Timeline
The following is a list of suggested activities to help you in planning your application process:
Freshman Year
- Begin accumulating good grades
- Start cultivating relationships with faculty
- Consider summer research/internships
Sophomore Year
- Continue accumulating good grades and building relationships with faculty
- Consider summer research/internships
- Attend Career Development Center workshops on Graduate School
Junior Year
- Continue accumulating good grades and building relationships with faculty
- Consider BA/MS program or taking graduate classes senior year
- Talk with seniors in your major who are going through the graduate school application process.
- Meet with your advisor to begin discussing graduate school options
- Begin researching available programs/schools
- Write or call graduate schools to request applications and catalogs
- Start exploring financial aid resources
- Take a practice test
- Attend Career Development Center workshops on Graduate School
- Take required standardized test (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT)
Summer between Junior and Senior Year
- Work or volunteer at a job that is related to your field of interest
- Continue to research graduate programs
- Visit universities you are interested in
- Make a tentative list of schools to which you plan to apply
- Contact potential reference writers (professors, supervisors, etc.)
- Take required standardized test (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT)
Senior Year
- Organize applications and related information for each school
- Finalize and select list of schools to apply to (both reach and safety schools)
- Write first draft of personal statement and get it critiqued
- Order official transcripts (after B term grades are posted if possible)
- Request letters of recommendation from faculty
- Write final draft of personal statement and have it critiqued again
- Retake graduate school admission tests, if necessary
- Complete application forms
- Apply for financial aid and assistantships, fellowships and scholarships
- Follow-up with schools to make sure your file/application is complete
- Prepare for on-campus interviews, if required
- Send thank-you notes to reference writers
- Let your reference writers, professors and everyone who has assisted you know where you got in and where you are going
Last modified: August 18, 2008 15:24:37