Updated: Monday, November 04, 2024
By IvyWise Graduate Admissions Counselors
For most undergraduate students, graduate school is a possibility, but many aren’t sure until closer to application time. By then, you’ve passed many opportunities to work on areas that will influence your application to graduate school. Even if you’re not entirely sure which field you’ll be pursuing in a few years, it’s important to get involved the moment you step foot on campus to ensure that you’re making the most of your time in college and that you have the best chance of gaining admission into a top-choice graduate school.
Because graduate school is more specialized than undergrad, it’s important to understand how to apply to grad school. The activities, jobs, and experiences you pursue during your undergraduate career should tell a story in line with who you are and the path you are taking. It’s also important that they tell a story on their own because many times you won’t have the chance to explain yourself when admissions committees are reading through your application materials. You can retake exams and edit your personal statement to improve your application, but you can’t go back to your first year of undergrad to join another club or pursue an internship.
The grad school application process mirrors the undergraduate process in many ways — it’s challenging but manageable with the right preparation. The applicant pool is much smaller, meaning your application will receive more intense scrutiny at this level than it did at the undergraduate level. Strong graduate applicants have a solid undergraduate GPA, high standardized test scores, and impressive letters of recommendation. Additionally, graduate faculty often play an important role in selecting applicants for admission, so every aspect of your application should show how your background, experience, and goals align with the program you’re applying to.
You may ask yourself, “should I work before grad school?” Well, that largely depends on your career goals and personal circumstances. Here are some factors to consider:
Pros:
Cons:
Pros:
Cons:
Check out tip #5 below to learn how you can gain work experience during undergrad that will help you prep for grad school.
Getting an early start on preparing for grad school gives you ample time to refine your application and ensures you meet all deadlines. Allow yourself 18 months before you plan to start your program. Here’s a rough timeline to help you get organized:
Many graduate programs require you to take graduate admission exams, which are standardized tests that demonstrate your preparedness for graduate-level work. Common exams include the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). These tests assess a range of skills such as analytical writing, quantitative and verbal reasoning, and data literacy, depending on the field of study.
Additionally, for non-native English speakers, exams like the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) are often required to demonstrate English proficiency. To prepare for the GRE or other graduate exams, you must spend a significant amount of time studying and taking practice exams to achieve competitive scores.
Below are some tips for maximizing opportunities during your undergraduate years that will help on your graduate school application.
Club participation is a great way to explore your interests and meet people outside of your immediate academic cohort. Join both professional and social clubs as they will reflect the depth of your interests and show your desire to be a dynamic part of your school’s community. You can also start a club in college if you can’t find one that aligns with your interests.
Whenever possible, take on leadership roles so you can build your skills in leading others and demonstrate responsibility. Admissions officers want to see that you committed to a club for more than one semester — ideally for all four years — and they’ll see a leadership role as a sign of maturity and drive.
Find a cause you care about and explore ways to give back to the community. Many clubs, fraternities, and sororities will have built-in community service activities, but there will be other ways to show your dedication to giving back. Take a shift at a food bank, tutor local students, or organize a food or clothing drive. Community service is an often overlooked element of grad school applications but is important to show your interest in helping others and might help you articulate why you should go to grad school.
If you are applying to an MBA program, an internship will add much-needed professional experience to your resume. Internships are great for resume building, networking, and career development. Besides the fact that an internship could also lead to full-time employment, it gives you a chance to show your professional motivation.
Keep in mind that you’ll need recommendation letters for graduate school, so this is a chance to make a good impression on your supervisor and colleagues. You may be asking them to write a letter on your behalf one day. Remember to apply to summer internships early so you avoid missing any deadlines.
The resume is a very important element for an MBA applicant — it is sometimes the first thing an admissions officer will look at when they review your application. It gives a good overview of academic, professional, and personal experience, so include all those elements when you put together your resume. As you add your experience, accomplishments, and work history, you’ll see your persona develop and provide direction as you move through your undergraduate career.
Use your school’s Career Center to get help with layout and formatting so you have a good base to build upon. This will save you a lot of time later and will help you capture details about your experience that you might forget to add several years later when you are putting together your application.
If you need a part-time job, try to find one that lines up with your other academic and personal interests. If you’re interested in design, try working at a university art gallery. Some schools will give work-study funding to any student who asks, so you might even be able to find some great jobs through your school’s work-study program. Check with your financial aid office to inquire about work-study and the Career Center for part-time job listings.
If there’s a class or a particular topic that interests you, reach out to a professor in that area and see if you can join in on any research or fieldwork they may be doing. Even just helping a professor compile materials for publication is something you could list as experience on a resume and further shows the lengths you’ll go to to follow through on your interests. While pursuing this coursework, don’t forget to make time to study and learn how to research grad schools.
Throughout your undergraduate career, you may take upwards of 40 classes. Use each class to consider whether that professor may be someone you can form a lasting academic relationship with. You will need two letters of recommendation for most graduate programs, and they want to hear from someone who really knows you. Form a relationship with a member of the faculty, bond over shared interests, work with them on an academic project. This relationship is important and may be the difference between getting into your top-choice program or not. This is even more important if you end up applying as an undergraduate without any professional experience.
While the optional or additional information prompt on graduate school applications is truly optional, it’s also an opportunity to further enhance your application. We recommend using this space to provide additional context or highlight unique aspects of your background that aren’t covered elsewhere. This could include explaining any gaps in your academic or professional history, discussing extenuating circumstances, or showcasing a significant achievement or experience that aligns with your career goals. One of our favorite optional prompt tips is to keep your response concise and focused, ensuring it adds value to your overall application narrative.
Since you’re competing in smaller applicant pools for fewer spaces in the class, it’s important to be thoroughly prepared and as informed as possible about what to expect. Check out our Graduate Admissions FAQ for even more insights into getting into grad school.
Preparing for graduate school can feel like a daunting task, but an experienced counselor can help demystify and streamline the process. At IvyWise, all our graduate admissions counselors have direct experience in admissions at some of the top graduate-level programs in the U.S., so they know what it takes to help you stand out from your peers.
Contact us to learn how our graduate counseling services can further maximize your chances of getting into grad school.
Applying to graduate school is an intensive process, and whether you’re a current undergrad looking for tips for applying to graduate school or a professional looking to go back to school, the most important preparation you will do for the graduate admissions process is building a balanced grad school list.
As your college experience is nearing its end, you may be wondering about the next steps for your career. Should you apply to graduate school immediately following your undergraduate studies, or would it be better to seek full-time employment?
Similar to undergraduate applications, graduate applications usually have a prompt to submit additional information or an optional statement. Applicants often wonder if and how they should use the ‘optional’ prompt and whether it is tacitly required. The short answer is — no.
If you plan on attending graduate school, whether it’s business school, law school, medical school, or some other graduate program, you’ll most likely need to take one of several graduate admission exams as part of your application. Preparing to take graduate admission exams long after your initial undergraduate admissions process can seem daunting, but the sooner you get started the sooner you can be on your way to a rewarding graduate school experience.
