Getting into Graduate School

Getting into Grad School (GiGS) is a collaborative partnership between the Office for Graduate Diversity (OGD), and the Graduate Assembly (GA), whose ultimate goal is to encourage and prepare undergraduate UC Berkeley students to select, apply, and enroll in graduate school.

By engaging key staff and graduate student mentors with motivated undergraduates, we hope undergraduates leave the mentoring program with a better understanding of what the process entails and are inspired to pursue academic careers and create change in the future.

Various colleges within the University have diversity directors — professionals committed to cultivating a campus environment that will value and actively seek to promote diversity. We’ve created a helpful list of diversity professionals by department. They work to increase the number of underrepresented scholars who will enroll and graduate from UC Berkeley graduate programs.

We strongly encourage GiGSters to set up informational interviews with a diversity professional in their field of interest this spring. Informational interviews are a great networking tool for career exploration and job hunting. They are meetings featuring a conversation about a particular field or industry between you and someone who may be in a position to help you get a job in the future, shed light on their career trajectory, or give you a better understanding of an occupation, industry, or field of study. If you’d like to set one up but aren’t sure where to start ask your mentor or the GiGS team for some guidance. Whether it’s crafting an e-mail, deciding who to contact, or generating some questions for your interview. We’re here to help!

Getting into Graduate School
327 Sproul Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
Email: [email protected]