Prospective Graduate Student Webinar

Hello everyone and welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Molly Mcandrew and I'm the assistant director of graduate admissions here at Colorado School of mines. We're going to get started in a minute or so. I just want to give everyone enough time to log in before we begin the presentation. So just sit tight and will start shortly. Thank you.

Alright, let's get started. Once again, thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Molly Mcandrew, Many Assistant Director of graduate admissions here, Colorado School of mines. Just a couple of things before we get started. A few housekeeping logistics. The first is as you should have seen in your confirmation email. The system tends to run best on the Chrome browser, so if you're on another browser in your experiencing technical difficulties, I recommend just logging off and re joining us on Chrome and hopefully that will fix any.

Any issues otherwise this session is being recorded, so if you are having any trouble, just reach out to me after the presentation. I'm more than happy to send over the recording. Another thing as you can tell, this is a web and our platform so I can't see or hear anyone, but I do want your questions as we go through today's presentation, so please send those through the chat if it is a question that has to do with an upcoming slide, I will address it then, otherwise there will be a question and answer section at the end of the presentation, so I'll be able to answer some of your questions there as well. And then finally.

Just as you should have seen when you were registering for this event, this is a pretty general event about the graduate student experience as well as the application process. We're not going to go too in depth about any particular program today just because we had more than 50 people joining us, and we have a lot of programs that we would just take several hours to go through everything. But if you want to talk about a specific program, my contact information is going to end the last slide of the presentation as well as you can simply reply to the confirmation email and that will be sent directly to me. I'm more than happy to set the timer.

Talk about your specific program as well as what your background is or get you in contact with the right person from the Department. Alright, without further ado, Let's start with a quick video. I'd like to show this video for two reasons. The first is. Obviously it's important to see the school you're considering at the graduate level, and while we're all most of us are in virtual mode at the moment, this video does have some really lovely shots of both Colorado school mines as well as the Golden area. Just to give you an idea of what campuses like. Additionally, I think it's really important.

As you're looking at different graduate schools and weighing your options, I think it's really hard to hear from people who are in your situation. A few years ago, deciding if Graduate School is the right action for them deciding if Colorado School of mines is the right Graduate School for them, and this video has quite a few of our current graduate students as well as recent alumni talking about why they chose Graduate School and why they specifically chose Colorado School of Mines. Alright, without further ado, let's get that video start.

Wonderful, so like I said, hopefully that'll write some good perspective as to what the graduate student experiences like for our own graduate students currently enrolled at the institution.

Now before I begin, I just wanna turn it over to you all. Just get an idea of who is in the room as we continue on just so I can kind of shape the information. If you wouldn't mind sending me through the chat quickly, I'll give you about a minute to respond. Just let me know where you're at in the application process. Are you currently just looking, exploring your different options? Have you started an application? Have you send in an application that way? Like I said, I can just kind of adjust the information based staff of where everyone's at in the application process. So go ahead and submit that through the chat. I'll give you a minute or so to respond.

Alright, awesome so far it looks like the majority of people have either just started an application or there still exploring their options, which is fantastic. Like I said, We'll talk about kind of the graduate soon experience as a whole today and then will also go over with the application process. Looks like so that for those of you who eventually decide to start an application, you have an idea of what's required and what that looks like. So thank you so much for responding.

I'm moving on because we are a stem focused institution. I'd like to start with just a couple of quantitative values to give you an idea of where we stand.

Compared to other institutions as well as kind of an idea of the overall graduate student experience here at mines. And the first is important for those of you who are considering a thesis based decrease, either a master's thesis or a PhD. Obviously the research component is wildly important here at mines we received nearly 84 million grants last year alone, which signifies that not only is research happening for graduate students, but it's also happening by our faculty and staff.

That just research is happening, but quite a bit of it, and really important research that's been able to be awarded these. The size of a grant is happening. We like to. I mean, for the most part are faculty members are really addressing the biggest issues of their industry or other areas of focus. And there was also their research is going to shape with the future of that industry. Looks like for years to come and our graduate students are right alongside them. Conducting that research, conducting their own research that's related as well as getting a glimpse of what the future looks like in their industry because of how important this research.

Repeat the next is the number of graduate students at mines. Currently we have about 1500 graduate students, which is a rather sizable number considering the fact that there are only 6000 students on campus are graduate students. Make it pretty pretty large portion of the student body, which is important when it comes time for the voices are graduate students to be heard. I'm as well as how they shape the future of the institution. Currently, we're working towards our minds at 150 goals, which are the goals we have in place for one minus turns 150 in 2024 and our graduate students are.

Serving on those committees that are not only.

An establishing those goals but also helping to propel us towards completing those goals by the deadline. The next is the number of programs we currently have about 40 programs at the graduate level. All of them are going to be stem focused programs, which signifies that because we're such a such a small institution, but because we are a smaller institution and we have so many programs in the realm of stem, this gives you an option to either choose from some of those broader topics such as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, as well as.

More specific areas, and so the example I like to use is those of you who might be interested in robotics.

And other institutions. Typically you would be a mechanical engineering student or a computer science student. You would be taking robotics courses as your elective courses. You might be working with the one or two faculty members on staff who who do robotics research, but you're really not starting that robotics work until the second semester in your program were until you hit that elected area, but we were hearing from our past students as well as our current students. Is that there was this gap in what we were offering because we had so many students coming to campus.

And we're interested in robotics. We have so many faculty members on staff that were doing robotics research. Our students don't understand why they had to wait until their second semester in the program to start that robotics work. They wanted to start it on Day One as a result of that constructive feedback, we now have a robotics degree as well, so you can choose between that mechanical engineering degree that computer science degree, or if you don't want to wait until you're elected, you want to start on day one with your core classes focused on robotics. You can pursue a robotics degree at the graduate level.

And then finally that starting salary. Keep in mind with this, starting salary is rather general, it's for the entire graduate student body that's graduating. If you want more specific information based off of your combination of degree as well as major, we recommend going out to the Career Center website. If you haven't done so already, they publish an annual report of the career outcomes for each of our majors that's divided by the degree types, so you can see what your average starting salary is, what the high offer is with the low offers, as well as what that percentage of placement.

Is within 600 months of graduation just to give you a better and more specific idea of what your unique combination will yield upon graduation?

And then one of the questions I get from perspective students is why should I earn an advanced degree? Why should I get my Masters by shaking my PhD? Why should I get my post back or graduate certificate? And honestly, the answer is going to vary based off of your specific background as well as what your career goals are. However, these are a couple of reasons that we're seeing from our current students as to why they chose mines as well as the incoming class that will be joining us in fall 2020 and the first is diversify your academic background. As you may notice, if you're looking at other institutions is there are some schools that will only allow you to pursue a Masters or PhD.

In a a program identical with the degree received at the undergraduate level, that's not the case here. At minds we understand that there are those students who may be there. Junior senior year of undergraduate school. They start taking classes and electives different from their main major. They really became passionate about that area of elective, but they didn't want to necessarily restart their undergraduate degree, or there are those who have been out in the industry for a few years, working in a different area than where they received their bachelors degree. But they're really passionate about that. That and they want to make that their future.

Uh, or that that their career for the future. So we want you to be passionate about your graduate work. We also wanted to be the best program for whatever your future goals are, and for that reason you're more than welcome to switch majors from undergraduate to graduate here at mind. However, keep in mind that many of the programs do you have prerequisite courses, so if you haven't done so already and I'll mention this a couple of times during the presentation. But please go into the program specific website for whichever program or programs you're considering, just to get more specific information, such as what the prerequisites are.

The core programs typically have between one and three or prerequisite courses, and these are just going to be courses that will give you a foundational knowledge so that you're able to start on the same footing as the rest of your classmates in the program. If you are missing a prerequisite, there are a couple of ways to fulfill this requirement. If you're currently a sophomore or junior, maybe you're planning ahead just again exploring our options, seeing what's out there. If you see that you're missing your requisite, you can probably build that into your schedule before graduation. For those of you who are either.

A rising senior that already has their upcoming your mapped out in terms of what courses they are taking, or if you've been out in the industry for a few years and returning back to school, you might have to take that course at another institution between now and starting in the program, and then some cases if it's a foundational knowledge for the second semester in the program. So it's not necessarily needed for that first semester and it's a class that's offered here out minds at the undergraduate level, and there's room in it. You can work it out with your faculty advisor to potentially take that your first semester in the program.

So you have a couple of different options, but the sooner that you re learn, the sooner that you investigate what prerequisites you might be missing. The more options you have a fulfilling that prerequisite the next is to approve research experience with a thesis based degree. What this means is we do have quite a few students that are looking to go directly from their undergraduate degree to a PhD program, and while that's an option for some our faculty members that are making admissions decisions really want to see significant research at the undergraduate level. If you're looking to make that jump for those of you who may be have been conducted research at the undergraduate level.

Or you've done research, but it's in an area very, very different from where you're looking to get your PhD and then our master is not there. I'm sorry, master's thesis is a great stepping stone between that bachelors degree and a PhD. It's not only going to give you a chance to experience world of research in our world class facilities in laboratories, but it's also going to allow you to start to build that professional relationship with your faculty advisor. We have a lot of students that come in as Masters thesis students. They really enjoy working with the faculty member they want to do a little bit more in depth research after they finished third.

This isn't so. They just continue on for their PhD here at minds. The next is to remain in the same field and gain more in depth knowledge. But this is speaking to is we do have a lot of students that are coming from industry, so they've been working for a few years and they said the only way to move from an entry level job to a managerial level job is with an advanced degree, but they don't necessarily want to do the research that comes along with the master's thesis or a PhD. In that case are Masters. Non thesis is a great way to get both theoretical knowledge from the classroom as well as hands on experience.

Through some sort of project that.

Finishes out your program I'll talk about what the different types of projects are on the next slide. But it's a great way to go to your former employer or to a future employer and say look. This is how I'm able to show what I've learned.

The graduate student and then add tech ways nicely into the obvious salary outcome increases with an advanced degree. I think the national difference between a bachelors graduate in a Masters graduate is the Masters graduate across their lifetime will make about 15% more than a bachelors graduate, so there's definitely the financial benefits of pursuing an advanced degree. And then finally.

The final reason that we hear from our current students is that they Simply put in password Rafferty nearby, and that's kind of what I mentioned on that last slide where we have faculty members that are really doing research is going to impact their industry or their area of focus for years to come. Are graduate students understand that it's a huge opportunity to be alongside conducting that research? Getting a glimpse of what the future looks like as well as they know that they can put their faculty advisors name on their resume, and that's going to open doors for them in the future because our faculty are so widely respected across their industries.

Alright, so I did mention quite a few different degrees on their last slide. I just want to quickly go over what the degrees are at the graduate level here at minds, kind of what the career outcomes are for them as well as what the average length of time towards completion.

Keep in mind that the average length of time for its completion is going to be dependent on a couple of factors, such as how many credit hours are you taking per semester? What sort of research are you conducting? If you're doing a thesis degree, but it should at least give you an idea how long it typically takes our students to complete these degrees just so that you can start to plan for that. So the first is our postback certificate as well as our graduate certificate. These are going to be highly specialized areas of focus within a broader topic, so we have quite a few data science certificates we have quite a few GIS certificates.

Electrical engineering, computer science, etc. But each of the certificates focuses on just one area of that broader topic, so it's to become an expert in that area in terms of the coursework. Typically these programs are made up of four to six classes, so it's not very long to complete it. In fact, for most of our students, it takes between one semester and one academic year to finish out a certificate again, it's gonna be depending on how many credit hours are taking per semester, but really, most of our students are able to complete it.

Less than one academic year in terms of the the coursework. Specifically, the vast majority, because it's only between four and six classes, the vast majority of certificate programs are exclusively core classes, so there's not a lot of flexibility with elective work within these programs. So what you want to do if you're considering a certificate is go on to the graduate catalog and take a look at what specific classes make up that program. If you're noticing that only two or three of them relate to what you want to do in the future or to your current job.

There might not be the best certificate for you, but because so many of our programs have multiple certificates, there could be a better certificate there. Um, if you are seeing that all of them, however, relate to your career, your future goals in your ear, and this is a really great way to become the go to person in your company where they go to wear. Anytime there's a question about that specific area they go to you. It's also a great way to stand out from other applicants if you're looking to either make a job change in the future or to apply for a promotion. Finally, some of our certificates kind of act as a bridge program, so if you were coming from a very different background.

Let's say you're coming from a social science background and you're looking to go into computer science. We have specific certificates built out to give you that foundational knowledge. Take care of those prerequisites that you're missing so that you can then bridge into a Masters program at the graduate level.

That's our professional Masters are Masters non thesis in our Masters of engineering. I group these altogether. Because these are career or industry focus degrees. So you're not doing as much research as you would be doing with a Masters thesis or a PhD instead the way that the degree is broken down as it starts with your coursework, so you'll have your core classes as well as your elective work in some cases, your program might be following a specific track so for instance, humanitarian engineering has a geophysics track as an environmental engineering track. If you're following the specific track down a lot of your.

Elective courses will relate to whatever that tract is. Otherwise, if you're in a program that doesn't have a specific track, you have a little bit more flexibility with those elective courses. You'll work it out with your faculty advisor, but if you're interested in maybe taking class outside the program in another program, that is a possibility with work, and then finally, the last component is going to be some sort of hands-on, practical experience that shows what you've learned will work that out with your faculty advisor, but it could be an internship in the industry. It could be a.

Independent study that produces some sort of concrete example of your knowledge. It could be presenting at a conference related to your industry. There are quite a few different options, but you definitely want to have that conversation with your faculty advisor sooner rather than later, and the reason Why is that for many of our students that it takes between one and two years to complete this degree. So if you're on track to have to finish your degree in just one year, you don't want to have that conversation your first semester so that you know what you're going to be doing your second semester to complete that component.

Great degree, the next is our Masters thesis, so the course work is going to be very similar to the Masters. Mounties as you have your core classes as well as your electives typically are, electors will really to whatever your researches or your faculty advisors researches and then the second component of this degree will be completing the research and writing your thesis paper which will defend in front your thesis committee because the research takes a little bit longer to complete. Usually our students complete these degrees in two to three years, but again it's going to be kind of dependent on what the research is exactly. So I recommend if you haven't done so already, start looking at the faculty BIOS for the programs that you.

Interested in see what research there completing if there's someone that's completing research similar to your proposed research, reach out to them. Just get an idea of how long it may take to complete that research based off their past experiences and then finally the PhD. The PhD is a lot like the Masters thesis, except you're going to be doing much more in depth research writing your dissertation, which will defend in from your dissertation committee. It's really hard to give a timeline for a PhD just because it is so heavily dependent on the research. We say, typically between four and five years to complete. However, for some things it could take.

3 for some, it could take six, so again, you might want to reach out to potential faculty advisors just to get an idea of what that research component looks like.

Alright, so now that I've gone over all the different degrees at the graduate level again, I'm going to turn it over to you all just send over through the chat. I'll give you a minute or so to respond, but just let me know what degree type you're considering. Are you looking at a certificate, a Masters? If so, these are non thesis or pH D. The reason why I ask is that the admissions requirements are slightly different based off of the degree type. So if I see that the vast majority or if everyone is interested in like a thesis degree, will mostly focus on that when we get to that slide. Otherwise, if it's a fair split, will just cover it all.

So go ahead and respond. I'll give you about a minute to respond.

Alright, you guys were quick to respond but wonderful. It looks like we have a pretty fair split so I will cover about thesis degrees. An non thesis degrees. Thank you so much for responding and then finally I like the reason why I showed this slide is just because I think there is this misconception at the graduate level that as a graduate, soon you're spending all day everyday in the laboratories in the classroom. But you know it's not the case here at mines. We do offer support at all levels, whether it's the physical centers on campus such as the Recreation Center, the well in the center.

As well as different groups that are dedicated to our graduate student success, one group that I really want to highlight quickly is just our graduate student government. They do a fantastic job of making sure that the interest of our graduate students are addressed by our administration, our faculty in our staff as we move towards the future. I already kind of mentioned the minds at 150 goals, but our graduate student government representatives are the ones serving on all those committees on they're checking in with our graduate students to make sure that their thoughts are expressed in the committees and in the goals we put in place. For mines at 1:50.

They are also able to offer financial support or graduate student so they do offer quite a few brands at the graduate level. Some grants are to help with research on expenses, others are to travel to conferences to either hear what's going on in the industry or to present on your work. So there are some financial ways they can support our students as well. And then finally they host monthly graduate students, socials, and the reason why I, monthly graduate student socials are really important to note is especially for those of you who might be looking at a more niche program doing a very specific type of research, the further you get into your program, especially Azure.

Getting into those elective courses, you might notice that you only have four or five other students in that class, and depending on if all of your classes that semester are dealing with the same type of research, it could be the same four or five students in all of your classes. In that situation, it's really easy to lose track of what's going on on campus outside of your specific program, so the monthly graduate student socials are great way to come together as a graduate student body across all disciplines. Find out what's going on on campus, find out what's going on in the Golden area. It's a social event, so there's usually free food involved, but it's just a great way to stay connected to those students.

Outside of your specific program, but that are still part of your network.

And then the other group I want to talk about really quickly is our minds Career Center. They do a fantastic job of connecting our graduate students with potential employers that not only meets the requirements of the degree that they are pursuing, but as well as their interests. Again, we only have about 6000 students on campus and yet for both our fall career fair as well as I spring career fair are Career Center brings in more than 350 employers, so there's a lot of opportunity to engage with those future hiring managers or decision makers of the company you're interested in.

We also are Career Center also hosts a monthly or in some cases weekly lunch and learns which are an opportunity for different organizations to come on campus. Do a quick presentation about what their their companies working on or what sort of positions are available in the company. And then there's kind of network afterwards. So it's a great way to start to build those professional relationships outside the atmosphere and environment of a career fair.

Alright, so like I said earlier, we're not gonna go to in-depth about any particular program. But again, my account information will be on the last slide. Please reach out to me if you want to talk about your specific program that you're interested in, or you can simply just reply to the confirmation email for today's event and that will get sent to me. I'm more than happy to talk about those programs, but I do recommend doing if you haven't done so already is please go on to our website. Grad programs. That mindset Edu that has the complete list of graduate programs as well as leads to those specific websites for each program. What you'll notice as you're looking through that list as many of our programs.

At the graduate level, or interdisciplinary programs, and the way we define interdisciplinary is a program with faculty and students from several different backgrounds coming together. Focus on an area of research. So, for instance, are underground construction. Tunnel engineering program is going to have faculty from civil engineering, geology, geological engineering, mining, engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering and geophysics coming together to focus on tunneling, which is a program that's not offered at in the other institution in North America at the graduate level. The reason why we have so many interdisciplinary programs is what we're hearing from those companies that are hiring our students.

These programs, is they really appreciate. Our students are experts in column A, but they can still problem solving problems BC and D because they've been given that perspective from faculty with different expertise than their own. In the program. The other reason why it's important to note that we have so many interdisciplinary programs is for those of you who are interested in either a PhD or a Masters thesis, and I saw a lot of PhD answers when I asked for what degree type you're interested in. You're going to want to find a faculty advisor who's doing research similar to your own.

Let's say you're a civil engineering student and you go on the civil engineering website and you're looking through the faculty BIOS. Another faculty members are really doing the research that similar to the research that you want to complete, that the right faculty advisor for you might be hiding out of Hydrology, and they might be based out of Earth Resources Development Engineering. There are a lot of different areas they could be based out of, especially for those broader topics, so make sure you're giving yourself enough time to go through all the programs that sound like it might relate to your proposed research and find the right faculty advisor for you.

The best resource at the graduate level for a thesis based student is going to be that faculty advisor, so you want to apply to whatever program there based out of because you need your faculty, advisor has to be based on the program that you're accepted into, so just give yourself enough time, do a little research, and find that right faculty advisor for you.

And then career possibilities. I will say our graduate students have a 96% placement rate within three months of graduation. Below that you'll see our top fields of employment. If you're not seeing the field that you're most interested in, keep in mind that that other category does make up 8%. Like I said, our Career Center is actively working to engage our students with companies that match their interests, but they should at least give you an idea of what sort of opportunities there are beyond graduation.

And then finally, like, just show this side. 'cause again, I think there's another misconception at the graduate level that you have to stay in the area that you went to school after graduating. And while many of our students love Coloradoan, most do not want to leave the Rocky Mountain region. There are opportunities. Definitely be on the state as well as beyond the country. Like to say you can find a nordegren. Almost every major city in the world. And so by becoming part of the graduate student network you're connecting to those disip.

Makers and hiring managers across the globe.

Alright, so let's talk about the admissions process. The first thing you're going to want to do if you have not done so already, is please go into our deadlines page or deadlines. Pages divided into spring deadlines as well as fall deadlines. Both are equally important, but for different reasons. For those of you who are looking to apply for the spring, you're going to want to check the spring deadline page just to make sure your program is accepting students in the spring. There are a handful of graduate programs that do not have spring intake, so please make sure that you're going on there and verifying that they do accept students in the spring. If they do not.

Your application will likely be the, UM, different to the fall, so you just want to be able to plan for that for starting a little bit later than you intended to. For those of you who are interested in the fall, you'll notice that there are three deadlines on that page compared to the two deadlines on the spring page. The reason why there's a third deadline is just because we receive a larger quantity of applications for the fall, but that priority deadline, which is the third deadline, is really important for two reasons. The first is if you're interested in funding, you definitely want to apply by the priority deadline and the reason why is.

Application admissions decisions at minds are made by the faculty from the program to which you are applying on the day of the priority deadline, which for some programs is mid December and for others is mid January. But let's see the program you're applying to is December 15th priority deadline on December 15th or maybe December 16th. The faculty members are going to go into the system and start reviewing applications as they're making offers of admittance, there also making offers of funding. So if you're waiting to apply the regular deadline, which for many of our programs is June or July.

That several months away, a lot of that funding we've already been offered to students who applied earlier. Um, that's not to say you won't be considered for any funding, but you have a better chance of being considered for all of the funding by applying by that priority deadline. It's also important for those of you who are looking to do a thesis degrees, either a PhD or Masters thesis because you're accepted under the code word of a specific professor when you apply the mind. So let's say you're interested in the researcher, Professor Smith. You're looking to study with them. Professor Smith might only be accepting 3 new PhD students for the upcoming recruitment cycle.

So those three positions could have been filled by the priority deadline, so you just want to make sure you're giving yourself an opportunity for all funding in the Department, as well as all spaces within a faculty members cohort. If you can't apply the priority deadline like let's say maybe you're scheduled to take the GRA in February and your deadline, your primary deadlines in January, that's OK, but you definitely want to reach out to those potential faculty advisors well in advance of the priority deadline. Talk about your proposed research, match it to their research, talk about why you're interested in the program.

Get them excited about your application, because if they're excited about your application, they know that it's coming a little bit after that priority deadline. Maybe they'll put some funding to the side. Maybe they'll leave a spot available in their cohort as they wait for your application. Maybe they'll waive the Jirari just let you can submit it in time. Definitely going to work with you to get your application in, so you're doing yourself a favor by starting to make those connections before submitting your application.

OK, now we talked about deadlines. Let's talk about the application requirements, will quickly go over this list. But again, if you have any questions, please start to send those in through the chat. I've got about 3 slides left in the presentation and then will switch over to a Q&A section. I'll try to answer as many as I can before the event is over, but as I'm going through this list, if you think of any questions, Please send those over.

Alright, application requirements. So the first thing is our online application that can be found at mines.edu/graduate admissions. One question that we often get about the online application is that students do not see an area to upload their statement of purpose, transcripts, etc. They sometimes think it's a glitch in the system. It's not a glitch the way that the application works, as you're going to submit your online application as soon as you submit it, you're going to be automatically redirected to your online applicant portal within that portal. There is an area to upload any additional documents that we need.

The reason why we separate the two is some students have rather long Tran Scripps. Maybe they write a rather long statement of purpose. The bigger the document that you're trying to attach to an application, the chance that it could potentially crash when you go to submit it. We don't want to cause that confusion or frustration for our students, so by separating the two we can ensure a smooth submission of your application while giving you a space in your portal to upload all of those additional documents.

Next is our transcripts are jirari scores and then for international applicants are total or eyelid scores. One thing to note about the transcripts and the GRB scores is that we do not require official documents for the application process. So if you.

You want to your more than welcome to upload those unofficial transcripts, self report. Those Gru scores the reason why we allow for unofficial documents is just because it takes awhile to get the official documents. For instance, the Jerry Square typically takes between three and four weeks for ETS to send it over to us. If you're operating pretty close to a deadline, you want to ensure everything's in by that deadline. We don't want to cause you any anxiety, so go ahead and submit those unofficial documents if you're accepted into the program before, you're able to enroll, we will require the official documents or else in account.

Will air ahold we place on your account so just make sure you get those over to us. If you plan to enroll in the program.

Next, his letters of recommendation. Most programs require 3 letters of recommendation. However, there are a few that require only two or require floor, so again, go into the program website if you haven't done so already and take a look at how what the specific requirements are for the program that you're considering. One piece of advice when it comes to liars recommendation, be sure to ask your recommender before submitting their information in the application for your letter of recommendation and what I mean by this is in the past, we've seen students submit a faculty members name, email address, etc.

Kind of as a placeholder planning to ask them before they submit their official application. As soon as you hit save with that email address and that name in the system, the system will automatically generate and send an email to that person asking for the letter of recommendation. So if you haven't had that conversation with them yet, they might think its junk. They might think it's Pam. They could delete it on. They need that email in order to submit your letter of recommendation to have it attached to the application. So just do yourself a favor. Had that conversation ahead of time. The reason why we have it automatically sent out to them is just to give them enough time to.

Write that letter of recommendation for you before the deadline passes. Also, be sure to coat your letters of recommendation and what I mean by this is send them a link to the program you're applying to. Send them a link to the faculty member you're considering as an advisor. The more information you can give them is beneficial to you in two ways. One, it's going to be a more specific letter of recommendation, and because this is a holistic application, are letters of recommendation are weighted pretty highly by our faculty members. We can typically tell when a letter isn't coached because we get something like this person was a good student. They got a good grade in my class.

Well, if you're applying to Graduate School of mines were assuming you were good student. So what's the civically major stand out in the classroom? It's also going to allow them to write the letter of recommendation quicker, and that's important because an application is not considered complete unless we have all documents including letters of recommendation by the deadline. So if you're operating pretty close to the deadline, you or I'm sorry, the deadline passes. We don't have a letter of recommendation in that application is going to be automatically withdrawn in the system, and it won't be reviewed by our faculty. So just make sure that you're aware of when the deadlines are.

You communicating that with your recommenders, and you're following up, so you'll get an email from us saying we've received a letter of recommendation from Professor Jones, just to let you know when we receive those letters. So if you haven't gotten an email from us in a week and a half, maybe 2 weeks, and the deadlines coming up, don't hesitate to reach out to that person and communicate with them when the deadline is that we have all those documents by the deadline.

Next, a statement of purpose, the statement of purpose is going to be, uh, it's going to be different based off of if you're a thesis based student or a non thesis student. So for those of you who are interested in either a PhD or a Masters thesis, your statement of purpose is really you're going to want to show that you've done research on the research going on in the Department. When I mean by that is talk about your proposed research, tie it to research that's already happening. Maybe specific grants that the Department recently received definitely name which faculty members are doing research similar to yours that you want to be considered.

As Advisors, the you just want to show that you understand the research going on, but also you're going to be highlighting those faculty members so that as their reading through the applications, they know that you want to be considered as an advisory for them. Also, if you're looking to receive funding, you want your letter or so you want your statement of purpose to kind of operate as if it were a cover letter. So not only is it going to be clear and concise and Typo free, but you also want to tell you to whatever sort of research you're looking to pursue. So if you're looking for an RA position, talk about past research experience.

If you're looking for a TH position, talk about what characteristics would make you a strong teacher in the classroom.

For those of you who are interested in the non pieces degree because the research component isn't as important as it would be for a thesis based degree, instead you're going to want to talk about the industry 'cause these are industry focus degrees. So talk about your dream career. Talk about how this specific degree from mines is going to get you there, but also with the industry at large. Looks like because these are industry focus degrees, a lot of the classes relate to the industry, so we want our students to be to understand what they're getting themselves into and they enroll in the program and they're not surprised by the courses being offered again.

Go into the graduate catalog. Take a look at those specific courses and maybe mention which ones are going to help propel you into the right direction of what your dream career is, and then if you're looking to apply for a fellowship as a non thesis student because many or quite a few of our programs have fellowships available for non thesis students going to win again, go into that program website and take a look at any additional information needs to be included in your statement of purpose. I'll talk a little bit more about funding on the next slide, but typically for the vast majority of funding, both for thesis and non thesis students.

There isn't a second application required on this. Members are just reviewing your general application to the Graduate School.

So that statement of purpose is again going to be acting like a cover letter, resume. Same thing it says if you are applying to jobs because you are applying to receive funding from the institution. Additionally, our resumes are greatly to connect the dots if either.

Work experience, or maybe your summer research internship relates more to your graduate program than your undergraduate program, so in some cases maybe you have a prerequisite missing, but you've been doing that in your job for the last few years. We should highlight that in your resume because that could fulfill the prerequisite that you're missing an then prerequisites we've already talked about it, but again, you're going to go in the program website. Take a look at what specific, what specific prerequisites are listed on there. If you do notice that you're missing a prerequisite and you've reached out to a faculty advisor, you talked about how you're going to fulfill it.

You still wanna reference that in your statement of purpose and the reason why is typically there are at least four faculty members on an admissions committee for a program. So you spoke with Professor Smith about how you're going to fulfill that prerequisite, but Professor Smith hasn't shared with their colleagues how you're going to do so. You don't want that to be the one obstacle that your app that gets in the way of your application being accepted into the program, so show that a you have done your research and you know that you're missing a prerequisite, but also that you've been proactive and put a plan in place as to how you're going to fulfill it.

Right and then finally, um funding, so finding is obviously very important. I will say that more than 70% of full time graduate students at mines receive financial assistance from the University. Typically it's in the form of their fellowship, a teaching assistantship, or a research assistantship. Many of our programs have Masters non thesis fellowships available. If the program has one available, it typically is going to be listed on the website. Otherwise, we recommend this reach the program manager to talk about what potential fellowship this might be available.

For those of you who are interested in a thesis based degree, most of our teaching assistantships and then all of our research assistantships are reserved for thesis students. The person who's going to be awarding this the TAS or the Arias is going to be your faculty advisor. So again, we recommend reaching its potential faculty advisors, not just to talk about proposed research, but also to talk about any assistantships they have available. Typically, it's going to be in the form of what is most needed by your faculty advisor, so they just received a large grant. They have a lot of research to conduct.

Probably going to be an RE. Where is it? They have several classes to teach at the undergraduate level? Probably going to be ATA. Otherwise if you want to know more about financial aid options, we recommend visiting our financial aid website. That's the URL at the bottom of the screen and I'll give you a moment to jot that down.

All right and then finally, who should you turn to if you have a question, it's gonna depend on we're out of the application process as well as what your questions are. If you have not submitted your application yet and you have any questions about either the school or you want to learn more about a specific program, or you want to know about who would be the best content in the program to reach out to, please contact me. That is my contact information or that first bullet point. I'm more than happy to set up a time to talk about your specific interests or get you in touch with the right person to answer any questions that are.

A little bit outside my realm. If you're an international student and you have questions about the visa process or English Professor Proficiency tests or international transcript evaluations, I recommend reaching out to our international admissions coordinator, Amanda Rodriguez. She's going to be the one to answer any of those questions based off of your background and what your needs are, so please feel free to contact her with any of those questions and then finally, if you only have two more bullet points. If you have started an application you're experiencing tech issues.

Uh, or you've been accepting you need information on how to enroll or how to defer, or you have an account hold that needs to be addressed. Please contact our admissions processing team that can be found at gradbash.admissions@mines.edu. Their attack experts will be able to figure out any issues you're having with the application, as well as the ones that are going to get you from accepted to in rolls, and then finally, if you have any questions about the specific research happening in a Department or you want to know about what funding is available for you based off of your specific background and interests, or you want to know about when you should receive a decision.

Or why you received a decision. We recommend just reach out directly to the program. They are obviously the experts in their own research. There are also the ones that award funding, so they'll be able to tell you what is available and what their sort of looking for. Tool board that funding as well as because they make admissions decisions. They can give you a timeline of when to expect a decision as well as maybe you apply it as a master's thesis but were accepted as Masters non thesis why you received a specific decision.

So I'll give you a moment to chat on any of those emails you need to.

All right, so that is the end of my presentation. I'm going to turn it over to you. All. I did see that I got a couple of questions on the last two slides, so I'll start to answer those in about a minute. Just want to give everyone enough time to to type out their questions so they can listen to the answer.

Without having to split their focus, I do want to say quickly. Thank you so much for joining you today. I hope this was helpful information as you begin to consider your options for Graduate School and also specifically consider Colorado school mines. I hope that everyone staying safe and healthy right now we are transitioning back to campus, so we're looking forward to welcoming students on the campus in the near future as well as may be receiving your application in the future.

Alright, so let's start with some of the questions I've been receiving. The first question is do you require any jirari subject test? That's a great question.

The vast majority of programs do not require a Jerry subject, as there are a select few I want to say maybe three or four that do require. So again, you want to go into the program specific website. Take a look to see if you're programmed. List any specific Tre subject test. But like I said the vast majority do not and also because we are a stem focused institution. Most of our programs are really only looking at that quantitative sport, so if you if you took that as you did really well in your quantitative section, could have done a little bit better under qualitative section.

Most times, unless it says a specific number for the qualitative section on the program specific website, most times you don't have to retake that test on our account because we're really only looking at that quantitative section, so hopefully then answer your question. I'm sorry that.

As it is the case because each of the programs are slightly different, it's not always the answer for every program, but I would definitely recommend going out of that program website and they'll have in any information. If they do require a subject test.

So the next question is, what if I do not know what I want my research to be? Yeah, it's a great question, so if you're we typically you don't need to know the exact research that you want at the graduate level, but if you're looking to pursue either Masters thesis or a PhD, you kind of at least want to know the realm of what your research is going to be. Just because you do that is kind of how you distinguish yourself in your application. For potential faculty advisors. So what I would say is, if you know you're kind of interested in the specific program, but not necessarily what research.

You want to do. Maybe go into the faculty BIOS, see what research they're doing, see if any of it interests you, or if you're splitting your like, oh, I'm looking at either of this research or that research on a good way to approach that might be to contact both faculty members that are doing those different types of research and see see who you potentially have a better professional relationship or back and forth with because the faculty advisor is so important at the graduate level, you definitely want to make sure that you.

That you're going to be able to work well with them in the future, so that could be a good way to also distinguish, but generally you again, you don't need to have specific ideas about what your research is, as long as you know what the realm is.

Um next question? Are there graduate dorms or housing? Yeah, great question. So we do have a graduate apartment dorms on campus, so that's going to be called Mindspark. It is adorned technically, but it's kind of set up like an apartment style living.

Otherwise, if you're not looking to live directly on campus you want maybe wanna live in the Golden area or in a nearby suburb and you're just looking for options we do have. Once you're accepted into the program, we have minds list, which is our. It's an online platform dedicated to housing at mine, so it's where a lot of our incoming graduate students are looking for roommates. Or maybe our current students had someone move out and they're looking for a roommate. It also has information about who some of the better landlords are in the Golden area, as well as maybe.

Areas that don't have great like public transportation. If you're looking for a car, so there's going to be a lot of information on that mindless, but I would recommend if you're looking to live on campus. Check out mines park.

How long is too long for a statement of purpose? So that's a great question. I don't think that there is. I mean, there's no specific link, I just want to make sure that your statement of purpose is covering the right information. So as long as it's talking about if you're looking at a thesis, as long as it's talking about what sort of research you want to do in tying it to the Department, or if you're looking for an Andes, as long as you're talking about the industry and how this this particular degree will help you in the long run, as well as any sort of information about funding that you're looking to receive.

Is really the two big areas and then again also you really want to be making sure that your listing which faculty advisors you're interested in for those pieces degrees. But I mean typically I would say the average student it's between one and two pages for our statement of purpose. If you see that you have like 10 pages written out, there's probably some information you can cut in there, but definitely.

I would recommend you know just making sure that you have that information or speaking with the potential faculty advisor ahead of time and finding out what specifically they're looking for in the statement of purpose to become hard of their cohort.

Right, so the next question I have is uhm.

Our spring semester PhD admissions typically given the opportunity to receive funding as well, or does applying and fall give us a bigger probability of receiving? Again, it's a great question, so there is definitely funding available for spring applicants, but I would say probably more funding is available for the fall. It's really going to again depending headed with the faculty advisor is situation is so if they just received a large grant leading into spring, they're probably going to have a little bit more money than they would typically. Or if they have more classes to teach in the fall.

Probably going to be looking for students in the spring that could come out as TAS for the upcoming semester, so again, it when it comes to the funding, it really depends on the specific faculty member that you're considering. Is it advisor? So I would recommend reaching out to them, see if they have funding available in the spring. What sort of funding that might be. In some cases they could tell you, Oh no, you should apply for the fall if you want more consideration for funding, so they're going to really be the ones who ultimately are able to answer that question for you.

Um, so I have a couple of questions about the toll full in the aisle. It again, I would just recommend reaching out directly to Amanda Rodriguez. She is our international admissions counselor because it varies so much about, you know if you graduated from AUS institution with a bachelors degree, how long ago did you graduate? If you're coming from a country where the native language is English, that could be a different situation. So if you reach out to her with your specific situation, you'll be able to tell you what your options are.

But in terms of the total in the islands.

I'm so I have another question. I would like to apply as a research graduate soon. How can I know the research opportunities or research groups? Yeah, great question. So on the program website. So if you go to the specific website for your program that you're considering, there should be a faculty page. I'm in some cases there's also a research page, but typically it's going to be a faculty bio page. If you click through there, that's going to tell you all of the research that faculty members are currently working on. In some cases, if there's a research page that's going to tell you the overview of what sort of research is happening.

But again, you're gonna want to go into this faculty bio pages and see specifically what sort of research there conducting 'cause the faculty research is really what drives the research of a Department or of a program.

What's the most important part of the application? GPA, jirari, etc. Great question. So again, it's the faculty members that are making admissions decisions, so each of them kind of balance. Is it a little bit differently? Some programs are going to really look at the GPA, some are going to look a little bit more at the jury, I would say personally, what I've heard from many of our faculty is they really value those letters of recommendation most, but it's a holistic approach. They're taking into account all of those factors and finding the right person based off of.

You know research interests or akarere career drive, but I would definitely say one of the big things that is kind of consistent across the board is many of our faculty really value hearing from other faculty members or from supervisors or colleagues in those letters of recommendation.

Can you include more than one faculty members research in your statement of purpose? Yeah, great question. Definitely yeah, no one's going to have their feelings hurt that they're not your only option, but I would explain so if you're listening more than one person, talk about what specific research that they're doing that you're interested in. If it's different. If the two faculty members are doing very different research, talk about why you're interested in the first round of research as well as the second round. But yeah, you're more than welcome to list more than one faculty member in your statement of purpose. In fact, that kind of if there are multiple faculty members that are doing research that you're interested in. That kind of helps your chances.

Because, again, you're accepted under the cohort of a specific professor. So if professor Smith can only accept UM 3 new PhD students, and Professor Jones can, except for new PhD students that more than doubles your chances of getting in, so by all means, you can definitely list more than one faculty member.

Alright, I have another question. How many students are there usually in the classrooms? Square question. It's going to be really specific on the program that you're applying to like because some of our programs are a little bit more popular like our mechanical engineering Department very large, where some of our more niche programs are quite smaller. So I would recommend for each of the program manager if you want to shoot me an email and let me know what program you're interested in, I can send over that program managers contact information and they should give you a better idea just based off of what your interests are.

Is there a place to find statistics of the admitted students like Jerry Square, GPA and so on? No. I mean some of the program websites will say we're specifically looking for a 3.0 or higher out of a 4.0. If you're not seeing any specifics on the website, then inside it's going to be more dependent on the particular faculty member that you're looking to join the cohort of. So you definitely want to.

You want to reach out if you're not seeing any of that information that you're looking for, you're going to want to reach out to them and see what specifically they're looking for. First student to join their cohort. A lot of times that that information isn't listed. That just means that one faculty member is maybe looking for a specific GPA, while another faculty member in the program is looking for Jerry score again, especially with a thesis students, because it is so because the faculty members are the ones making admissions decisions, and it is so based off of that cohort structure, it's just going to vary from faculty member to faculty member, so you'll definitely want to know who you're.

Um, who you want? As a faculty advisor before reaching out to the program with a question like that?

Any other questions?

Right, I'm not seeing any other questions come through the chat. However, if you're in the middle of typing, don't worry. I will stay on for a few more minutes. We're getting right up to that 5 mark where it will kick us off, but please feel free to send any final questions. Otherwise, like I said, please.

Feel free to jot down my email address on shoot me an email and more than.

Specific situation or get in contact with the right person from the program, and then again if you have any questions about if you start an application. 'cause I do see that a couple people have started application giving technical issues. Please reach out to our admissions processing team. Whereas if you're an international student with any questions about the eyelids about visa process or about transcript evaluations, please reach out to Amanda Rodrigues.

So I have another question about the jury. If I get less than 160 on my Jerry, can I still be considered for admission? Yep, so like I said, most programs don't have a minimum jirari score. If you're seeing that a program does have up there looking for a 160 or higher, again, I would recommend reaching out directly to the program manager.

They're going to tell you whether or not, um, your application will be considered generally as a holistic application process. Usually 11 minimum won't disqualify you, but because the decisions are based out of each program specifically, it wouldn't hurt to check with the program manager.

Alright, I'm not seeing any other questions. I'm going to go ahead and close the event down, but once again thank you so much for joining me. I hope this was helpful information. Again, I'm more than happy because I'm sure a lot of people have program specific questions. I'm more than happy to talk about that with you, so feel free to shoot me an email otherwise everyone have a great rest of your day and a good rest of your week and we look forward to either welcome you on campus near future or receiving your application. Have a great day everyone.