{"id":2499,"date":"2015-11-24T11:09:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T19:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2015-11-18T15:39:26","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T23:39:26","slug":"how-to-shortlist-grad-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/how-to-shortlist-grad-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Shortlist Grad Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2500\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/magoosh-company-site\/wp-content\/uploads\/toefl\/files\/2015\/11\/18113442\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-18-at-11.34.20-AM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 11.34.20 AM\" width=\"549\" height=\"299\" \/>A lot of times people come and ask: <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What kind of graduate school should I go to? What course will be good for me?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Those are dangerous waters that we are treading in. This means we are letting someone else decide our future for us.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Let us have a run through of how to answer those question for ourselves. This process will also have 2 more benefits:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This will greatly reduce our list of chosen colleges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">This will help us focus on other core requirements of shortening the list further and choosing the perfect grad school for ourselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Here is an example of the labels in an excel sheet that I follow to keep a track of the grad schools that I want to go to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Course Type [very important!]:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The course that you want to pursue should be the most important factor in deciding which university\u00a0to go to and not the other way round. Often\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">times the best grad schools may not be the best choice for us just because they are &#8220;famous.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Course Specifics:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Often times, courses themselves are not self-explanatory. We might have to dig a bit deeper to see what kind of subjects are taught and\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">what the\u00a0course structure is like. Some people may like a more practical course, while others may like a course which gives them some research time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We must remember that there are thousands of colleges, so this is another great way to shorten that list.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Graduate School Name:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Now comes the most commonly anticipated part\u00a0&#8212; what I like to call the &#8220;Name Game.&#8221; Of course, the popularity of a college is important. More\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">popularity means better opportunities and better facilities, but you also have to make sure the &#8220;famous&#8221; schools also have programs that are right for you!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Graduate School Location [very important!]:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This is a factor which most people miss out on. It is not just the pictures but also the culture of a place that matters. If we end up going to\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">a place where we cannot adjust, then, God only save us \ud83d\ude00 !\u00a0We wouldn\u2019t want to end up in a place where we feel alienated!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Graduate School Tuition:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It may seem like an easy job but handling matters of tuition can be very tricky. Often times, people do not take into consideration the <\/span><span class=\"s1\">living expenses and the other miscellaneous expenses that come along. We must calculate everything down to the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">tiniest of details.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Graduate School Duration:<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some people look for a one year course while others prefer more. This is also a very important factor in deciding on which place would be <\/span><span class=\"s1\">best suited to our needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Food For Thought: Season 1 Episode 6:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cTo start doing something, all you have to do is Begin!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">-PS<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Cheers \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lot of times people come and ask: What kind of graduate school should I go to? What course will be good for me? Those are dangerous waters that we are treading in. This means we are letting someone else decide our future for us.\u00a0Let us have a run through of how to answer those [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13607],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13640],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-life"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Shortlist Grad Schools - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/how-to-shortlist-grad-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Shortlist Grad Schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lot of times people come and ask: What kind of graduate school should I go to? 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