Have you thought about going to graduate school, but you’re not sure where to start? It can be confusing; do you need to apply for schools and then go talk with advisors or if should you talk with students before narrowing the search to about 5–10 prospective schools. Before all the application fees and time filling out applications as well as writing essays and personal statements, get to know the grad schools and their programs to find out which ones will work best for you. Read the following tips about how to narrow your graduate school search.

Get organized.

Everyone will have different experiences narrowing down graduate schools, but one of the first steps for most prospective grad students is to decide on which schools you want to research further and which ones will actually be contenders in your search. In his article about finding your perfect grad school, Dr. Don Martin, from U.S. News, describes that using a spreadsheet to keep track of your desired grad schools is a good way to compare and contrast them side by side. Because it’s your spreadsheet and your graduate career, you’ll be able to customize it to meet your needs, but you’ll want to consider some of these basics: price, location, size, and specialties in your program.

Visit the school.

One of the most important tips I can give you regarding your decision about picking out a graduate school and program is to physically visit the campus, take a tour, and meet with grad advisors/professors. Visiting prospective graduate schools will allow you to visualize yourself there and see if it’s a place you can call home for a few years. I suggest making an appointment with grad school advisors and professors a few days or weeks before your tour to talk with them about their program and the specialty that interests you most. Visit Re-envisioning the Ph.D. to review some good questions to ask prospective grad advisors.

Consider your specialty.

Depending on what you studied during your undergrad and if you want to continue in that direction, you might need to have a specialty chosen to continue into your Master’s or Doctorate program. For instance, Education majors have to decide among a number of specialties, including, but not limited to, Philosophy of Education, Primary Education, and Secondary Education. When you figure out where you want to specialize in your program, then you know what to look for in each grad school. Make sure that you focus on school prospects that employ a few professors who specialize in your field so you know that you will further your education in the area you’re most interested in studying.

These three tips are not the only ways to find the best grad school for you; these are only a few important tips to get you started. In addition to the outside sources I’ve provided in this post, visit Tara Kuther’s articles that include more grad school tips. The next step after narrowing down your schools to about 5–10 is to apply for grad school, but don’t let this overwhelm you. I wrote a series about applying to grad school that breaks down each part of the process to make it easier on you.

Narrowing down graduate schools will take some time, and possibly a little money, but having the confidence in your decision of the school you are attending in the next 2–5 years will be worth the effort you put into your research. Are you in the middle of your grad school search? How is it going? If the process is over for you, let others know of advice or tips that you have in addition to the ones here. Feel free to respond in the comments section below.