HOW TO PREPARE FOR

GRADUATE EDUCATIONEileen Doyle Crane, J.D.

Utah Valley University

MAXIMS FOR YOUR PROGRESSION

It’s not the grade, it’s what you know Faculty Mentors can help you Research and writing skills make all the difference Oral advocacy—if you can’t explain it, it doesn’t

matter how smart the idea is Publishing as an undergrad—put it in print Build a network of professionals who do what you

want to do Read the literature in your field at the professional

level Research graduate programs in your area of

interest—all programs are not created equally Find your heroes who do what you want to do

GRADES V. KNOWLEDGE Within 3-5 years of graduation, no one

will know or care when you graduated or what your grades were

They will care about what you KNOW And how the knowledge you have can

help them Solve problemsCreate solutionsAddress issuesGive value-added to their organization,

company, product, goods, or services

FACULTY MENTORS Faculty members have studied in their field of

expertise for at least 8 years before you see them in the classroom

Faculty members have a firehose of information to give you

A 3-credit semester class equals 48 hours of face time in the classroom

Faculty members know MORE than what they can teach in one semester

Curriculum design requires faculty to teach a broad sector of their topic

But the depth of their knowledge is MUCH deeper Act interested and they have MORE to give you!

RESEARCH & WRITING SKILLS Law is very interesting; you could spend

hours researching something that you can not bill the time for to clients

Managing/supervising partner will not be interested in ALL that you can learn about a topic, at least initially

Since the creation of the Internet, an information explosion has occurred

The ability to find what you need exactly and quickly will save you in billable hours

RESEARCH & WRITING SKILLS Knowledge of strict grammar rules is a

MUST Seek critical feedback of writing from

professors Buy this book and read it, use it Mark it up and put tabs in it for rules on

commas, semi-colons, etc. There are special punctuation rules in

legal writing Bluebook Citation Manual

ORAL ADVOCACY Many graduate programs are writing based, oral

secondarily Broaden your vocabulary: www.merriam.com

Subscribe to an email Word-A-Day Read broadly to expand your command of ideas and

timeless philosophies Practice oral presentations in front of friends and

family Law, for example, is an oral occupation ONLY

secondarily No oral presentations until AFTER the writings Even in negotiations, writings such as demand letters

come first Court visits take up very little of most attorneys’ time,

unless one is in the litigation section of a large law firm

NETWORKING Contact each of the two other attorneys Invite each to lunch, breakfast, as above Ask specific questions about the profession Ask for names of two other attorneys to meet Write/email/call the 1st attorney and thank

him/her for the referral and share what was learned in subsequent interviews

Continue till student knows 100 attorneys Collect and file business cards as well as create

and share one’s own card; write notes on the back of details that will help you remember something about this particular person

LITERATURE IN YOUR FIELD Start with a macro search on your field Discover what the specialties are that

exist within it Do some self-discovery to identify your

particular interests Discover who the experts in those areas

are Read their work and learn what the

issues are in those areas Arrive at graduate school with some

idea of the past, present, and future concerns of the field are

GRADUATE PROGRAMS Identify where graduate programs are in

your field of interest Discover a way to systematically compare

and contrast programs Create a spreadsheet of the variables

involved Research the various programs, filling in the

spreadsheet with information Compare within schools for breadth and

depth of offerings Compare across variables for breadth and

depth of offerings

POST-GRADUATE SCHOOL WORK Most graduate programs lead to a

variety of employment options Explore the options currently most

subscribed to by graduates Discover necessary data about those

positions, e.g. pay, hours, travel, benefits, work settings and situations, professional development, advancement opportunities, leadership training

Post-graduate training/degrees: are they necessary, negligible, optional

HEROES IN YOUR FIELD Identify those who laid the foundation

for the field you are interested in Find out who the current leading actors

are in your field Contact them, if they are still alive Assume that they will be interested in

hearing from you Ask those who respond intelligent

questions which show that you have done your homework

Thank them for their time and attention