Like deciding whether or not to go to graduate school, selecting target schools is more complex than it first seems. Filling out applications is a huge demand on your time and energy, and whether you're taking undergraduate exams or holding down a job, you probably can't afford to spend weeks dealing with a large pile of applications.

Applications are a financial drain as well: Grad-school application fees range from $20 to $90, and average about $50. These high fees are no accident. Many universities, with admissions committees swamped by record numbers of applications, have raised their fees in order to prevent less-motivated applicants from applying and reduce the number of incoming applications. Given today's fees, you can expect ten applications to cost you a total of about $500, and possibly more -- and that's before you figure in postage, transcript handling fees, photocopying, and so on. It can really add up.

Economically speaking, you can see that the saturation-bombing technique that a lot of people use to apply to college isn't very practical for grad school. It pays -- in time and money -- to narrow your field down to four or five good target schools.

To size up a graduate school, you'll look at three major factors: the academic quality of the program; your chances of getting into that program; and the practical considerations that affect your choice.

The Academic Fit
In selecting schools, the most important aspect of any school is its academic fit -- that is, how well-suited the school is to the research you want to do. If you're a prospective grad student in, say, philosophy, then it's certainly a good idea to find out where the leading philosophy departments are; but to have a really good graduate experience, you need more than just a respected department. You need individuals on the faculty who share your research interests, and who will become involved in your work and involve you in their own.

The importance of finding professors to work with varies according to your degree ambitions. If you're looking for a master's degree to round out your education or give you that professional edge, then the overall quality of the faculty may be more important to you than finding the ideal mentor. If you are decided on doctoral work and an academic career, however, then the specific research interests of professors become much more important. In either case, graduate work will always be more profitable and enjoyable if there are professors in your program who will take a personal interest in what you're doing.