Grad School vs College

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Have you ever wondered what the difference is between grad school and college? These are the five key differences that you need to be prepared for.

Starting grad school can be both overwhelming and exciting. You may be anxiously waiting to figure out how grad school will be different from college. As someone who has completed both, I am sharing the five key differences between grad school and college.

Through this post you will learn all about what to expect in graduate school, what getting a PhD is like and more. This post will focus on fully-funded doctorate level graduate programs with a heavy research focus. However, many aspects of this post may apply to other graduate school experiences.

After making note of these five differences you will be more prepared to take on this new challenge!

This post is all about what to expect from grad school vs college.

1. Classes versus Cohorts

In college, you are a part of a large class of students. In graduate school, you are a part of a small cohort of individuals who are a part of the same degree program as you. Cohorts vary in size but are typically only a handful of people. Because cohorts are such small groups, people often become very close to their cohort members as they spend a lot of time together studying and completing research tasks. It is so nice to have cohort members to support you during big graduate school milestones such as qualifying exams and dissertation defenses.

2. Mentor Model

Another key difference between graduate school and college is the mentor model. When you apply to graduate school, you apply to work with a professor whose research you want to be a part of or extend. As such, most of your learning in your field will come under this professor or mentor’s guidance. So instead of having a “major,” you are developing a very specific area of research expertise as a graduate student.

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3. Research Expectations

To develop research expertise, there will be many research expectations required of you during your graduate school career in addition to your coursework. You may run your own research studies or contribute significantly to your advisor or labmates’ research projects. This may require you to recruit and/or follow study participants or guide participants through interviews or lab tasks. You will also need to analyze data and write up study results by way of peer-reviewed manuscripts.

4. Clinical Practica and Internships

In college you may have time-limited internships to familiarize yourself with the field you would like to go into. This is also the case in graduate school, however, in doctorate-level Clinical Psychology programs in particular, you will have patients or clients that you see as a part of your clinical caseload. Patients or clients may be seen as a part of your graduate school training clinic, or/and you may be involved in external practica and internships. You will have a supervisor who will supervise your care of the individuals and families on your caseload, however, these experiences typically carry much more responsibility than college-level practica and internships.

5. Breadth of Study

As previously mentioned, unlike college where you major in a broad area of study, the purpose of a doctorate-level degree is to help you become an “expert” in a very narrow area of study. For example, if you enter a PhD program in Clinical Psychology, and example research focus may be “maladaptive eating behaviors in adolescents,” or “interventions for childhood anxiety disorders.” Some research areas may even be more narrow than these examples. Therefore, when you choose a graduate school mentor and area of study, it is important to make sure it is very interesting to you because that topic will be your focus throughout your time in the program. Some people change foci while completing their degree, but the level of specificity will remain.

This post was all about what to expect from grad school vs college.

Depending on the type of program you are in you may also notice other differences between grad school and college. Anything else you would add to this list? Comment below!

Grad School vs College | 5 Key Differences