Prospective students are primarily interested in the quality of their chosen graduate program and their experience if they were to come to Montana State. More and more, students are interested in making a difference to solve some of our world’s greatest challenges: in essence, the Land Grant mission. To convey the exciting, internationally-recognized research of your faculty and the professional preparation of graduate students, your website is key and could include:

  • Stories of graduate students and the impact their studies or research are having on our world.
  • News releases about groundbreaking research and societal impact.
  • Well-being initiative and professional development opportunities at MSU (GradCat 360)
  • The financial side of graduate school. Your site could include the fraction of current students on assistantships and what that means in practice, e.g. stipend, additional payment, tuition, or for self-pay students you can link to the graduate school’s cost page
  • Easy to find application requirements and a primary person of contact for questions.
  • Add application links to your research pages, so that prospective students can always find application information.

In addition, to recruit underrepresented students, here are a few effective strategies:

  1. Recruiting via Research Relationships (R3 Initiative)
  2. Meeting students via MSU’s membership in national organizations
  3. Travel to regional universities and colleges and meet students. Many of our underrepresented graduate students graduated from other Montana and regional institutions.
  4. Prospective graduate students don’t always know about the collegial aspect of graduate work, e.g.