Feature Interview for June 2009

Interview of the Month for June 2009 featured Dr. Wayne Brake, Graduate Program Director at Concordia University, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Posted June 1st, 2009

Dr. Wayne Brake is a faculty member in the Psychology Department, at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada. Prior to 2004, he was a faculty member in the Psychology Department, at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a behavioral neurobiologist, and like many university professors, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and supervises graduate students who are working toward a Master’s or Ph.D. degree. Importantly, Dr. Brake is currently the Graduate Program Director in his department, and he also provides academic advising to undergraduate students, many of whom come to him with questions about graduate school.

Dr. Brake (WB) kindly gave us some of his time for an interview, and we enjoyed a frank discussion about a wide range of topics. Here is part of our interview:

MGS: Why do you think the majority of students experience so much confusion about how the process of selecting graduate-school applicants generally works?

WB: One of the main problems is that students talk to each other about graduate school, instead of talking to an advisor, or someone else who knows what they are talking about. People tend to pass along stories they hear about how hard it is to get into such-and-such a school, or how high your GPA has to be. Most students believe these stories, because the stories make sense to them. But, that’s only because they don’t understand what really matters to the people who make the decisions about who gets in and who doesn’t. Students need to get the right answers, but they also need to know what questions to ask in the first place. This is something an academic advisor can help with, and any student thinking about graduate school should talk with one so they get the right perspective.

Part of the problem is that many of the naive ideas students have revolve around the importance of the GPA, which means that students are generally overestimating the influence that grades have on their graduate school prospects. Of course, grades are important they are not enough, and a preoccupation with grades causes most students to overlook some of the other things that go into a successful grad-school application.

MGS: I assume you mean things like impressive letters of recommendation, a strong personal statement, or relevant research experience?

WB: Yes, all of those things are important, and sometimes more important than the GPA.

MGS: Any other important things that students tend to overlook when applying to graduate school?

WB: Most fail to understand the importance of contacting individual faculty members at the places where they plan to apply. It is important to contact the people you would like to have as a graduate supervisor and mentor, and let them get to know you a little bit. You shouldn’t be applying to any program blindly, or else you’re wasting your time and money.

A hand does not come out of a cloud to elevate your application above the rest. If you aren’t proactive about making yourself stand out from the crowd, then you won’t. Most applicants aren’t successful, and those that are successful stand out in some way. Having the good sense to contact someone before asking them to take you on as a new graduate student is one way to stand out, because most applicants won’t do it.

MGS: How do you recommend students should go about contacting faculty members at potential graduate schools?

WB: Doing it right requires a delicate balance, so you don’t turn them off. You should email and tell them a few things about yourself, mainly about your research interests. Not too much, just a short paragraph, or two. Briefly explain why you want to go there, specifically. Ask whether they are interested in taking on new graduate students. Wait a week or so for them to respond -- and many of them won’t -- and send the email again if you don’t hear back.

Before you contact someone, read up on their work. Be ready to tell them what it is about their research that interests you.

And don’t send your message to everyone in the department! Professors can easily tell when the same message is sent to several different people, because the message is much too vague. This kind of message makes a bad impression, and probably no one will reply to it.

MGS: What kinds of things matter most to the prospective graduate advisors? What are they asking themselves about the different applicants they have to choose from.

WB: They are asking themselves, “Which one of these people do I want on my team?” So, students have to look at it more like a job interview. The potential graduate advisor will be more interested how well you will fit in, and whether you can help them get their research done. For them, the potential for productivity is a big issue.

MGS: For most students, one of the most intimidating parts of the graduate school application is the personal statement, in which they are expected to explain why they are applying to this particular program. What are some of the common mistakes you see Psychology students make in their personal statements?

WB: I think the biggest problem is a lot of them talk about their volunteer work, and how much they really want it -- the Masters or Ph.D., that is. But, really wanting it and being a good person isn’t enough.

MGS: If one asks undergraduate college students whether they plan to go to graduate school, a surprisingly large percentage will answer affirmatively, without appearing to think to much about it before answering. If you ask why they plan to pursue an advanced degree, many are hard-pressed to come up with a good reason. For the typical student with blind ambitions about graduate school, what do you think about their chances of actually getting into a decent program?

WB: Pretty bad, actually. Without having a fairly good idea of how getting a Ph.D. is going to help them end up with a specific career, most of these students don’t have a chance. Its not necessarily that they aren’t capable in an academic sense, but getting into graduate school and having success while you’re there takes more than just academic ability.

The subject matter must be something you are truly interested in, and something you want to have a deeper understanding of. And in many disciplines, you have to like doing research. It will take a lot of independent, self-motivated work over a few years. In a lot of cases, on the way to getting a Masters or a Ph.D., students are giving up some of the best years of their lives, with little money, in order to work very hard at something.

You have to really want the graduate degree for the right reasons. You have to be hungry for it. But, like I said earlier, this kind of determination may be needed for most students to get through graduate school, but its not something that will get you into graduate school.

MGS: You have spent time as a faculty member in a major university both in the United States and in Canada. In general, how do you think quality of graduate training compares between these two countries?

WB: There is no real difference between the U.S. and Canada in terms of the quality of training available, and this is probably true in nearly any discipline. Graduate programs are designed in the same ways in the U.S. and Canada. The range of quality is the same. In fact, there is more variation among different schools within either country than there is between the two countries. Some of the private schools in the U.S., where tuitions are very high, would like everyone to believe that they offer better graduate training than what’s available in the public universities, but that’s not necessarily true.


For more information on Dr. Wayne Brake visit : http://csbn.concordia.ca/faculty/brake/