Choosing the right graduate program is a big decision that can shape your academic, professional, and personal future. In this episode of Victors in Grad School, Dr. Christopher Lewis brings together a diverse panel of enrollment management professionals and industry experts from across the country to answer a critical question: What’s one piece of advice you would give students to help them better evaluate whether a program is the right fit academically, personally, or professionally? The insights shared in this episode are a goldmine for anyone considering graduate school or helping others navigate the process.

One major theme throughout the episode is the importance of self-reflection and self-honesty. Many experts, including Sabrina Brown (UNC Charlotte) and Tony Fraga (Direct Development), urge students to look beyond academic rankings or prestige. Instead, they recommend starting with your "why"—what are your true motivations and career goals? Take the time to evaluate your learning style, your needs for support and community, and how a program aligns with your personal aspirations and circumstances.

Research and connection are another recurring theme. Repeatedly, the guests encourage prospective students to look beyond brochures and websites. Instead, make meaningful connections: talk to faculty, current students, and especially alumni in roles or industries you aspire to. Emily Dayton (UC San Diego) and Marcus Hanscom (Direct Development) stress the value of these conversations in revealing the actual culture of a program, typical career outcomes, and the lived experiences of people just like you.

The academic environment matters too, but it’s not the whole story. Paul Brandano (UCLA Anderson) and James Monahan (SIU Edwardsville) highlight the importance of evaluating curriculum, faculty engagement, and the level of rigor honestly—you want to be challenged, but also supported.

Location and atmosphere are also crucial elements. As Ben Webb (QS) and Santavaya Jordan (Vanderbilt University) point out, a program’s fit is not just about classes and credentials but also about the city or campus setting and the mental health resources available. Can you picture yourself thriving in this new environment?

Finally, don’t forget to be proactive! Reach out for more information, as Matt Bohlen (Carnegie) explains—it’s worth the extra effort to piece together what life as a student there truly looks like.

If you’re gearing up for grad school or supporting someone on that journey, this episode is packed with candid, actionable advice. Listen in for a wide range of perspectives and start charting your own path to graduate school success!

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:01]: Welcome to Victor's in grad school, where we have conversations with students, alumni, and experts about what it takes to find success in graduate school.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:11]: Welcome back to Victor's in grad school. This week, we have a great opportunity to be able to learn from other enrollment management professionals. I recently attended the National Association of Graduate Admission Professionals or NAGAP. And at that conference, I spoke to a number of enrollment management professionals and individuals working within industry that are working with higher education about a number of questions to help you in the journey that you are on toward graduate school. This week's question was, what's one piece of advice you would give to students to help them better evaluate whether a program is the right fit academically, personally, or professionally. I hope that you enjoy the answers to this question and that it will help you on the journey that you are on.

Stacy Goldstein [00:01:07]: Hi. This is Stacy Goldstein with UC San Diego at Rady School of Management with the master professional accountancy program. I work in our graduate department in admissions, and my big thing is being your cheerleader for my students. One piece of advice that I like to give is utilize the resources you have now and work backwards. What does that mean? If you're in school right now, you're getting career resources, have someone look at your resume. So utilize those connections, get to know your faculty. Sometimes they're board members or they sit or they still are a partner. Make those connections, not just LinkedIn, but get to know them.

Stacy Goldstein [00:01:42]: And what I mean by work backwards, then follow them on LinkedIn. What job do you wanna do? Look at their profile, see what they did for their graduate studies, see what types of jobs they got, and then that will gauge of which direction and which graduate school you choose. Go for the dream job.

Donna Wang Su [00:02:01]: My name is Donna Wang Su. I am the associate director for graduate admissions and financial aid at

Jamie Crampton [00:02:05]: Northwestern University, Medill School of

Donna Wang Su [00:02:05]: Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. I'm Medill School of Journalism Media Integrated Marketing Communications. I'm a huge fan of strategic planning. So I think to do research, look at careers, jobs that you say to yourself, I could see myself doing that. And doing those kind of informational interviews with people and seeing, you know, what paths have taken them in that direction, whether it was the right mentorship, if it was the right degree, what was it part of the degree? Was it the network? Was it the curriculum? And kind of letting that guide their path there.

Santavaya Jordan [00:02:40]: My name is Santavaya Jordan. I am the engineering graduate recruiter at Vanderbilt University, and I recruit only for our graduate programs in engineering. One great thing I would say is looking at not just the school's ratings, but where the school is located and if you can be in that environment mentally. It's very important for your mental health when you're in a new environment, not only dealing with new people and experiences, but actually the other outlets within that area within the city for you to go to, resources that are on campus, resources that are off campus for your mental health. And that's extremely important, especially if you have other family factors or other life situations that may contribute to or may affect how you matriculate throughout your program.

Paul Brandano [00:03:23]: I'm Paul Brandano. I'm the executive director of the Master of Science in Business Analytics at UCLA Anderson. Personally, I'm thinking all the time about, first, who they are. So I've I've gotta get to know them quite well before I even begin to answer the question. It's pretty clear from our perspective that there's a certain baseline in a program like ours, which is highly quantitative. And so when we're looking for our fit, we're looking for someone who can swim, not sink. And that's academically, of course, in all the quantitative courses that they might take on with us, and they're quite diverse. So that could be a, you know, a math major, it could be an accounting major, it could be a finance major, undergrad, it could be a computer scientist or an engineer.

Paul Brandano [00:04:00]: But they've gotta have some common ability to manage the higher level math. Ideally, they will have taken multirabial calculus and linear algebra. And so if they do have those things, that starts the conversation. Because after that, you're really looking for how much of a fit are they going to be in the next phase of their life, which is their career. And they've just got a short window with us. I think the advantage of an MBA is that you get to be there a while. You get to evaluate for yourself what's the right path, where am I going, and perhaps choose one of those areas I was mentioning, finance, operations, etcetera. Here, we just know that they're going to be specialists and ideally have as broad a breadth of skill sets across those functional areas as possible so that they can, in their career, jump between marketing and finance, etcetera, or between industries.

Paul Brandano [00:04:43]: And so what I'm looking for and and and I'm evaluating them, they're evaluating us is, you know, how much of that do they have naturally? And when, you know, just like when you go to a conference or listening to a podcast, you're you're kind of moved more by a person who has that natural charisma, that x factor. And so we're definitely looking for that. Right? You know, is it if you've got those things that sort of stand out to everyone as they've got some magic in them, they're on my admit list. And I think in the middle, it's it's someone who can who has a few gaps to fill. And I think those are the ones, of course, who are gonna get the most from a program like ours. So it's really professional, personal, academic. They all kind of go together. I am looking for a scholar more than I'm looking for someone who just wants to get the job.

Paul Brandano [00:05:23]: I think that's really important because it says they're gonna be in it not from not just from me, but for the next phase.

Emily Dayton [00:05:31]: Hi. This is Emily Dayton. I am the senior director of the specialized master's admissions and recruitment at the Ravey School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. So my recommendation is to talk to alumni of the program. And if you can, alumni that have similar preprogram traits that are important to you. So maybe an undergrad major or institution, maybe work experience in the same industry or family or support network system. And after talking with them, think about if their experiences resonate with your own motivations for graduate school.

Tony Fraga [00:06:11]: Hey. It's Tony Fraga, CEO at Direct Development. We're a long time enrollment marketing company. I think of fit first aligning with what it is the outcome you have in your mind of what that success looks like for you. Because when we consider a program, we're actually have an idea. And I would say to you, what

Tony Fraga [00:06:30]: is it you have in your mind? I don't

Tony Fraga [00:06:30]: care how idealistic it is. You have a vision in your mind of you after you get a pro a degree and what you're doing. And I actually would start professionally first. I'm not saying academically and personally don't matter as much, but I actually would start there because I think that aligns with your vision for you went on this path because of a why. What's your why behind what you'd be looking at here? And you might have not have it all figured out, but you do have this idea in your head of, but I'd like to, I want to, I have a desire to, and you gotta stay rooted in that. I think if it's professionally aligned with your professional goals first, check that box. The next one I would go to is personally, over academically. Because personally, who are you and how do you learn? Do you really know yourself? Because I think a lot of us sometimes aren't honest with how we learn and what mode and kind of environment we're looking for.

Tony Fraga [00:07:20]: You may need to be around people more. An online program might not be good for you even though it sounds sexy. And so I think you need to be honest with yourself of honestly, what are your work habits? What are your learning habits? And if you're not honest with that, personally, how you operate, you're gonna sign up for a really cool program that could hit your professional goals, but that you stink at because it's not the right mode for you personally. And then academically, I think you need to be honest with a level of rigor, and looking at the professors and how it's taught, and what are the academics like at that institution. Is this gonna be a like high pace cranky through, but you gotta really be on it? You want a lot of hand holding? I think you need to look at the entire academic experience. Look at the professors, listen to them, listen to their podcasts, read their content. Do you like it? Can you learn from that? That's what I do next.

Adrian Peralta [00:08:10]: Hi, everybody. My name is Adrian Peralta. I'm part of the graduate admissions team at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. I, myself, am a graduate international special populations admissions counselor. Please evaluate your career path. That always is the first step. And always understand understand who your support systems are. That also helps you to kinda make that final informed decision.

Adrian Peralta [00:08:32]: Always ask questions and make yourself as available as you can be to people who may not be in your profession, but can help you, you know, understand all the different nuances of choosing the right grad program, but as well as selecting your mentors.

Jeremiah Nelson [00:08:50]: Jeremiah Nelson. I'm a faculty member at the Kettner School of Business at Catawba College and the MBA director. Visit. Don't rely on just the website. Talk to people and get to know the culture of the campus and the culture of the student body and the faculty. That helps a lot to make sure that it's a place that you can thrive. Ask a lot of questions. Don't be shy because people are really eager to tell you about their experiences.

Jeremiah Nelson [00:09:16]: So go out of your way to make some personal connections. I would also say check-in and find out about outcomes. Ask questions about where people are going, what kinds of, careers they're pursuing, and make sure that that's a good match for you. Because if there's a runway of alumni that are doing the thing that you want to do, there's a much greater likelihood that you're gonna land in a place that's gonna make you happy in the long run.

Naronda Wright [00:09:41]: Hello. I'm Naronda Wright. I service the associate dean of graduate student services at Jordan Southern University and also service the Nagat president. One, first, do your research on the program. Know what the admissions requirements are. What are the outcomes? What are the SLOs for a program to find out if it's a good fit for you. We think we want something, then we get into it, and we start taking classes and meeting with faculty and staff, and it's not what we want. So I think the biggest thing upfront for me is the biggest piece of advice is to do your research prior to even applying to a graduate program so you know what you're looking for, and you have a better outlook on your graduate program.

Irene Aiken [00:10:16]: I'm Irene Akin. I'm the Dean of the grad school at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. First of all, they need to shadow someone who is in the field and speak with a lot of people who are in that field and with those credentials to see if that's the job that they want to do in the future.

Ray Lutsky [00:10:38]: Hey there. This is doctor Ray Lutzky, vice president for strategic partnerships at Element four fifty one, the AI driven student engagement platform. And one piece of advice I would give students to help them better evaluate whether a program is right fit academically, personally, professionally, is to get a vibe for how the faculty deal with the students. If there are ways to get great education but have a poor experience, And then there are opportunities to find mentorship and lifelong connections and career advice, and the faculty play a big role in that. I think that's one of the key advantages of the on campus experience today still over many online modalities, but I think that's important. And it's also interesting to think.

Matt Bohlen [00:11:25]: Alright. My name

Marcus Hanscon [00:11:26]: is Marcus Hanscomb. I'm the director of enrollment marketing at Direct Development and also spent about seventeen years working in college admissions in the graduate schools, talk to current students and faculty. It's a little extra effort, but it's worth it and actually getting some good value to hear about what kind of research is being undertaken, what kinds of outcomes they could expect for their programs. And it's really critical that you find a program that you're investing your time and money in to find that's a really good fit for you and ultimately gets you to the career goal that you have.

Sabrina Brown [00:11:55]: I'm Sabrina Brown. I work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and I am the director of graduate recruitment. It's truly taking the time to think about what's sort of going on in your world

Sabrina Brown [00:12:07]: as well as the goals or outcomes. Sometimes the goals

Sabrina Brown [00:12:08]: or outcomes for you or outcomes for you choosing your program is increased earning potential and very, like, nuts and bolts y, like, what can I do in my career? Sometimes it's what you're hoping to learn and just expanding your ability to learn about the things that you're passionate about or maybe it's expanding your legacy for your family. So really taking stock of that, but I also think taking stock of what's going on in your world and where those things intersect and are gonna pull on you so you can create the best support for yourself. So if you have a lot of competing priorities or passions, what is it gonna look like not just for you to have to sacrifice or make space for this new endeavor, but also the people around you and making sure that you're setting yourself up for success. I think websites and chatting with people and connecting with folks in your intended program is super helpful, but oftentimes prospective students forget themselves in the process when they're just looking at information gathering. So truly insert yourself, what you bring, and all that comes a part of your journey or will be a part of your journey in that evaluation process.

Addie Caudle [00:13:20]: My name is Addie Caudle. I'm the communications manager from Tarleton State University. Really look at the program, talk to current students that are in the program, talk to alumni, talk to faculty because ultimately you're gonna be tied to this program for a year, two years, depending on if it's a master's or doctoral program. And you really wanna make sure that this is going to fit what you want to do and what your goals are in life.

Melissa Yeung [00:13:45]: I'm doctor Melissa Young, director of student support and belonging at the school of physical and occupational therapy at Bowling Green State University. Do a deep reflection of what you need as a student, as a learner, depending on where you are in life. If you are someone who requires that faculty be readily on hand for you to just walk into their office and seek advice, then perhaps the hybrid program or an online program may not be a good fit for you. But if you're someone who's working full time and you just need to get into a degree program that you can finish quickly, then perhaps looking into an online program would be a good fit for you.

James Monahan [00:14:33]: I'm James Monahan. I'm the director of graduate and international admissions at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Number one, I would have them check on the school's website for the curriculum. I think you need to look at what classes you're going to be able to take and make sure it really fits with your interest because there's going to be slight differences from every school and you want something that you're really passionate about. So I would really suggest you go there. And one other thing I'll just add is that trust your instincts. Sometimes there's a school something just appeals to you about the school and that's actually okay and not a bad reason for choosing a program.

Ben Webb [00:15:12]: Hello. I am Jamie Crampton. I work for Gecko Engage, a software company in higher education headquartered out of Edinburgh. I also live in Edinburgh, Scotland. So I'm gonna answer these questions from the lens of The UK education sector, but hopefully, it's also applicable to The US as well. First of all, pursue your personal preferences, what you think you would enjoy studying. That's the most important factor, I think, in any decision on which program is the right fit. But take that with a pinch of salt and also consider the programs that are professionally going to benefit you as well.

Jamie Crampton [00:15:43]: I know when I was choosing my education path, I really wanted to do act acting or drama or things around that nature like my elder sister did. And the difficulty with that was we both loved that, but it was hard to get into a profession with a degree around that nature. And so I started looking at multiple types of courses that revolved around business, which was also a passion of mine. And somehow, I could incorporate my drama there as well, whether that be societies or clubs that were drama site is I could join as part of my business studies so I could continue my personal passion of drama, but then also have my professional passion of business so that I knew that I could be set up for success after my education. But ultimately, try and find the right balance between what you're personally gonna enjoy studying, but then also what's gonna set you up for success in the future.

Ben Webb [00:16:38]: Hello. My name is Ben Webb. I'm the executive director of The Americas for QS, which is a service that does international domestic recruiting, rankings, international performance, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I used to be on the admission side at at multiple schools across the country. There's a couple different sizes, an academic fit and there's a personal fit. Are you looking for a city atmosphere, a small college town? Where are you most comfortable? Because if you're comfortable there, you'll be able to enjoy it, you'll be able to study, you'll be able to focus. So I think that on the the personal side of it is, what type of atmosphere are you most comfortable in going to school? Large university, small university, class size. So I think that being able to understand, okay.

Ben Webb [00:17:11]: Well, what is the real class size I'm gonna have? Am I gonna have a TA? Am I gonna be actually meeting my true faculty member every day? Those are all some of the questions that you want us to find because you need to be in an atmosphere where you're not distracted, you're not concerned to be able to be relaxed enough to enjoy your education, but also perform at a peak level. I think that the career service teams at universities are obviously the the best place to go, but I think that

Matt Bohlen [00:17:37]: Hey, everybody. My name is Matt Bull, and I'm senior director of client success with Carnegie. I've been here about four years now. Before that, I worked about twenty years in higher ed, couple different institutions in the state of Michigan. Loved working in higher ed, but also I love helping higher ed as a consultant now too. I think the best piece of advice is don't be afraid to reach out. I mean, there's a lot of content on graduate programs websites, sometimes too much content, but it can be overwhelming. I would say don't be afraid to submit a form to receive more information, It takes more time, but it's invaluable.

Matt Bohlen [00:18:11]: And just spending so much time on the website kind of get confuses when you blur so many different programs together.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:18:16]: The University of Michigan Flint has a full array of masters and doctorate programs if you are interested in continuing your education. Whether you're looking for in person or online learning options, the University of Michigan Flint has programs that will meet your needs. For more information on any of our graduate programs, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms to find out more. Thanks again for spending time with me as you prepare to be a victor in grad school. I look forward to speaking with you again soon as we embark together on your graduate school journey. If you have any questions or want to reach out, email me at [email protected].