill the 8 slots; some who are accepted decide to go elsewhere, or enter a different kind of graduate or professional program ). Different programs emphasize different characteristics, but it is safe to say that in all programs GREs and GPAs are examined closely. Graduate students in Northwestern's program have averaged over 1400 on the GRE (Verbal plus Quantitative), with an average GPA of over 3.5. (GPAs for the last two years of undergraduate schooling are most important, so students with uneven early records have a good chance if they've improved.) There are respectable programs whose students score lower on these measures, but students who have lower than 1200 on the GRE or a GPA of less than 3.3 can expect to find it difficult to get into a top graduate program in clinical psychology without other special qualifications.

Regarding less standardized criteria, most graduate programs in clinical psychology will prefer that you have taken a course in psychopathology, e.g., our Psych 303. Introduction to Clinical Psychology (Psych 306) can also be useful, in part as a way to learn more about the field and your options within it. Most graduate schools also expect students to have obtained some research experience. The primary concern is that students should have conducted some psychological research in order to know whether they find it interesting. From an admissions perspective, it is less important that you have had clinical research experience than it is that you have had meaningful research experiences (e.g., not just entering data). It is also important that you be able to solicit a letter of recommendation from at least one research supervisor. This means that it is important to get involved in research before you do your applications. If you plan to apply to graduate programs during fall of your senior year, then you should begin your research involvement as a junior, or even earlier.

Northwestern’s psychology department offers many  research opportunities  for undergraduate students. Each quarter, many of our students do  research for course credit  through 399-Independent Study or the two-quarter sequence 397-Advanced Supervised Research. You can learn more about 399 and 397, including their requirements and the differences between them, by reading our webpage on research for course credit. This page also includes tips on choosing a professor with whom to do research. Other students obtain paid positions in the department, typically through the federal  work-study program . You should make sure that your research experience provides you with an in-depth look at the nature of psychological research and at the theories and past research relevant for the questions under investigation. Entering data, scheduling research participants, and so on are integral parts of the research process, but it is important to do much more than that.

Some psychology students hope to do research that is outside the specific projects for which their faculty supervisors have funding. In addition, students who want to do research on campus during the summer may need to earn money for living expenses. Northwestern University, Weinberg College, and the psychology department all have funds available on a competitive basis to support student research. Guidelines for applying for the psychology department’s Benton J. Underwood Summer Fellowship are always included in the winter edition of our undergraduate newsletter,  Swift Thinking . See the Weinberg College webpage on  funds for undergraduate research  and the university page on  Research Opportunities for Undergraduates  for additional funding options.

Many graduate schools give a great deal of consideration to the likely match between potential students' interests and faculty interests. Students can convey their interests through the personal statements they include in their applications and in direct contact with relevant professors. If you have strong interests in a professor's research, this will make you a much more desirable applicant to that person. But you must be able to convey that your interests are serious, for example, by discussing a specific study. Faculty will not be impressed if it appears that you merely scanned the departmental brochure searching for topics that sound interesting.

Students may also want to consider trying some hands-on counseling-type work. Many agencies accept and train volunteers. For example, volunteering at a teen drop-in center or a hospital, working as a camp counselor for special needs children, and answering phones for a helpline can all be relevant experiences. If your goal is to work with some specific population – troubled teens, the elderly, autistic children – then you should try to gain some firsthand experience with this population. In part, this may serve as a valuable credential when you apply for graduate training. Perhaps more importantly, it will let you know if working with this population is as rewarding for you as you expect it to be. Two student groups –  Northwestern Community Development Corps (NCDC)  and  OASIS  – are good sources of information about volunteer opportunities in Evanston and surrounding communities

Which program are you applying to?

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

July 3, 2019

Fully-Funded PhD Program at Harvard University: How I Got In

Harvard is one of those places that people often talk about with admiration but rarely as an aspiration. “Could I ever get into Harvard?” is usually a question asked with a great deal of doubt and trepidation. However, thousands have graduated from Harvard over its lengthy and illustrious history, and those people are real people. They simply had two traits that made them eligible candidates, and the rest was up to chance! Those traits were: (a) an impressive portfolio (including high grades and varied and committed experiences, including leadership roles , etc.) and (b) confidence that they could indeed be accepted. This latter element is perhaps the defining feature of students accepted to Harvard—the belief that they could ever get in!

Harvard (or other Ivy schools) aren’t for everyone all the time

Let’s be clear: we are not all, always, ready to go to Harvard, just because we believe in ourselves. I applied to Harvard in high school and was rejected—and the truth is, though I was a committed and intellectually curious student, and though I feel I would have thrived at Harvard, I know I didn’t have the portfolio they needed. My grades were good, but not stellar ; my extracurriculars and summer experiences existed, but were not extensive or impressive; and, my confidence led me to seek very little advice or writing consulting for my personal statement , so that I did not submit my best possible work.

Thinking you can’t get in at one point in your life might be true, but it does not mean you are not “Harvard/Ivy League material” ever . After completing college at a marvelous liberal arts university (an experience I would choose again any day!), I knew my portfolio had changed. I had very good grades and had fostered deep and lasting connections with professors; I had been a research assistant, a student newspaper writer and editor, and a writing tutor; I had learned a tremendous amount and felt confident that I could submit a writing sample I was proud of.

This time, in addition to the necessary confidence and portfolio, I sought a writing tutor to help make sure my statement of purpose could be the best one possible, and off my application went! Lo and behold, I got into my dream school for an MA: the University of Chicago, or the “Harvard of the Midwest.” Not only that, but I unexpectedly was awarded a fully-funded fellowship , including full tuition coverage AND a stipend! You never know what can happen!

The importance of strong essays

During the last year of my MA, I again felt ready to submit applications to competitive schools; I’d kept up my grades and activities, I’d worked hard on a polished writing sample, and I made sure to consult with others about the quality of my statement of purpose; my years as a college writing tutor had taught me that we all need editors, from the least to most experienced writers. All of that, plus a big dose of luck, won me a place in a fully-funded PhD program at Harvard, where I am currently working on my dissertation (when I’m not advising Accepted’s clients ). So remember: confidence, a great portfolio, and assistance with one’s writing—these are the three things in your power; the rest is up to the big H!

I want to add one last thought: When applying to MA and PhD programs (as opposed to undergraduate programs), there is an additional key to a positive portfolio: demonstrating interest in the work of particular scholars with whom you’d like to work. This means two things:

• Tailoring your statement of purpose to each school and its specific faculty members,
• Reaching out directly to these scholars in order to express interest in their work. Ask to schedule a phone call and/or an in-person meeting. There’s no better way to make yourself stand out than to make yourself known in person.

Remember: if you don’t do this, you are an anonymous paper application swimming in a sea of similarly anonymous applications. If you were on the admissions end, wouldn’t you feel much better accepting a student you’ve had extensive contact with, have possibly even met, who made a good impression?

Your Ivy League checklist for admissions success

So, to sum up, here is your checklist for preparing to apply to Ivy League school PhD programs, including Harvard:

• Honestly assess your own transcript: Are you seeing that the vast majority of your grades are A and A-? Is your GPA at the end of college a 3.7 or above? If you’ve answered YES to both of these questions, you might be a good candidate.
• Consider your overall profile: What does it look like? (I’ll address how one constructs a great CV in another post.) Have you been involved in a sustained way (i.e., for a year or more) in multiple activities? Have you assumed leadership roles in some of these? Have you demonstrated commitments to these pursuits? If so, you might be a good candidate!
• Think long and hard about your recommenders : Have you built sustained relationships with your previous teachers/professors? If you apply for a graduate degree, make sure your recommenders are known figures in your field, who know you well and can write from personal experience teaching or supervising you. Their credibility will build confidence in your application.
• Have confidence! If you don’t believe you can get accepted, you very well might not. Confidence (to be clear, I do not mean arrogance!) shines through a good application.

I’ll write more in an upcoming blogpost about how specifically to approach potential advisors and other faculty members during the admissions process. But for now, good luck!

Are you aiming for acceptance at a top MA or PhD program? Explore our Graduate School Admissions Consulting & Editing Services and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you GET ACCEPTED.

With 30 years of career/admissions experience at four universities, including Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Business and College of Engineering,  Dr. Karin Ash  has met with thousands of recruiters seeking to hire the best students from leading schools. She has served as a member of the admissions committee, ensuring that the applicants who ultimately enroll are a good fit for the program and prime candidates for employers. Karin has been a Consultant with Accepted for 8 years and has facilitated students’ entry into top engineering, data science, MBA, and other STEM graduate MEng, MS, and PhD programs. Her clients have been accepted into MIT, the University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, and USC.  Want Karin to help you get Accepted?  Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Get Your Game On: Prepping For Your Grad School ApplicationGet Your Game On: Prepping for Your Grad School Application , a free guide
• How to Write Your Master’s in Engineering Statement of Purpose
• How This Student Got Accepted to MIT’s Engineering Program and Landed a Job at Apple , podcast Episode 460

• 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Graduate School Statement of Purpose , a free guide • Plotting Your Way to a PhD , a blog series • The Personal Statement That Got Me a Large Scholarship to Cambridge

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., tips for applying to md-phd programs.

If you can’t imagine a medical career without helping patients and participating in research, you’ve probably considered the MD-PhD track. Learn all about applying to MD-PhD programs and get our expert tips for strengthening your application.

Is an MD-PhD Program right for you?

The MD-PhD is a dual doctorate degree program for students who are interested in careers as “physician-scientists." By graduation, you’ll have fulfilled requirements for both the MD and PhD degrees. The MD-PhD takes about 8 years to complete during which you receive medical training AND become an expert in a specific research field. The program also requires dissertation research in your field of graduate study, which can range from biomedical laboratory disciplines like biochemistry or genetics to fields like economics, sociology, or anthropology . After graduation, MD-PhD students usually work as researchers or as faculty members at medical schools and universities.

Learn more about MD combined degree programs .

What are Medical Scientist Training Programs?

Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP) are MD-PhD programs that are funded by the National Institute of Health. Students who are admitted to these highly-competitive programs receive full tuition coverage, living expenses, and a stipend. There are currently 45  NIH-funded MSTP programs .

Are all MD-PhD programs free?

Over 60 medical and osteopathic medical schools  maintain their own MD-PhD or DO-PhD programs that are not funded by the NIH. Depending on the school, these programs offer full or partial financial support for their students.

Applying to MD-PhD Programs

Nearly all MD-PhD programs use the same application process as MD admissions—via the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) application . One key difference? MD-PhD applicants submit two additional essays: the MD-PhD Essay and the Significant Research Experience Essay:

• The MD-PhD Essay asks you to explain your reasons for pursuing the combined degree program.
• The  Significant Research Experience Essay asks you to describe your key research experiences, including your research supervisor's name and affiliation, the duration of the experience, the nature of the problem studied, and your contributions to the project.

Read More: Guide to Your Med School Applications

Do you need to take the GRE Test to apply for the Md-Phd Program?

Programs have different policies, so some schools may require both the MCAT and the GRE for combined degree applicants. For example, an MD-Phd in Anthropology at one school may require the GRE, while the MD-PhD in Immunology may not. Check with your prospective med schools to make sure you’re covered.

Timeline for MD-PhD Admissions

The MD-PHD application timeline is virtually the same as for MD admissions. (Remember you are using the same application service!) Here are the important dates for MD-PHD admissions:

• Early May: AMCAS opens and begins accepting transcripts
• Early June:  AMCAS begins accepting application submissions
• October–March: MD-PhD applicant interviews
• December–March: Admissions decisions sent to applicants
• March–April: Md-PhD applicants make their final decisions
• June–August: MD-PHD programs begin!

Tips for Boosting Your Md-Phd Application

Competition for MD-PhD applicants is fierce. After all, you have to convince medical schools to invest significant time and financial resources in you. Of the total 1,936 MD-PhD applicants in 2016–17, only 649 matriculated in a U.S. med school. Here’s what you can do to strengthen your overall application.

1. You need strong MCAT scores and a high GPA

If your grades and scores aren’t where they need to be, address it before you apply!  Check out these admissions stats for MD-PhD matriculants to U.S. medical schools from 2016-2017:

SOURCE:  Association of American Medical Colleges

Make a smart MCAT prep plan and retake the exam if necessary. Consider completing additional grad school work to raise your GPA and take advantage of our online tutors for pre-med requirements!

2. You need sustained research background + a clear picture of your future in research

3. you need the right recommenders.

Most letters of recommendation should come for your research mentors, professors who run the labs you work in, and the postdoctoral fellows you work with. Make sure your recommenders know that you are applying to MD-PhD programs as this will affect the letters they write.

Want to get an edge over the crowd?

Our admissions experts know what it takes it get into med school. Get the customized strategy and guidance you need to help achieve your goals.

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RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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5 Public Health Courses Premeds Should Take

Epidemiology and health policy are among courses that can help help aspiring medical students become physician leaders.

Premeds Take 5 Public Health Courses

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Studying health policy helps future doctors understand policies at local, national, and international levels, and teaches them to advocate for their patients.

As a premedical student, you can take public health courses that will allow you to better understand health at a population level. An understanding of public health can help you become a physician leader in the community.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of public health . While not perfect, our local and national public health infrastructure allowed the public to understand the severity of the COVID-19 disease as well as create measures to protect the health of our communities.

While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of public health, there are other diseases where doctors are called upon to promote population-level changes while taking care of patients.

Doctors serve as leaders in their communities by providing medical expertise and advocating for public health initiatives. They can translate their insights from patient care to create hospitalwide and communitywide policies to protect other individuals, and doctors who are trained in epidemiology and community health can study the transmission of the diseases. They can also spearhead community public health initiatives, including health education campaigns and community clinics, to expand access to medical care.

Dr. Rishi Mediratta graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland with a bachelor’s in public health studies. That degree gave him a foundational understanding of global health issues, public health theories and statistics that enabled him to conduct research and create community health programs in Ethiopia focused on combatting child mortality.

"Throughout college and during my first gap year before medical school, I founded the Ethiopian Orphan Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provided community-based health care and education to 91 orphans near Gondar, Ethiopia," he says.

"I integrated lessons that I learned from my classes in epidemiology and public health to partner with community members to help orphaned children. For instance, I saw how Ethiopians bonded during traditional coffee ceremonies. I used coffee ceremonies to create a dialogue with the community about stigmatized child health topics.”

Mediratta then pursued a master’s of science in public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as a British Marshall Scholar.

“Further public health studies showed me the various stakeholders involved in creating global health policies for newborns and children. I learned how health policies were created based on synergies from multiple perspectives. These insights were instrumental when I worked with policymakers at the World Bank and World Health Organization.”

Mediratta received his medical degree at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, where he continued to spearhead initiatives to improve population health, primary care and global health. Now he is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford medical school and a faculty fellow at the Center for Innovation in Global Health.

These public health classes and topics will be helpful for premedic students :

• Biostatistics • Epidemiology • Health equity • Health policy • Community health and community-based classes

Biostatistics

Biostatistics is the application of statistics to life sciences, including public health. In a biostatics class, premeds learn quantitative and qualitative data collection methods as well as when to use different types of statistical analyses.

Premed students who take biostatistics will be able to better understand the role of evidence in public health research, policy and clinical practice, critically evaluate medical literature and tailor their treatment plans for patients based on rigorous scientific evidence, Mediratta says.

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of diseases or disorders within groups of people and ways to prevent or control them. Premed students who take an epidemiology course will be able to understand the causes, prevalence and distribution of a disease in the community. Doctors who understand the epidemiology of a disease can help make informed decisions about prevention and treatment for their patients.

“Knowing epidemiology allows me to appreciate nuances in the distribution of clinical symptoms, risk factors, and diseases in populations," Mediratta says. "For example, I learned how newborns in low- and middle-income countries die from prematurity, complications from birth and sepsis. I developed and validated a Neonatal Mortality Score that predicts which newborns are likely to die when they are admitted to neonatal intensive care units in Ethiopia. I hope that one day, health care providers can use our research to more quickly identify newborns who are at risk of dying and provide them with monitoring and interventions that save their lives.”

Health Equity

Health equity courses teach premedical students about health care disparities – which vary by income, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability status – and inequities within populations. These courses also give students ways to advocate for disadvantaged individuals and populations.

Premedical students can take a general health equity class or seminars focused on specific populations or health systems that incorporate health equity. “Doctors who are knowledgeable about health care disparities can advocate for equitable access to health care services," Mediratta says. "Through research, advocacy and community involvement, physicians can address the social determinants of health that contribute to health inequities.”

Health Policy

In a health policy class, premeds will learn about health care systems and the stakeholders influencing health care policies. Studying health policy helps future doctors understand policies at local, national, and international levels, and teaches them to advocate for their patients by supporting policies that promote better access to quality health care and decrease health care disparities.

Reflecting on his clinical practice, Mediratta says, “understanding the factors that influence health policies has allowed me to help my patients navigate our complex health care system, such as connecting patients to services covered by their medical insurance or accessing transportation services to and from hospitals.”

Community Health and Community-Based Classes

A community health course explores the multifaceted factors influencing health outcomes, including social determinants of health and environmental factors, and also examines public health interventions. Some courses include an experiential learning component so students can conduct projects that address community health needs.

Mediratta, for instance, taught an elective at Stanford University that allowed students to collaborate with community partners to creatively implement projects that address COVID-19-related challenges.

"One student produced a children’s book that combatted vaccine hesitancy and created read-aloud videos of the book. Even after the class ended, the student organized workshops in elementary schools to educate children about vaccine. Our class serves as a model for how universities can implement medical service-learning courses to empower students while simultaneously addressing the community’s needs.”

Taking public health courses during your premedical career will give you strong foundational knowledge to be a health care leader. As a doctor, you will be able to help your patients navigate through the challenges of health care systems, participate in policymaking that affects millions of individuals, and direct research projects that advance the health of our communities.

Medical School Application Mistakes

Tags: medical school , public health , graduate schools , education , students

About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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