how can i get grad school paid for. im a sophmore going for my undergrad in speech and hearing.?

Question

i have time to start looking at ways to get grants and things for grad school, i have about 2 years, but i dont know what to do. if anyone has any tips let me know

Answer 1

[all of this advice depends on a lot of factors: what sort of grad program (MA, PhD, MD, etc), what schools you are looking at, and what your career goals are - academic, professional, etc.]

First, your academic record is key! Get good grades, develop good relationships with your professors -- or at least make sure they know who you are! Join pertinent academic associations and try and go to a local conference, if possible. Building up your academic reputation is the best route to money for graduate school.

The best source of money for graduate school is through your graduate institution. While you should apply for outside grants (your school's career services or equivalent office should have information for you), it is ideal to go into graduate school with a multi-year funding package from your school. That way, you can apply for more money from outside sources, but you are guaranteed enough money to pay tuition and possibly also get a stipend to pay for your personal expenses. Of course, as a sophomore this is a long way off for you -- this will be part of your application process to graduate school. Some schools guarantee full funding to everyone they accept. This is mostly the private schools, and they are the hardest to get into. In public schools, funding is more of a competitive part of the application and acceptance progress. That is why I emphasize your academic record.

Applying to graduate school is like a two-directional competition. At first, you are competing to get in -- competing against other people with similar interests, good grades, etc. You want to be as strong a competitor as possible at this stage. You want to be able to demonstrate that you would make a damn good grad student and that you deserve to get paid for it. You aren't going to say that, of course, but your CV (curriculum vitae) should.

Anyway, the second part of the competition comes after you have been accepted to school. Then, they compete over you. If you are a hot commodity to the schools trying to win you over, they will make competing offers to get you into their institution. Sometimes the first offer of aid isn't the last offer -- be prepared to subtly say that 'while I am really interested in this department on an academic level, it really would be a considerable financial challenge for me compared with other programs i'm considering.' I said this once and got a new offer within three days. Graduate schools view their grad students somewhat as junior faculty and they recognize that being a graduate student is sort of like the first stage in your career. They know that you don't want to have a full time job and be a grad student. At the same time, though, you are at the bottom of the pile. Do not expect to get rich off of graduate fellowship money -- but try and get enough that you don't have to maintain a job or eat ramen for every meal.

Good luck, you have a long time to work on this and you can do it.

Answer 2

1) If you have an advisor and you are working on research with them, you typically get some stipend from their grant(s).

2) Many departments and training programs have training grants from the government for their students.

3) Teaching is also a common component of graduate programs, and you will get paid for being a TA. This may be the most common way to pay for school. In addition to a salary, TAs usually get some tuition assistance.

Check with the programs you are applying to, they will be able to give you more specific information about their situation. This is a great question for YOU to ask on interviews.

Answer 3

You can go to Fastweb. You can also go to yahoo search and type in scholarships and a bunch of resources will appear. There are various grants out there. Also, i think blackstudents. com have scholarships as well. I don't think you have to be just African American either.

Answer 4

You should research scholarships on Fastweb.com.
Also look into fellowships and assistantships.