Suggested Graduate School Prep Timeline

This suggested timeline is for students planning to attend graduate school immediately after earning a bachelor’s degree, and can be easily adjusted for students planning a post-baccalaureate or gap-year experience or for master’s students applying for doctoral programs.

Freshman and Sophomore Years

  • Do well in your coursework.
  • Meet with academic advisors to plan your coursework and help you consider graduate programs.
  • Develop relationships with faculty.
  • Actively seek and participate in research and internship opportunities at your home institution during the academic year and during the summers.

Summer between sophomore and junior years

  • Apply for and participate in research and internship opportunities at your home institution or elsewhere.
  • It's important to note that many application deadlines for summer programs are between December and February, so you'll need to plan early. 

Junior Year (or one year before application season)

  • Participate in research at your home institution.
  • Identify graduate programs and fellowships that are relevant for your plans. You’ll likely need to create lists or spreadsheets with information on potential programs and institutions. Some sample spreadsheets are offered here and here.
  • If possible, attend conferences in your discipline, especially if they include sessions for prospective graduate students or grad school fairs.
  • If possible, start visiting institutions with graduate programs that interest you.
  • For each grad program, see if the GRE or other standardized exams are required, recommended, or unnecessary.
  • Take the GRE exams if needed.
  • Look into extramural fellowships in your relevant fields.

Summer between junior and senior years

  • Apply for and participate in research and internship opportunities at your home institution or elsewhere.
  • It's important to note that many application deadlines for summer programs are between December and February, so you'll need to plan early. 
  • Identify graduate programs and fellowships that are relevant for your plans.

Senior Year (or in final year during application season)

  • Continue to participate in research at your home institution.
  • If possible, attend conferences in your discipline, especially if they include sessions for prospective graduate students or grad school fairs.

August/September

  • Actively seek and apply for application fee waivers.
  • Contact faculty members to seek their advice and ask if they are willing to write you a strong recommendation letter.
  • Identify graduate programs and fellowships that are relevant for your plans.
  • Gather information about required application materials and deadlines.
  • Work on personal and research statements.
  • If your discipline requires you to reach out to prospective faculty for your graduate program, start reaching out to them.

October/November/December (depending on the application deadlines)

  • Complete and submit application materials.
  • Ask your letter writers to submit their recommendation letters, providing all the forms, information, and deadlines.
  • Order transcripts, if official transcripts are required. In many cases, unofficial transcripts are accepted in initial stages of the application process. Official transcripts will likely be required later to be officially admitted.
  • If needed, confirm that all of your application materials were received.

January/February/March

  • If appropriate, look into visiting institutions on your own.
  • Some programs typically include interviews (e.g., in bioscience fields) or recruitment trips for admitted students.
  • Admissions offers with financial aid packages are often provided around this time.
  • If you have been admitted into multiple programs, reach out to others to help you make your decision, and review the other section of this document with further suggestions on making your decision.

April 15

  • Most universities participate in the CGS (Council of Graduate Schools) April 15 Resolution, which is an agreement among signatory graduate schools to provide applicants until April 15 to consider offers of admission that also include financial support.
  • This means that students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15. Earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers would violate the intent of this resolution.
  • If you have made your final decision before April 15, many graduate programs would greatly appreciate hearing your response (to accept or decline an offer) so that they can make informed decisions regarding other applicants who are on waiting lists.  Applicants on the waiting list would probably appreciate this also.
  • If you change your mind and want to accept an offer from a different program, the CGS website includes an FAQ section that offers a process for this situation.
  • After you have made your final decision, thank all of your friends and colleagues for their assistance and inform them of your final decision.
  • If you declined admission from some institutions, remember to still thank them for their offers because you’ll likely encounter the faculty and scholars again.