Simple Graduate Admissions Decision Matrix

Level 3 - Advanced Concepts

Welcome back!

Today, we are focused a bit more on the graduate side of things. 

Previously, we mentioned how to select a college to make a college decision. You can read about that here:

But how is that different from graduate programs?

First, let’s discuss the difference in graduate and undergraduate acceptances.

You typically apply to fewer graduate programs than you will undergraduate programs. Graduate study is usually more focused than undergraduate, and the number of applicants to any given program will be smaller than undergraduate applications.

As a result, there’s usually not as much of a decision to be made. 

But beyond that, there are some different considerations financially and in terms of academics. 

Financial:

Graduate school financial aid looks different from undergraduate financial aid. There are a lot fewer scholarships for graduate school, and an expectation is that you will likely rely more on borrowing/student loans in grad school. 

Put another way, an applicant may receive a substantial or even full scholarship to undergrad. In grad school, that is very uncommon. 

That means that there are two ways to view grad school from a financial standpoint:

• What is the total loan cost for attending a given grad school?

• Can the loans be forgiven?

In the first instance, that number will depend heavily on the university’s ability to provide non-loan financial aid. That matters as a decision, but the numbers may not be as significant as what you are accustomed to for undergrad.

In the second instance, this is not dependent on the university. If there is student loan forgiveness for nurses, it does not matter what nursing program you attended (usually). 

This should help you frame the decision - if you are unlikely to be eligible for loan forgiveness, then you will want to lean more heavily on the total cost of attendance for grad school.

If all of your loans are eligible for forgiveness, you may want to give less credit to the overall cost of attendance. 

One big caveat - you want to make sure that all of your loans are eligible for forgiveness. 

Academic Standards

Ideally, no one is applying to grad school without a specialized focus. So there is a bit of self-selection - you only choose graduate programs to apply to that are in line with your specialized focus. 

So from a selection standpoint, you will not be choosing from colleges that are not strong in the area that you want to study. 

How To Select A Graduate Program