Congratulations! It’s mid-December and you’ve just pressed “submit” on your graduate applications. The hardest part is over, and now it’s time for you to sit back and … well, now what? Believe it or not, some graduate schools may be calling you in early January to set-up interviews with you. So for one, start taking those “hmmm maybe that’s spam?” calls. Earning admittance into graduate school is a huge step in your career, one notoriously difficult and even painful at times. Attending a graduate program that suits your priorities will guide you through the bewildering world of higher education. How do you choose the program that may be best fit for you? Ask yourself these 10 questions (in order of decreasing importance).

1. How many faculty members at this institution would I want to work with?

Your future PI will exert considerable influence on your scientific career. From training you in the cutting-edge techniques of your field, to publishing your work, assisting you with funding, graduating you on time (or not), writing letters of recommendation, and allowing you access to a prolific professional network, your relationship with your PI will last longer than your PhD. Your candidate programs should have 4-6 people with whom you could see yourself working alongside. Things to consider include the following:

• How many publications have they published within the last two years?
• Did they publish grad students?
• How many graduate students have they successfully trained and graduated?
• How many years did it take former students to graduate, typically? Past performance indicates future performance.
• Do they have funding?

I made an excel spreadsheet of each faculty member and the aforementioned data. I can’t recommend using scopus enough to help you get a feel for the publications and citation record associated with each author (you can login via your undergraduate institution)

2. How many faculty members at this institution have room for a new student?

While you’re interviewing, or before attending the interview, ask your prospective PI’s about funding. Be straightforward, it’s okay.

3. Are last years students happy? Is there a “buddy” system?

Typically, first year students will guide you around the campus during interviews. Don’t be afraid to add them on social media and get a feel for how they’re liking the program. Having a tight-nit cohort gives you a support group of awesome, motivated people. At my institution, each incoming student is assigned a neurobuddy, and my neurobuddy was a god-send! He offered to help me move, tipped me off to a university-exclusive housing guide, and checked in with me and others in my cohort frequently to ensure we were adjusting well. Doctoral programs are tough. Moving out can be tough. Look to last year’s students to see how tight-nit and well-adjusted they are.

4. Am I responsible for my own funding?

This is a personal question and the importance varies from applicant to applicant. Different programs will offer different stipends, benefits, and tuition breaks. As a newly christened PhD student of Chemistry told me in my undergraduate days “If you’re paying for graduate school, you’re doing it wrong”. Where funding opportunities lack, ask if your prospective adviser will help you find funding. Check to see what the local cost of living is to compare apples to apples.

5. Where are the alumni of this program working now?

Sometimes the program’s web-page will feature a link with a list of alumni and what they are doing now. Check out most recent alumni, the mid-career alumni, and the more seasoned alumni. In general, would you be happy being a post-doc at one of those places or working for a start up at another one of those places? If most of those alumni are in industry jobs, and your heart is set on academia, this may be a red flag.

6. What opportunities exist for career development?

Employment prospects for PhD’s outside of academia are expanding. Industry sector jobs, government sector jobs, science-writing/editing, and technology transfer are only a few examples of burgeoning careers outside of academia. Programs educating their students in the career possibilities outside of academia AND offering training opportunities for them offer a sharp edge in career development.

If you’re interested, the NSF recently published an interactive database noting career trends (employment, pay, etc..) for doctorates in STEM fields. You can sort by institution and by specific program.

7.What opportunities exist for outreach?

Scientists live in symbiosis with the community. Tax-dollars fund the creation of knowledge through scientific experiments and the fruits of our labor benefit humanity. This relationship depends upon clear communication with the public about our work.

Outreach opportunities allow scientists to engage directly with the community; kindling enthusiasm, sparking questions, and clarifying misconceptions where they arise. Everyone is a natural-born scientist. The scientific enterprise flourishes with a diverse labor force. Although we may take these truths for granted, visiting classrooms and hosting STEM booths at the city fair reminds people that science is for, and works for, everyone. Scientific outreach not only educates the public about your work, it inspires them to support it.

Informing the electorate about your research will grant them the understanding and motivation to support your work and appoint representatives to support it as well (Thanks, Obama). Getting involved is as much apart of being a scientist as is publishing, peer-reviewing, or pipetting.

Wherever you may end up, please be a good science-citizen and be apart of the community which helps to enrich the education, engagement, endowment of STEM fields.

8. How rich are networking opportunities within the community?

Find out what networks exist in the community. This will be important as you enter the workforce. For example, Atlanta is home to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), GeorgiaTech, and GeorgiaBio. Emory University, my institution, offers internships with the CDC and GeorgiaTech, to those who are eligible.

9. Ask your gut.

Sometimes things just rub you the wrong way, and that’s okay. Sometimes the program just feels right. Take note of these feelings.

10. Is the community casual or formal?

This is a personal preference thing, although I enjoy a more casual atmosphere.

So, you return home from your successful interviews and you really like a few programs. What to do next? Don’t be afraid to email some of the current graduate students for questions about their experience. They will be the most candid with you. Send your interviewees a personalized thank-you email and let them know that this program is a priority for you. Despite receiving offers from a few other universities, Emory University was my top-pick, and I couldn’t be happier with this program. I personally think that sending a few emails to the faculty and students underscoring my interest in the program helped me receive a letter of acceptance from them.

Good luck everyone, the worst part is over! A graduate program is an enriching experience which will teach you how to think critically and create new knowledge. It is as enthralling as it is frustrating. In these next few months, you will be getting calls and emails inviting you to visit campus’s. The programs of interest will try their hardest to recruit each of the attendees, and will showcase the assets they have to offer you. Now it’s time for you to be selective.