So You've Decided You Want To Go To Graduate or Professional School...
START PREPARING NOW!
Image Courtesy of m00by
Posted June 3rd, 2009
Whether you are in your freshman or senior year, the time to start planning your grad school application is now!
Something that I hate having to do as part of my job is denying certain students’ entrance into our graduate programs. Many wishful applicants are rejected each year. I often consider that many of these rejected students are probably well suited for graduate school but may never find out because their applications were unable to convince me or other graduate selection committee members that they truly have what it takes. I feel sorry for these students, but there is nothing I can do about their inability to sell themselves. Occasionally though, I do come across applicants who do an exceptional job of demonstrating that they possess attributes necessary for success in graduate school and in a related career afterwards. Those are the applicants who are accepted. You should be one of those applicants, and there is no reason why you can’t be if you are willing to make appropriate use of the information and advice on this site and in the e book.
Whether you are in your freshman or senior year, the time to begin planning for your graduate-school application is now. Don’t wait until you are in your final semester of your senior year to begin taking the steps outlined throughout this site and in the e book. Some of the recommended steps take a good deal of time to implement such as obtaining effective letters of recommendation – eChapter 7 or preparing for standardized tests - eChapter 6.
The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to improve your chances of getting into graduate school. Conversely, the sooner you begin, the easier it will be. But don’t panic if you discover that you do not have enough time to take advantage of all of the strategies described on this web site and in the e book. There are a great many things that you can do “at the last minute” to improve your chances.
Preview eChapter 9 -Little Steps Where Most Students Stumble- for more information on last minute preparations.
If you have weak grades and no notable and relevant accomplishments, then you might decide that you don’t have a realistic chance of getting into graduate school this year no matter what you do. Consider it a blessing that you figured this out before you wasted your time and money, and experienced much anguish in the process. If you are serious about getting into graduate school, then you have plenty of time to take advantage of the advice provided on this site and in the e-book and you can start preparing for next years deadline. Start Now!
This article was provided by Dave G. Mumby, Ph.D. Author of the book:
Graduate School: Winning Strategies for Getting In With or Without Excellent Grades
Copyright ©1997-2004
For more information about applying to graduate or professional school, check out the eBook
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