Timeline for Graduate School

When should all of the above be carried out?

Here is a timeline that we suggest you follow:
(Notice how early the process begins.) 

Sophomore year

  • Inform your psychology advisor of your interest in graduate school
  • Register for statistics (Fall) and experimental methods (Spring) This is important!
  • Enroll in other lower level psychology courses
  • Contact your psychology advisor indicating your interest in graduate school
  • Get to know the psychology professors

Junior year

  • Inform your psychology advisor of your plans to apply
  • Become involved with faculty research
  • Enroll for Co-op credit if so desired (if not junior year, then first semester senior year)
    Contact the Career Center for more information.  
  • Explore graduate school options. There are many great sources online and available free of charge to students via thelibrary
  • Enroll in upper division psychology courses
  • Plan research project for submission to conference
  • Apply for membership with Psi Chi, the national psychology honor society
  • Discuss the GRE with your advisor (i.e. tips on studying)
Summer between Jr. & Sr. year
  • Purchase GRE preparation book
  • Send GRE application to national GRE office (application forms can be obtained at the Registrar's Office)
  • Study, Study, Study GRE prep book
  • Review for Advanced GRE

Senior year

September (Early)

  • Consult with your psychology advisor
  • Enroll in Senior Seminar and Advanced General Psychology (if you desire preparation for the GRE-Advanced test)
  • Send for application materials
  • Review application materials, decide where you want to apply
  • Enroll in final psychology courses
  • Begin self-directed research (or continue from last year)

October

  • Take GRE exams (optional to take GRE-advanced tested in December)
  • Begin to prepare application materials (some schools have application deadlines as early as Dec. 15)

November

  • Finish application materials
  • Give letters of recommendation requests to professors

December

  • Complete GRE advanced test (if applicable)
  • Prepare self-directed research for submission to conference (include submission in application materials)
  • Send applications
January
  • Call programs, ask to talk to the chair or director of admissions in order to inquire on the status of your
 application folder. These phone calls are very important. Some programs do not interview applicants, and so personal contact is limited to phone conversations. Have a specific reason for calling the program (e.g. to see if all application letters have arrived, to ask about your status if you are placed on a waiting list). You may want to contact programs before you send your application in order to ask some questions to clarify information about the programs. Finally, be sure to treat the secretary who may answer the phone with respect, some programs will make note of your phone behavior. Be professional!
February
  • Sweat out your applications
April
  • Sometime before the 15th of the month you should be notified of the fate of your application. If you receive a letter stating that you are on a waiting list, call the program to inquire where you are in the list, how far into the list the program usually selects, and when you will be called if an offer is to be made to you. If you are accepted without any financial aid commitments, call the program to see how other students have been financially supported in the past. If you are accepted, you usually have until April 15th to decide if you will accept (this is not always the case)

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students