Is Graduate School for Me? How Do I Start?

• Reputation. Academic reputation may be an important consideration, either of the institution or faculty supervisor for research-focused programs. Learn about the reputation and rankings of institutions you are interested in. Although rankings are highly subjective, they do influence reputation. A reputation of an institution for excellence or for excellence in a particular field may be beneficial for entry into future studies or work.
• Facilities. Does the institution you are considering have the facilities to support your studies? Access to the right facilities, libraries, labs, resources and equipment can impact your graduate studies.
• Lifestyle. Think about the sort of lifestyle you want to have as a grad student. This will be impacted by factors such as campus size, whether the campus is in a city or rural setting, and the student life and culture of the university.
• Location. Where in the world will you study? Think about how this will impact your life and importantly is it a place where you could live in the future? Be aware about any licensing/professional requirements if applicable.
• Financial considerations. Graduate school is a significant financial investment and that is something you should consider from the start. The next section takes a deeper look at finances and financial planning.

Depending on the type of program you enter, the financial picture may be different. Your financial opportunities include: merit-based scholarships (based on your record), need-based funding (such as loans or bursaries), assistantships (teaching, research, academic), employer support, foreign government support, work possibilities while studying, as well as tax credits/incentives.

UBC invests heavily in research programs, keeping tuition costs relatively low by comparison to institutions internationally. Tuition is less than $6,500 annually (as of 2025) for many graduate students in research-focused programs. Our cost of living estimator is a great place to learn more about typical costs for a student living in Vancouver. These include costs for tuition, accommodation, utilities, transport, and food.

Graduate school application components differ by program. Below are the most common components you can expect to see.

• Application form and application fee
• Transcripts of all post-secondary courses/degrees previously enrolled in
• Support from prospective supervisor (some research-focused programs only)
• Reference letters
• Statement of interest/research statement
• English language test scores
   

Depending on the discipline you may see other requirements such as:

• GRE or GMAT scores
• Creative work portfolios
• CV/Resume
• Writing sample

Computer Science Professor Thomas Pasquier explained in this video the overall process of applying to a research-based graduate program.

A statement of interest is a summary of your academic and/or professional goals and how these align with the graduate program.

Show your understanding of the field of study  – For research-focused programs, describe your previous research experience and how it has informed your current interests. Demonstrate your understanding of the field of study and have a detailed sense of the research that you want to conduct. Your previous education should have prepared you for this research, even if it was in another field. You will not be held to this proposal as interests and opportunities can shift, but you should be ready to discuss some specifics of your plans, especially when applying to PhD programs. For course-based and professional graduate programs describe your knowledge of the field of study and how it relates to your goals.

Show your motivation – Explain your motivation for proposing a particular research path or aiming for a professional goal. Detail why you are interested in this program and university. Programs love to see what new perspectives, interests and passions you’ll bring to the department and to the field of study! 

Tell your story – What has brought you to this point of applying and why are you interested in this particular field of study? Describe your academic or professional background and how it relates to the program. If there are elements in your trajectory that might be difficult for admissions committees to understand, address these. For example, many applicants in coming years will have missing or unusual grades from a semester during the COVID pandemic. Or, you may have faced particular obstacles in your trajectory. If you are comfortable sharing these and they explain an aspect of your trajectory, you should mention them. 

If you are making a career change or switching to very different areas of interest, do not let admissions committees guess at that, but tell them why you’re making
the switch and how you’ve prepared yourself for this new direction. Statement of interest

Top Tips

Stay within the word count – Pay attention to program-specific requirements, such as word or page count, and any particular information they would like to see addressed in your statement. 

Write several iterations – Gain feedback on each draft from people in your network. You could ask professors, current graduate students, colleagues, friends, and family to review your statement. Ultimately, your materials should make a reader enthusiastic about your application, but it might take several tries to reach that level.

Grammar and clarity – Be sure to proofread thoroughly for spelling mistakes and typos. Make sure your statement of interest is clear and concise. Avoid repetition and be specific.

Watch these videos on how to prepare a strong Statement of Interest.

Here is a website that hosts a database of example statements of purpose (SoP) shared by previous applicants to various Computer Science PhD programs in institutes over the world.

For many research-based programs, you will be required to obtain a commitment from a faculty member to supervise you before you apply. If you are required to find a supervisor, you should do this by reaching out to them directly with the graduate program.

Find UBC supervisors by using research supervisor search and research projects search tools. This is also a useful way to identify suitable programs. Keywords listed by a supervisor may overlap with your interests even though they supervise in a program that you had not thought of looking at. 

How to Reach Out

Step 1 – Get to know the research of faculty members. Read their recent research papers, take a look at departmental websites. Many faculty members have become increasingly careful about how they portray their research online, so look for what they say their current research interests are. Be sure your interests align in topic or methodology or in some other meaningful way.

Step 2 – Check if they are accepting new students, as declared either in their grad.ubc.ca supervisor profile or on their personal profile/website. 

Step 3 – If the faculty member is open to new students, contact them through their preferred way if outlined on their site, or use the ‘supervision enquiry’ form on the individual Graduate Studies supervisor profile page. When reaching out, describe your background and your interests. You are coming to graduate school for education, so your interests may not be fully formed, but a supervisor wants to be confident that you understand their field in broad strokes and have ideas for your contributions.

Top Tips

• One of the most common mistakes potential applicants make is sending a generic (cut-and-paste) email to many faculty, often including those working far outside the applicant’s area of interest. Do your homework on the faculty members you’d be interested in working with (Steps 1-2, above), and craft your email to them specifically. Don’t be overly focused too soon, however; it’s fine to contact a few faculty who can potentially guide your work.
• It’s ok to follow up with a brief email if you haven’t received a response within 1-2 weeks.
• Consider all potential supervisors. Some very prominent supervisors do not have capacity for new students or have little time for mentoring. New faculty are often looking for graduate students and may have more openings, but have a more limited track record.
• Watch this video on how to write your first email to a prospective supervisor.

How can you grab the attention of a potential supervisor?

• Express a clear interest and understanding of the research they do and describe how your own interests and background align with them.
• Be as specific as possible.
• In these videos, professors share what make them consider accepting an applicant as their graduate students.

Reference letters provide a glimpse into who you are and are crucial in the admissions process. Each graduate program determines the type of reference (e.g. academic, professional) and number of references they require which can range from two to four.

An academic reference, from a professor or academic supervisor who knows you well, will speak to your academic history, character, research, and academic goals. Current students or recent graduates (1-3 years) focus on obtaining academic references from professors who taught you recently.

A professional reference, from someone you have interacted within a professional setting, for example, your supervisor at work, will speak to your work history, skills and achievements. Experienced graduates with more time away from academia may be able to submit one or more professional references depending on the program.

Who to Ask

• Think about the people who can speak about your work and your promise in the fields to which you are applying. Consider people who know you and your work well and who are ready and willing to write a strong and well-informed letter.
• Consider the influence each letter writer has: the more prominent and established a person is, the more weight their letter might carry. Find the right balance between someone who knows you best, e.g. a postdoc, and someone who may know you less but is very established in their field.

How to Ask

Ask early, giving them plenty of time to write the reference.

• Offer to meet in person (or virtually) to re-familiarize your referee with who you are.
• You may need to remind them of a specific paper, project or experiment you worked on. Send attachments or links to specific portfolio samples.
• Let them know what your potential as a graduate student is.
• Provide details, documents, and any other information they may need as reminders to help write a great letter (one with specifics that show they truly know you and can speak to your work/ability). For research-focused degrees include a brief summary of your intended research.
• If you feel comfortable discussing this with a referee, consider which one of your qualities/qualifications they can speak to most effectively. Perhaps one letter will be able to speak to your research abilities based on a particular paper while another might offer a broader comparison with other students because the referee has taught you in multiple courses.

Top Tips

Review the program website for the number of references required and what types of references they prefer (i.e. academic vs. professional). Most research-based programs require three references.

• Make it easy for referees. Provide as much of your application package as possible.
• Ask them why they think you’d be a great graduate student to start them thinking.
• Give referees a chance to understand what might be considered excellence in a particular field. This is especially true of non-academic referees who might have less of a sense of the admissions expectations of graduate programs.
• If you are asking a referee to write a letter who is not very familiar with North American universities, explain some expectations to them. If you are applying internationally, your referee might explain the meaning of your achievements (different grading systems, competitiveness of certain programs/institutions, etc.) to admissions committees.
• Provide them the opportunity to say no. You want to be sure that they have the time and knowledge to provide a strong reference.

In these videos share tips on how to find referees and what how strong reference letters help an applicant.

What are graduate school admissions committees looking for?

• Strong record of academic achievement (good grades!).
• Good coursework background for the graduate program or relevant related work experience that demonstrates your rationale for pursuing grad studies.
• If you are moving from a master’s to PhD – peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
• Excellent reference letters—referees who know you well and think highly of your potential.
• A complete application, free from errors, having met deadlines.
• Research experience—doing and presenting original work (research-focused programs only).
• Scholarships and awards – winning them in the past is great; having them secured for grad school is even better (research-focused programs primarily).

Watch these videos to understand how your applications may be evaluated.

Things to avoid

• Submitting a statement of interest where there is no personalization to the program. 
• Lack of insight or understanding or connection to the research being done in the program.
• Incomplete or late applications, asking for exceptions, or suggesting that programs don’t really need something they are asking for.
• Sloppy writing, errors in the application.
• Trite comments and generalizations: “I have always dreamed of…”, “The world is a place that…”
• Asking questions via email or phone when the answers are on the website. You are applying to an advanced degree for which independent research skills and preparation are key. Show that you can do your basic research and read available resources, like program websites, before you reach out to the program/university with questions that can be easily answered by yourself.
• Aggressive emailing or phoning about the status of an application.
• Be patient. Most universities will not respond to you overnight due to the volume of enquiries. Avoid creating more work by emailing multiple times or multiple people.