By Josh Gallo / Staff writer

Some Pitt-Greensburg seniors are deciding whether or not they want to pursue furthering their education by attending graduate school. The decision to apply, while not always being an easy one, can be a long and tedious process—filled with plenty of frustration.

During the application process, students generally are required to take entrance exams, such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), or Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).

These tests are administered to predict how well a student will do in the first year of graduate school.

Devin Fisher, a senior political science major, who has applied to Duquesne and Pitt’s Schools of Law as well as Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne’s masters of science and taxation programs, said the tests aren’t a fair assestment of student’s abilities because they can’t measure passion, drive, and the motivation to succeed.

Fisher said these are often the most important factors in determining future success.

The frustration doesn’t end with entrance exams.

Kristin Asplin, assistant professor of psychology, said after she took the GRE and applied to graduate schools, she had difficulty finding the right program and school.

She said she applied to the University of Delaware because it had the program she thought she was looking for, language acquisition, only to find out the classes were being taught by a professor from the department of education, not the department of psychology.

“You can never do enough research about a school,” Asplin said.

Another tedious part of the application process is getting letters of recommendation from faculty or employers because it often takes much longer than a student expects.

This is because faculty can be swarmed with students asking them to write letters of recommendation.

Dr. Asplin said she has written 12 letters of recommendations for her students this semester. A 13th letter is sitting on her desk.

Senior Jessica Tintera said she believes, however, the most frustrating part of the application process is simply waiting to find out a school’s decision after the application goes out in the mail. She said getting into graduate school is essential for her career path and if she does not get in, she may have to reroute her entire plans for the future.

Although the application process can be long and tedious, filled with unexpected twists and turns, students can only do their best to get their applications in and wait, hoping for the best—whether patiently or impatiently.