It is that time of year when many of you are preparing to apply to doctoral programs in the sciences. You may be asking yourself:
- Where do I apply?
- What strategies will I use to decide between programs?
- What are the best programs for me?
Here are several suggestions to simplify the process provided by Dr. Bill Higgins, Pre-Professional Consultant in NIH’s Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE).
Define Your Research Interests Defining your research interests is the first step in identifying Ph.D. graduate programs. Your definition may be relatively broad or quite narrow, but you should spend time thinking about the types of research questions that interest you. If your interests are broad, e.g., metabolic regulation, neural networks, gene expression in cancerous cells, etc., you may gravitate toward more diverse umbrella programs that include investigators in many loosely related disciplines. Frequently such programs offer laboratory rotations during the first year to help you discover a focus for the dissertation research. A narrower, more focused interest often leads an applicant to specific laboratories or a small group of laboratories. Many applicants have more than one area of interest and thus apply to graduate programs that reflect these different interests. Remember that the dissertation topic is just the first of many research projects in the career of a successful investigator. Few P.I.s pursue the same research thread for their entire research career. Proper training prepares a Ph.D. to approach questions in any area of the discipline.
Find the PhD Programs in Your Chosen Field of Study For those of you seeking programs in the United States, there are rankings posted in the US News and World Report annually. For some PhD programs, however, the graduate school rankings may not apply to the part/sub-discipline of the program you are interested in. In this case, Dr. Higgins recommended networking with researchers and attending meetings to discover these programs.
Identify and Interview NIH Researchers Find NIH investigators conducting research in the area of your interest. You can conduct an informational interviews and ask them for names of respected and productive colleagues at other institutions. Start a list of such people and of their institutions and programs. Always look at the References Cited sections of these investigators’ recent publications for the names and locations of other investigators in the field. Add these to your list!
Attend Professional Meeting Gatherings The investigators in your field are usually attend the same national scientific meetings every year. Identify these organizations, find the on-line site, and then peruse the Abstracts from the recent conferences and write down the investigator’s names. They also attend NIH Scientific Interest Group (SIG) programs. Also, these are excellent places to identify prospective dissertation mentors, e.g., contact them at meetings you may attend, use NIH PI’s to help establish contact, emails after you apply to call attention to your application, etc. Now that you have a list of productive people and their programs and what academic institutions and departments where they work, you are ready to explore the relevant web sites and narrow down your list.
To keep track of your information, we suggest that you create a spreadsheet with key dates and information for each university using the following column headings, PhD Program, School, Entrance Exams, Where to Apply (school or on-line application service), Personal Statements, number of references needed, Application Deadlines, and any other criteria you choose. This strategy will also enable you to make additions and corrections as well as track your application process.
Feel free to visit the OITE Career Services Center and schedule an appointment to meet with pre-professional advisors, wellness, and career counselors who can further support you during this process. Click the following link for general information about how to apply to graduate programs and visit the OITE Calendar of Events page for related programs. We also encourage you to view the additional resources on our webpage that include the Career Services Blog, Alumni Network, and OITE Video-casts.
OITE services are available to NIH intramural trainees only. Check with your home university or college and utilize the personal, career, and professional school advising resources they offer to you.
