How To Become A Better Grad School Candidate Over The Summer

By Elana Goodwin on June 17, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

If you’re planning to attend grad school, you’ll want to use the summer to make yourself more attractive to schools and to start planning. Application deadlines are already set for the next year and it can take months and lots of time to get the grad school application process underway. You don’t want to rush or have to fudge things when you’re trying to get into grad school, so here are some things you can do over the summer to be a better grad school candidate.

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Figure Out What You Want. Perhaps the biggest thing you’ll need to do first is to figure out what you want — and that means sorting through your motivations and deciding whether grad school is the right thing for you. Take the time to understand and work out why you want to go and what you want to achieve (a Masters or PhD), as well as which program may be the best fit for you.

This will also be really important to know as why you should be accepted and why you want to go to grad school will be a crucial aspect of your application. Grad schools will want to know your motivations and will question why you’d be a good addition and fit to their program so you need to be able to answer that question and know what you want.

Decide Where You Want To Go. Summer is an opportune time to do lots of research into grad schools and programs. Being on break, you have time to more thoroughly look into schools beyond their websites and actually visit ones you are considering. Make a list of particular programs, professors, and other characteristics that are negatives or positives for each school and start figuring out which grad schools are good matches for you and your goals. Consider location, the culture, community, faculty, research abilities, resources, typical financial aid and funding packages.

Then, visit the schools you’re most interested in based on your list and try to meet with current students or alum there and make connections. Being able to speak more knowledgeably about the schools will show you did your research and are truly interested in that specific grad school when it comes to writing your personal statement or being interviewed.

Get Research Experience. Having undergraduate research experience is a huge asset when it comes to being an attractive grad school candidate. If you’re unable to juggle getting research experience during the year along with your academic schedule, summer is a more doable time to acquire some experience in research. Try to find some sort of research opportunity that will expose you to different investigative methods in your field and allow you to conduct research.

One of the reasons research experience is so valuable to grad schools is because you’ll come armed with the ability to search for and read research articles, as well as be critical of them, and understand how to do research using archived data or conducting experiments. The more research experience you have and can detail in your grad school application, the better grad school candidate you’ll be, as selection committees will look at the range and amount of your research experience, how much experience you have, and what skills you developed because of it.

Gain Teaching Experience. You may not have teaching experience as an undergrad or even had the opportunity of getting some but if you’re doing some teaching over the summer, you’ll be that much of a better candidate for grad school.

Obviously, most schools aren’t in session during the summer but you can see if there’s a summer school in session that would let you get teaching experience or you can advertise tutoring to elementary, middle, high school, or college students in an area you’re extremely knowledgeable in. Having teaching experience will be a huge asset to you when it comes to your grad school applications and make you more attractive to grad school programs.

Work On Your Curriculum Vitae (CV). Rather than a normal resume, a CV is what you’ll use to outline your experiences when applying to grad school — and summer is a great time to start working on it and getting it in order. A CV is a lot like a resume, but much more academically-oriented and focused. A CV, like a resume, will include your contact info, your education, awards and honors, and applicable work experience. However, a CV will also list any publications you’ve been published in, presentations you’ve presented, teaching experience, research experience and skills, and references, in detail.

While most people try to limit their resume to 1-2 pages, your CV will be longer as you more specifically list and explain your duties, responsibilities, and other information for pretty much each item in your document. Additionally, it’s advisable that you edit out work experience and other activities that aren’t really pertinent to your academic future. For example, if you worked as a waitress in undergrad to make money, unless you’re planning to go to grad school for an advanced degree to use in hospitality or the restaurant business, it’s not necessary to include it on your CV.

Applying to grad school can be a long process — so getting a head start on it or gaining experience to better your chances of being admitted where you want to go will only help you in the long run; and there’s no better time to make yourself a better candidate for grad school than this summer.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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