Graduate Timeline

Preparation for Graduate and Professional School

Step One: Start Early

• Talk with your Advisor and other professors that know your work/abilities during your sophomore and junior years about graduate school; seek their recommendations for programs they feel would be a good fit for you and for your interests.
• Talk with professionals in the field you want to go into about their recommendations for graduate programs.
  
• Visit Career Services during Walk-In hours or make an individual appointment for assistance.

Step Two: Gather Information

• Pick up an R-MC Career Services Positive Directions book. Free!
• Check out the Graduate School section of the Career Services library.
• Consider schools in the region of the country you want to live in after graduate school.
• Use the Career Services Graduate/Professional School website: http://www.rmc.edu/Offices/career/Graduate%20School%20Information.aspx

Step Three: Symposia and Workshops

• Attend Career Symposia to talk with alumni and learn where they attended graduate school; you can also ask for their recommendations about grad programs in your discipline.
• Attend R-MC Graduate/Professional School seminars and workshops.

Step Four: Recommendations

• Start cultivating faculty during your sophomore and junior years that you want to write your recommendations for you.
• Be sure to ask if they are willing to write you a recommendation.
• Be sure they have a chance to get to know you and what you are looking for.  Give them a copy of your current resume and list of the schools you are applying to.

Step Five: Experience

• Many graduate programs look favorably upon undergraduate research experience, summer jobs, internships, job shadowing and volunteer experiences in the field.
• Plan ahead and seek out relevant co-curricular experiences as early as your freshman year, and certainly by your sophomore and junior years.

Step Six: Entrance Exams

• Find out which entrance exam is needed for admission (GRE, LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, etc.) and then be sure to allow plenty of time to study and practice before taking the exam. 
• Treat your practice schedule like an additional course; this approach can help you prioritize and allow adequate time for practice.

Step Seven: Deadlines

• Plan ahead: Findout when applications are due and do not turn them in late.  Preference is often given to early applicants.
• Plan backwards from the earliest due dates, allowing plenty of time to complete entrance exams, complete applications, and to have all your materials submitted in a timely manner.
• Deadlines vary from graduate program to graduate program, and from institution to institution; yet, as a general rule, the earlier you get your applications in, the better.

Step Eight: Search for Financial Aid, Scholarship, and Grant Opportunities

• Information about research and teaching assistantships, fellowships, and grants can be found through the department of the schools to which you apply; Career Services has resources for this search, too.
• Depending on your discipline certain employers (e.g. US government) may pay for you to attend graduate school.
• Consider prestigious scholarships (Fulbright, Mellon, Ford, etc) if you have a GPA above 3.8.
• Consider on-campus employment as another way to pay for graduate school and to qualify for free courses.