<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I created a timeline to get a big overview of what is involved in preparing and going to grad school here: [url=<a href="http://thecollegestuff.com/home/grad%5Dthecollegestuff%5B/url">http://thecollegestuff.com/home/grad]thecollegestuff[/url</a>]</p>
<p>It is still a work in progress, please provide feedback if you see something wrong or if you have relevant links I should add there or anything else you feel I should add to help students.</p>
<p>Lot of my juniors, friends, cousins ask me how I prepared, what I did etc, so I thought I will put together a nice interactive timeline. Do not hesitate to provide any kind of feedback. You can leave feedback here or on the site.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>This is going to vary so much by field.</p>
<p>In my field, June is a bit late to start researching potential schools because you need to contact professors BEFORE you apply, in most cases. One of my field (psych) is a lab-based field and you need to be sure the person you want to work with has spaces in their lab. I would say you should start researching potential grad schools in the spring semester of your junior year. That way, you can contact professors over the summer/early fall to make sure they hve spots for you.</p>
<p>I think waiting until November to take the GRE is too late. I did, but that I was because I was confident that I would score a 1400+ on the GRE, and even then you’re cutting it close if your applications are due before January.</p>
<p>I think students should prepare to take the GRE in the late summer or early fall of the year they plan to apply. That way, they do hve time to retake in case they want to, and you know for certain they will get to all of your schools on time.</p>
<p>Also my field is an interview field, so in January and February schools will fly you out to their departments to interview and meet the department.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have to get any finances in place as early as February, unless you are applying for master’s programs that might require a deposit OR unless you are planning to fly out for a visit in April.</p>
<p>Many programs start sending out acceptances as early as mid-February, and certainly throughout March. In fact, the Council of Graduate Schools agreed to allow decisions by April 15, so you should definitely have acceptance letters before then for PhD programs. (Masters programs are a toss-up, but even most of them will likely get back to you by March or early April at the latest unless they have late application deadlines.)</p>
<p>Thanks @juliet, appreciate your feedback. I agree it varies quite a bit based on field. My eventual goal is to have different timelines for different fields. This is just a start. I have incorporated your feedback and updated the page. Thanks again.</p>