We Only Help Graduate School Applicants Who Know Which Degrees They Wish to Pursue

At Ivy Coach, we help students earn admission both at the undergraduate and graduate levels to highly selective schools or programs. But today, we feel the need to vent about some of the prospective graduate school clients who come to us, folks we choose not to take on as clients. And why? Because, well, they need career counseling or, heck, life counseling more than they need graduate school admission counseling. Allow us to share with you a representative example of a prospective graduate school client who comes to us inquiring about our services.

Too Many Graduate School Applicants Don’t Know What They Want

“I’m not really sure what I want to do. I’m thinking about possibly applying to PhD programs in economics, though the thought of applying to master’s programs in financial engineering or even PhD programs in linguistics could be the right fit for me. Oh, and I’ve always wanted to get a master’s degree in zoology as well. Or maybe a JD, but only if it would mean I could do it at Harvard or Yale. Would I need to take the GRE? The LSAT? Do you think you could help me with all of this? I also need help sometimes brushing my teeth; it’s hard to get my molars shiny. What are your services and how can you help me figure out what I want to do? Can you help me? I need help.”

We Only Help Graduate School Applicants Who Know What They Want

We’re really not kidding — that’s how so many prospective graduate school clients sound! Our loyal readers, of course, will likely be unsurprised by our response: “We absolutely understand. Well, once you’ve figured out which specific degree you wish to pursue, we’d be happy to help you. But we can’t help you figure out what you wish to do in life. Perhaps a career counselor or even a palm reader could help but I’m afraid that’s outside the scope of our services.” And then, of course, they hate us because they wanted both their hands held as they tried to figure out what they wanted to do in life. But we are an admissions consultancy. We help students optimize their case for admission to the graduate programs of their dreams. We do not help them figure out what they want to do in life and if they’re really so all over the place that they don’t know if they wish to pursue a master’s in zoology or a PhD in economics, then we’re just not the right fit.

If you know which graduate degree you wish to pursue, we can help you! If you don’t know what you want to do in life much less which graduate degree you wish to pursue, we wish you all the best in your journey of self-discovery!