Application Timeline

It is important to start gathering information early in order to be able to complete your a applications on time. Most people should start the process a full year and a half before their anticipated date of matriculation.

Application deadlines may range from August (before your senior year) to late spring or summer (after your senior year) for a few programs with rolling admissions. Most deadlines for the entering class in the fall are between January and March.

The timetable that appears below represents the *ideal* for most students who wish to enter graduate school upon graduation.

Adapted from: http://aug3.augsburg.edu/mcnair/cswlgrad.html

Junior Year, Fall and Spring

• Research areas of interest, institutions and programs.
• Talk to advisors about application requirements.
• Register and prepare for the GRE
• Investigate national scholarships
• If appropriate, obtain letters of recommendation

Junior Year, Summer

• Take GRE's
• Write for application materials
• Visit schools of interest
• Write your application essay
• Check on application deadlines

Senior Year, Fall

• Obtain letters of recommendation
• If you still haven't taken the GRE, take it now.
• Send in completed applications
• Pick up an application for a FAFSA

Senior Year, Spring

• Check with all institutions before the deadline to make sure your file is complete
• Visit the institutions that accept you
• Send a deposit to the institution of your choice
• Notify other colleges and universities which have accepted you of your decision so they can admit students on their waiting list
• Send thank you notes to people who wrote your letters of recommendations, informing them of your success

Another timetable from the American Political Science Association (APSA)