Pondering graduate school?

Graduate school can be a great stepping stone to a profession (medicine or law), a career in academia (PhD), specialized fields (e.g., a MA in public history, journalism, etc.) or a broader set of endeavors (e.g. MBA).

For most first and second year undergraduates, graduate school seems far off. You can nonetheless quietly prepare for a potential graduate school application: do well, get to know your faculty, look for opportunities for internships/undergraduate research/volunteer work, and above all, decide what fields interest you, or perhaps better yet, what problems in the world you want to solve.

For juniors and seniors, start asking yourself some hard questions about what you want to do and start laying the groundwork for a successful application process. In terms of questions, you need to think about what sort of a career graduate school might lead to, consider how long you might want to be in school, and ponder how those choices will impact future earnings, family life, etc.. A good set of more detailed questions to ask can be found by clicking here.

The other tabs in this area should help you think about some of the different issues facing you in selecting a graduate program (timeline, getting letters of recommendation, etc.).

Good luck! Applying to graduate school can seem stressful but can also lead to one of the most exciting times of your career!