Applying for Graduate School Timeline

Second Year

• Attend psychological seminars or join the Psychology Club
• Look for appropriate literature regarding getting into graduate school
• Maintain highest grades possible in ALL courses
• Meet with advisors and declare major

Third Year

• Discuss possibility of becoming involved with faculty research
• Become familiar with graduate school admission criteria and degrees offered 
• Research area(s) of interest, institutions and programs
• Register and prepare for appropriate graduate admission test(s) (e.g. G.R.E.)
• Investigate scholarships, loans and fellowships
• Obtain experience through volunteering if interested in counselling or clinical psychology
• Investigate summer jobs related to psychology
• Begin studying for Graduate Records Exams (G.R.E.); study for the Psychology sub-test by reviewing a good Introductory Psychology textbook that includes statistics and methodology

Summer

• Decide whether to attend graduate school immediately or to postpone it
• Take required graduate admission test
• Write to specific schools for application materials
• Visit schools of interest if possible
• Work on application essay (if applicable)
• Check application deadlines
• Begin to save money for application fees, resumes, transcript costs
• Start to consider individuals you would like to have write your letters of recommendation

Fourth Year

Fall

• Obtain letters of recommendation from professors and other reference people
• Have application essay critiques (if possible)
• Take graduate admission tests(s) if not taken earlier
• Send in completed Graduate school application
• Send in completed financial aid application, complete with application for teaching assistantship or other graduate student support, available at almost all graduate schools
• Check with all schools before the deadlines to make sure your file is complete (letter of recommendation is usually what, if anything, is missing)

Spring

• Keep track of acceptances, wait lists and rejections
• Expect first choice offers to be made by April 1; however, vacancies may occur anytime before September
• Visit schools that accept you

April/May

• Be sure to notify schools that accept you of your decision (to accept or not)
• Send thank you notes to your reference people.
• If you have not been accepted anywhere by April 15 you should:
  • call every school you applied to and request that your application remain active
  • job hunt and re-apply next year