This is dedicated to anyone who is applying to graduate or professional school
Recently, I enjoyed the privelege of applying to Ph. D. programs in English. My chosen field? American Literature, an area long relegated to the English-Nerd ghetto. You´ll hear professors speak with scorn when they refer to "Those Americanists." This aside, I have become fed up with the entire expensive process. I hate (yes, I said hate) the manner in which Admissions folk string us along; a manner that anyone in my position will appreciate. The first abuse of which I will speak is fiscal.
Anyone who praises America for the ready availability of higher education to all citizens, rich and poor, has not lately encountered the system. First, the cost of admissions examinations: GRE, GRE-Subject, LSAT, MCAT, and MAT tests is skyrocketing. Hundreds of dollars are paid to ETS (the company monopolizing standardized testing) for the privelege of taking their exams. ETS graciously allows four free test reports per candidate, after which one must pay fifteen dollars per recipient for further score reports. I´m not complaining about the concept of testing per se: I happen to do quite well on them. I am, however, taking issue with the cost of ETS, rather exorbitant when you realize that they hold a monopoly on entrance examinations and have no check on how much they may charge. Students, already in debt after four (or more) years of undergraduate study, are now forced as a first step in a long, costly process, to shell out a few hundred dollars.
The schools themselves are guilty of this. The fee each school charges for processing applications varies by school, yet each insists that it is due to "administrative costs" associated with processing a long, involved application. Harvard feels that its costs are covered by ninety dollars; while Boston University, in the same city with the same costs charges only sixty. If Harvard feels that its time is worth so very much more, fine; however, I must take issue with anyone claiming that the supposed egalitarian structure of higher education allows anyone to apply. You´ll see more of this in a moment, when I discuss exclusivity and selectivity.
The application cost factor feeds directly into this idea. On average, schools accept one in eight applicants from a pool of highly qualified individuals. Many applicants being identical, the decisions may seem arbitrary; however, the state of things requires one to send out upwards of ten applications. Each application requires official transcripts from every school thus far attended; for Ph. D. applicants this means at least twoo transcripts per school, at an average of seven dollars per transcript.
In all, the total cost of applying to postgraduate programs can reach almost one thousand dollars. If one is so excellent a student as to apply to solely Ivy-League schools, the cost can reach double this. For their money, students are allowed to enter one school, from which an average of fifty percent will drop out before completing a dissertation. For those fortunate enough to graduate and enter the job market, they will find that the competition is so tough that the majority will take a position paying far less than they are worth, considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by students and schools alike to train them.
Finally, I must take issue with the complexity of the process. A slew of due dates, differing requirements, letters of recommendation, etc. must be fulfilled before each application is accepted. For all the money spent by students in "processing fees" schools frequently lose items, requiring said students to overnight the lost part of the application. Your money at work, indeed. When a student is applying to Ph. D. programs, often he is in the most difficult portion of his Master´s Degree, and has papers, projects, and final exams to consider as well as his application garbage.
For Law School applicants, I understand that the process is even more arduous, time consuming, and confusing. First, one must fill out the proper forms and pay for application to the LSAC (Law School Admissions Council); after which one is allowed to apply for, pay for, and take the LSAT. Following completion of the LSAT, which some four out of five students will take twice (already, in this instance, bringing cost up to five hundred bucks), students are allowed to apply to law schools, through the LSAC. Due to varying requirements, this process can involve months of sustained involvement with applications.
There are some schools, quite good ones, that are prompt in returning decisions. For prospective graduate students, this is a wonderful thing. My wife and I get to wait throughout the month of March, to receive notice of just where in the world we will be next fall. Then we get to spend the early part of the summer searching for a teaching position for her and an apartment for me. I know that I asked for this; however, when did the seeking of knowledge become such a horrendous experience? Why should we have to learn the bureaucratic strata of each school?
Some of you, I know, will call me a whiny baby. Maybe I am. I am not, however, the only one to think that this process is needlessly difficult. Below, I have included a list of similar complaints about the process of graduate admission. As always, you can e-mail me if you agree, disagree, or just want to share your own horror story.
Flashes of Panic - This was a good one about Computer Science.
The Invisible Adjunct - warnings for Liberal Arts Graduate Students to be
Useful article as a deterrent.
Past Essays
Gay Marriage - The first, and controversial essay
As always, if my dear reader wants to praise me, send hate mail, or use any part of this essay, I am happy to oblige. E-mail me and we´ll talk. I´m planning on including a forum in this site sometime in the future, so if your comments are particularly interesting, I´ll post them at that time.
All essays, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted to myself