The document discusses strategies for recruiting research-oriented graduate students. It notes that current graduate students and alumni can help with recruitment efforts. However, aligning the goals and incentives of faculty and administrators can be challenging. The document provides recommendations, including having department websites feature faculty and students, creating awards for advising, and using tools like GradTrek to better connect applicants with programs and faculty.

1. Gabe Ignatow, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology
University of North Texas
GradTrek
Recruiting and Advising
Research-focused Graduate
Students: Lessons from the Field

2. Medium- and long-term strategies for
recruiting research-oriented masters and
doctoral students

3. ● Research-focused masters and doctoral
students play a key role in the recruitment
of new generations of graduate students.
○ As instructors and TAs
○ As alumni
■ faculty
■ professionals
Who cares?

4. ● On the sociology faculty at the University of North
Texas since 2007
● Co-founded GradTrek.com in 2013
● Taught in Israel 2005-2007
● Taught in Turkey 2003-2005
● Doctoral student at Stanford 1998-2003
I. Who am I and why am I here?

5. I had great advisors

6. I have tried to “pay it forward.”

7. ● Co-director of our graduate program
o Recruitment and admissions
● Extensive admissions committee work
Within my department

8. I also blog and answer graduate
program applicants’ questions.
● TheGradCafe
● Reddit
● Quora
● GradTrek

9. II. Mentorship, Fit, and Enrollment
Management
● Research-focused masters and doctoral students play a
key role in the recruitment of new generations of
graduate students.
● While studying for their graduate degrees they often
serve as instructors and TAs and even mentors, and as
alumni they can boost recruitment to their graduate
alma maters.

10. ● They are low-hanging fruit.
● It’s easy to develop an effective recruitment
plan.
● But they’re savvy. And you’ll have to deal with
faculty!
How to recruit research-oriented
graduate students

11. It is difficult to coordinate the actions of faculty, administrators,
and applicants:
● Goal alignment
● Incentive structures
● Experience
● Skills
● Culture
Universities are complex organizations with
many moving parts.

12. Graduate schools and other administrative
units work on recruitment of graduate students,
but what happens within departments is often a
black box.

13. Faculty and students:
mentorship and fit
Enrollment management:
leads and yield
Applicants:
safety schools and tiers
Administrators and faculty speak different languages.

14. The language, goals, and incentives of faculty
and administrators are often misaligned.

15. ● Graduate research program applicants are
looking for fit and mentorship.
● How best to connect applicants with faculty
to optimize student-program fit?
Medium- and long-term strategies for
recruiting research-oriented masters and
doctoral students

16. The key is to put potential applicants in touch with the right faculty.
This is easier said than done!
● Faculty may not be interested.
● Advising burden may be inequitably distributed among faculty.
● No concrete incentives.
● Faculty were trained at "if you build it they will come" universities.
● Faculty may see recruitment as beneath them or someone else's job.
● Applicants are intimidated and poorly informed.

17. ● Fixing this should be possible for graduate
admissions professionals.
● Everyone's long-term interests are aligned.

18. Recommendations
Not much graduate admissions professionals can do about this.
Deans would insist departments directly incentivize graduate advising in merit
evaluations.
o This is the critical change that must be made IMHO.
o It should not be OK for faculty in departments with graduate programs
to not advise graduate students.
o Faculty should understand this expectation when they apply for
positions.

19. Recommendations
● More relevant information should be available to
applicants in convenient formats.
● Advising offices and graduate schools would link to
TheGradCafe, Quora, Reddit subreddits and GradTrek
and the GradTrek blog.

20. 1. Request provosts and deans create many small nominal faculty awards for
successful graduate student advising.
2. Have someone take photos of advisors and their graduate students.
3. Request that all departmental websites include sections that appeal to
graduate applicants:
a. > 5 smiling faces on the homepage
b. > 3 should be graduate students
c. A “Jill Smith defended her dissertation/thesis on XYZ under the guidance
of Professor Jones” section with a photo of Jill Smith
d. A “Students on the Market” section
e. A “Jill Smith is starting a job at XYZ this fall. She defended her
dissertation in 2015 under the guidance of Professor Jones” section
4. Try GradTrek yourself and have advising offices try out GradTrek-
Counselor.
Action Items for Graduate Admissions Professionals

21. What to do
Is this “if you build it
they will come?”
No!

22. What to do

23. What to do

24. Go Gators!

25. Go Gators!

26. Go Gators!

27. Boo
Seminoles!
(It’s nothing
personal)
Smiling faces = 0
Graduate students = 0
Names = Chair only
A classic “if you build it
they will come” site

28. What not to do No faces, generic text blocks, chair name only, ca. 2014 information

29. 1. Request provosts and deans create many small nominal faculty awards for
successful graduate student advising.
2. Have someone take photos of advisors and their graduate students.
3. Request that all departmental websites include sections that appeal to
graduate applicants:
a. > 5 smiling faces on the homepage
b. > 3 should be graduate students
c. A “Jill Smith defended her dissertation/thesis on XYZ under the
guidance of Professor Jones” section with a photo of Jill Smith
d. A “Students on the Market” section
e. A “Jill Smith is starting a job at XYZ this fall. She defended her
dissertation in 2015 under the guidance of Professor Jones” section
4. Try GradTrek and have advising offices try out GradTrek-Counselor.
Action Items for Graduate Admissions Professionals

30. So what is GradTrek?
● Like Yelp! or eHarmony for graduate degrees in
the US
● Doctoral, masters-level, and certificates
● Unbiased results
● Levels the playing field:
o Students versus universities
o Students from elite versus less elite
universities
● Free for users, easy sign in via FB and Google

35. GradTrek-Counselor
● A version of GradTrek for use in career centers and
advising offices
● Counselors and students can search programs and chat
together.
● Provides partner universities with a major recruiting
advantage.
● Fixes the “leaky pipeline” between graduate and
undergraduate programs.

41. Action Items for Graduate Admissions Professionals
1. Request provosts and deans create many small nominal faculty awards for
successful graduate student advising.
2. Have someone take photos of advisors and their graduate students.
3. Request that all departmental websites include sections that appeal to
graduate applicants: photos, on the market, PhDs granted, smiles
4. Try out GradTrek yourself.
5. Have advising offices contact us to try out GradTrek-Counselor.
contact@gradtrek.com
gabe@gradtrek.com