For PhD programs, this process starts before you apply for admission. Contact the faculty member who you want to have as your mentor and tell them that you’ll be applying and would really like to work with them. Build a relationship. When they sit down to decide who they admit, you need somebody in that room to fight for you – the same person who’s going to fight to get you funded.

2) TA/Fellowship positions ( the most likely funding) usually come with a tuition waiver and a stipend or salary. The money is bad, but it sure beats paying tuition and trying to find an employer who will work around your schedule. If your undergrad degree was in a different field or you know something that could be useful to another department, also apply to that department for funding. I had a friend in grad school who’s from Israel and fluent in Hebrew – she studied history and TA’d for the foreign language department because they didn’t have anybody else who could teach it. Your funding won’t pay for research trips, so when it comes time to do that (if you need to) you’re going to have to find grants or some other way to pay for it, so keep that in mind. Its unusual for students in PhD programs to pay tuition, but it happens.

3) I stopped with my MA (always intended to) but I have several friends in PhD programs or applying now and spent a lot of time talking to my profs about their grad school experiences and what they know about various graduate programs – something I recommend! Good luck!