Brenna Swanston is an education-focused editor and writer with a particular interest in education equity and alternative educational paths. As a newswriter in her early career, Brenna's education reporting earned national awards and state-level accol.
Brenna Swanston Deputy EditorBrenna Swanston is an education-focused editor and writer with a particular interest in education equity and alternative educational paths. As a newswriter in her early career, Brenna's education reporting earned national awards and state-level accol.
Brenna Swanston Deputy EditorBrenna Swanston is an education-focused editor and writer with a particular interest in education equity and alternative educational paths. As a newswriter in her early career, Brenna's education reporting earned national awards and state-level accol.
Brenna Swanston Deputy EditorBrenna Swanston is an education-focused editor and writer with a particular interest in education equity and alternative educational paths. As a newswriter in her early career, Brenna's education reporting earned national awards and state-level accol.
Updated: Jan 2, 2024, 1:31pm
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Applying to grad school is no simple feat. Between application materials, financial aid, funding requests and interviews with admissions officers, there’s a lot to keep track of in the time leading up to the application deadline. If you’re wondering how far in advance to apply to grad school, you’re in the right place.
We’ve put together this comprehensive graduate school application checklist to keep you organized. And if you don’t need all the extra info below, you can download our simple, printable checklist to help you stay on top of the most important steps.
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Keep track of your most important application tasks and deadlines with the simplified PDF version of this checklist. Save it to your phone or print it out for easy reference. (If you print it, make sure to choose the “fit to paper” scale option!)
First and foremost, you need an application plan. Start by determining where you’re going to apply. If you’re not completely sure about a program, try visiting the school’s campus or chatting with alumni to get a feel for the student experience. Once you know which applications you plan to submit, jot down their deadlines and take note of what each application requires.
If you’re currently completing your bachelor’s degree, we recommend taking the GRE before starting your final year of undergraduate studies. Doing so gives you plenty of time to retake the exam in case you’re not satisfied with your scores. You can retake the GRE every three weeks, up to five times within any one-year period.
If you have extensive knowledge of chemistry, mathematics, physics or psychology, you might consider taking a GRE subject test as well. These tests are available in September, October and April, up to three times per year.
Most graduate programs ask applicants to submit three recommendation letters. We recommend asking professors who work in the subject area you plan to study to write these letters for you.
Professors are busy people, and yours might be writing letters of recommendation for multiple students, so it’s best to ask at least a month before your grad school application is due.
Whether it’s called an application essay, a personal statement or a statement of purpose, a written statement is commonly required of grad school applicants. The grad school admissions essay gives you a chance to show who you are, what you want to do with your career and why you want to pursue the subject area you’ve chosen for your graduate studies.
Most graduate programs ask for your statement of purpose to be 500 to 1,000 words and answer a specific prompt (or series of prompts). This essay is your chance to add a personalized wow factor to your application, so we recommend getting an early start on it.
Most graduate programs require applicants to send official transcripts. Delivery methods may vary (e.g., via mail or online), and some schools allow students to submit unofficial transcripts online in addition to sending the official documents by mail. Request your official transcripts by contacting the Office of the Registrar at your undergraduate institution.
We’re in the home stretch! Now’s the time to make sure you have all the materials required for your graduate program applications (e.g., your academic record, GRE scores, resume, proof of residency, references, etc.). Ask your letter-writers to wrap up their recommendations so they can be included with your applications.
You’ve probably been working on your statements of purpose for at least a couple of weeks by this point, too. Now, it’s time to proofread those essays, proofread them again and have a trusted friend (or two) give them yet another proofread. Your final essays should be error-free and a breeze to read, and they should sufficiently answer the prompts.
Get together all of your application materials, and make sure they’re ready to submit. Each graduate program has its own individual application requirements, so make sure you’ve organized the correct materials for each respective school.
Remember the FAFSA from undergrad? Well, it’s important for graduate school, too. If you want access to most public (and even some private) forms of financial aid, you must first file a FAFSA form.
If you think you won’t qualify for aid, think again—72% of graduate learners received some form of financial aid in the 2019-20 academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Of these learners, 64% received grants, 36% took out loans and 5% completed work-study opportunities. It never hurts to submit the FAFSA for grad school.
Take a deep breath: It’s time to apply. Application deadlines vary among programs, but most fall between October 31 and December 1. Keep a careful eye on your calendar, and submit each application ahead of its due date.
Research is expensive, and some programs allow prospective graduate students to request consideration for funding at the time of application. If any of your desired programs do this, make sure to request funding when you apply.
We don’t need to tell you this, but graduate tuition is a lot to take on. Even after you’ve submitted the FAFSA, you should continue to look into any scholarships, grants and other funding sources that might lighten your financial burden during graduate school.
Now, we wait. But you can still take action while you’re waiting. If there are still a few campuses you want to see, pay them a visit. If any of your prospective programs request an interview with you, it will likely take place during this time frame. Prepare accordingly, and make sure to bring your own questions to ask, too—interviews go both ways.
You may even begin to hear back about some applications during this time, as many schools send out their first rounds of decisions around late February or early March.
By mid-April, you should have received an admission decision from each of the programs to which you applied. This means it’s time for you to make your big decision: Where will you attend graduate school? Once you’ve made up your mind, accept the school’s offer, and make sure to decline any other offers from schools you don’t plan to attend.
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