How to Prepare for Grad School Admissions While Still in Undergrad

If you plan to go directly to a graduate program, consider how you are building experience while in undergrad:

Are you getting enough experience outside of the classroom? Internships, part-time/summer jobs, volunteer opportunities, etc. can bolster your application and help you long-term so that you aren’t coming out of graduate school over-educated and under experienced.

If you plan to wait to go to graduate school, there are things you want to consider while still working on your undergraduate degree:

• GPA and coursework: Many graduate programs have GPA requirements and want to see challenging coursework within your major. Some have required or recommended prerequisite coursework that you could make space to complete in undergrad.
  • Check out this GPA calculator.
  • Save your course syllabi (including a list of course modules/assignments) to your own records, especially for prerequisite-type courses. A program may wish to confirm what your coursework covered.
    • *TIP: If you are going to be seeking licensure coming out of a graduate program, also make sure to save syllabi from your graduate coursework as you may need to provide it in the licensing process.
• Academic Reference/Recommendation(s): Many graduate programs will want at least one academic reference who can speak to your academic ability. Foster and maintain relationships so potential recommenders will remember you.