WEBVTT

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[Morse code beeps]
[Whoosh]

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[Helicopter rotor]

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Hi, everyone.

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My name is Nick Rober.

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I'm a Fellow with the AeroAstro Comm Lab,
and today

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we're going to be talking about
graduate school applications.

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So first we're going to jump
right into an activity.

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So this is just, a reflection activity.

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You can go ahead and open the file
“Grad School Motivation” and take five

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or so minutes to think about why it is
that you plan to apply for grad school.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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So the lesson goals for today are first,

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we're going to identify key elements
of a strong grad school application.

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We're going to analyze
sample application materials.

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So this could be a CV, statement
of purpose, and then recommendation

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requests.

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We're going to look at clarity style
and persuasiveness.

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And then finally we will learn to draft
and revise sections of different

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grad school application components
so that you can go and take these lessons,

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to develop your
own grad school applications.

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So what are the main components
of a grad school application?

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A grad school application typically
consists of a statement of purpose,

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so a written piece, a CV/resume,

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a set of letters of recommendations
from faculty

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or other people that you've worked with,
and then it may include,

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reaching out to faculty or departments
that you're interested in applying for.

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A successful grad school
application will do a few things.

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First and foremost,
it tells a cohesive story.

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So, who are you,
why are you interested in a certain field,

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and why are you prepared
to do good research?

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It will employ
both technical and persuasive writing,

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and then it will finally,
convince a committee or faculty member

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that you're a good fit for their program
and will do well as a grad student there.

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So first, the statement of purpose.

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So this is usually the the most
challenging, piece of a grad school

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application.

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But the statement of purpose
basically lays out your motivation

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for applying to grad school.

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So, it has to convince some admissions
committee, so this is usually a committee

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made up of faculty members, that you're
driven to do important research and,

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that you will be able to be successful
in their program.

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It might be separated
into a couple of different statements.

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So you might see different applications
where you have a personal statement

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and a research statement, but ultimately,

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it's all kind of the same information
just split in in different ways.

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Keep in mind that the audience
for these statements of purpose

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are faculty members.

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They're pretty busy people.

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You need to be able to kind of
catch their attention pretty quickly

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and they have a lot of these
to read through.

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So you want to be
someone who can stand out in some way.

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So ultimately you want to make it clear

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why a specific program
and why a specific field?

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Tips for actually writing
the statement of purpose.

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You want to weave in evidence
that you are going

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to be an effective researcher
through your motivation and goals.

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You should provide specific
technical examples from your history in

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terms of what you have done that support
your preparedness to do research.

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And then you want to basically highlight
any kind of elements in your CV

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or resume
that may not be super front and center,

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but can contribute to your

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strength as a grad student.

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So next we'll jump into an activity.

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So this is going to be
the file “Analyze SOP Excerpts”,

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and take about eight minutes
to complete this.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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So the next piece of graduate application
is the CV and resume.

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So specifically for graduate programs
you want to be tailoring your, your CV

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or resume to
this specific graduate program,

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so prioritizing research

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and research adjacent
experiences is a must.

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If you have limited research experience,
that's okay, but you should be trying

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to highlight skills
that, would transfer into research.

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So if any any experience that you can
highlight some skill that is similar

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to research, that should be something
that you try and highlight as well.

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And as always,
include strong action action verbs

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at the start of each each component,
clear statement of what you did,

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and then an outcome as well,
if that's applicable.

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And you also want to quantify
outcomes and actions when possible.

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Check out our other lesson on CVs
and resumes for a lot more information,

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but this was just kind
of the specific stuff to grad school.

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So moving on with what to include,

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you always want to be
including experiences that demonstrate

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research readiness and your ability
to have an impact on a research field.

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So one
of the main things, if you have them,

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you should be including paper
and research outputs.

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So anything that you've submitted
to a journal, conference, any papers

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that you might have in preparation
or on a pre-print, basically

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any any work that you've done
that kind of quantifies or describes

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your research output is
is super important.

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Another common thing
to have is awards and honors.

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So you might have something
like a Dean's List accolade.

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These are things that can be good to
include just to kind of,

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give you credence to your ability
as a researcher.

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Teaching experience can be applicable,

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especially if your program
has a specific requirement.

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And then also things like
technical service, leadership positions,

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and then other skills that you might
have are good to include.

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So next, we'll jump into the resume
experience activities.

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So go ahead and open the “Resume
Experience” file and take roughly

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five minutes to complete that.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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So the next piece of the graduate
application is letter recommendations.

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And this is kind of unique
because this isn't something

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you necessarily have to do yourself,

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but it is an important
piece of the application

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because it gives the committee,
the acceptance committee,

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some sort of view into your efficacy

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as a researcher
from a third person perspective.

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So how to choose letter writers?

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This is something that we get asked a lot,

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but basically the the rule of thumb is
you want to get letter writers

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who are able to speak
to your specific abilities.

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So people that you've worked with,
maybe a professor

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who you've done research for
or worked a lot in class with,

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employers can be valid,
letter writers as well.

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But you want people that are able
to speak to your specific skills.

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And another thing to keep in mind is
you should definitely be

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asking your letter writers
well in advance of a deadline.

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This is the one piece of your application
that you aren't fully in control of

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and then typically, your letter writers
are going to be very busy people as well,

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so they need a good warning
before a letter is due.

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You can't be emailing them.

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You know, the day before the letter is
due, asking them for a letter of rec

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or it's probably not going to be the
highest quality letter that you could get.

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So, out of courtesy for your letter
writers and out of your own interest,

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be sure to email and ask
well in advance of the deadline.

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And then a final piece of a

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graduate application,
which may or may not be included in in

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many of your applications,
is actually reaching out to faculty.

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So, some faculty will ask specifically,
specifically that you don't do this,

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aome will ask that you do do this,
but ultimately, if you're emailing

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faculty members, you should be doing it
with a specific purpose.

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So you don't want to be asking
general questions that you can find on

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through other resources,
but you should be asking

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specific questions that can really
only be answered by emails from them.

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So you may want to indicate specific
interests in pieces of their work.

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This can help
you kind of stand out as an applicant,

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check if they're hiring students,
because not all faculty

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are hiring students every year,

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and then you can ask other
reasonable questions about, you know,

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the typical person that they're looking
for as admitting to their group.

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In terms of how this actually fits

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into your application, it can help
refine your statement of purpose.

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So that this is something you do
before your statement of purpose.

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You can kind of work
whatever information you get

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from the email
into the statement of purpose.

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It also just signals your seriousness
as an applicant.

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And, but keep in mind that it's not
usually required for most applications.

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This is something that, you can kind of
address on a case by case basis.

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So in terms of what

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not to do or what to do and what not to do
when emailing faculty members,

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make sure you read a couple of

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their papers ahead of time
and have some sort of idea

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of what type of work
they're, they're doing.

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This just gives you the ability to have
a very informed email and look prepared.

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Always be concise.

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Faculty members
are usually pretty busy people as well, so

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they don't have time to read through
a super super long email.

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And then again, write with a purpose.

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Make sure you're introducing yourself,
giving interest,

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and asking any specific questions
that you might have.

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Things not to do.

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Don't, send an email
if they're specifically asking not to.

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That's something I mentioned earlier.

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Don't ask questions that can be answered
through other resources

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like department website
or the faculty's web page.

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And then finally, don't worry

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if you don't hear back
because ultimately they're very busy.

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If they don't get back to you,
that doesn't mean they're not interested

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in bringing you into their lab,

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it just means maybe they didn't
have time to send an email.

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So that will launch
into the final activity.

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Open “Complete an Email” file and take
roughly five minutes to complete that.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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Okay, with that lesson,

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you should now be able to identify
key elements of a grad school application

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and analyze your own application material
and iteratively improve upon it.

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So, thank you.

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[Morse code beeps]