To an outsider, an SMU senior looks like a normal, everydaystudent. On the inside, that seemingly average student is an abyssof questions: “What am I going to do when I graduate? What ifI can’t find a job? Should I go to graduate school? What am Igoing to do with my life?” and so on. Many students decide ongraduate school as a destination after graduation. However, thepath to graduate school is not as smooth and straight as somestudents would like to think.
Beginning during the second semester of junior year all the waythrough graduation, thousands of students across the United Statesconsider and apply for graduate schools, medical schools and lawschools. In order to apply for a program in any of these schools,students must complete the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), theMCAT (Medical College Admission Test), the LSAT (Law SchoolAdmission Test), or the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test).These standardized tests, though similar in structure, differsignificantly from the SAT (Standardized Aptitude Test) or the ACT(American College Test).
Students such as Will Whited, a senior environmental sciencemajor taking the MCAT, have been studying at least an entiresemester for the test.
“I took a Princeton Review course, which lasted an entiresemester…In the final three weeks or so, I probably studiedanywhere from four to eight hours a day, not including theoccasional practice test,” Whited said.
Dr. Karen de Olivares, the pre-med advisor, suggests othermethods for preparing for the MCAT besides taking prep classes. Sheencourages students to “read articles and books in a varietyof disciplines, improve vocabulary, and work on test-takingstrategies.” She also recommends taking advantage of campusresources such as the LEC, which can help improve students’test taking and reading skills, as well as test anxiety.
Students taking different tests did not study quite as much asWhited or as much as Dr. de Olivares suggests.
“I studied almost an hour every day for two months [beforethe LSAT]. Well, okay, sometimes I did not make the wholehour,” said Lyndsey Hummert, a senior political science andsociology major.
Although studying for the different tests can be stressful andtime-consuming, many students say that the actual applicationaspect isn’t nearly as difficult. Whited said that he chosenot to worry about school rank, and only applied to medical schoolswhere he knew he would be comfortable as he will spend the nextfour years at that institution. Emily Robards, a senior journalismand religious studies major, approached the GRE and graduate schooladmission in a different light.
“I have basically decided that I only want to go to gradschool if I get into a top-notch program where the degree will lookprestigious and the networking will be helpful. So I have pickedonly one or two top schools to apply to, and if I get in, great. IfI don’t…then I’ll just get a job,” Robardssaid.
Robards, Whited and Hummert have all taken similar approaches topreparing for their different exams. They have taken Kaplan andPrinceton Review prep classes and have devoted numerous hours toindependent study.
When asked to give advice to students considering taking one ofthese entrance exams, Hummert offered words of encouragement,saying that too much stress about the test can cause a poorperformance. Rachel Ross, a senior Business Management major fromFranklin, Tennessee taking the LSAT, presented her own insightfulwords of wisdom:
“Take as many practice tests as you can stand. That testwas the hardest test I’ve ever encountered. People keeptelling me, ‘You can take it again!’ I reply,‘Yeah right! You can take it for me!'”
