Senior year is upon many of us, and with this year comes the soul-crushing knowledge that it is time to apply for graduate school. The thought of going to graduate school is not nearly as scary as the thought of applying for it. Essentially, a common application company has decided that your entire life and worth as a student can be boiled down to three sheets of paper. It can feel absolutely overwhelming to think that your dream school is going to look at those three sheets of paper to decide your fate.
Despite all of this, everything is going to be okay.
1. Relax.
Stress is an awful sickness that seems to hit hardest during application time. The best thing that you can do is sit down and breathe. Everything is going to be okay. Nerves are natural, but do not let nerves ruin your semester.
2. Have your personal statement proofread.
Go to your school’s writing center or have a friend go over your application. This proofreading process is priceless, because a third party is more likely to catch any grammatical or continuity errors you might have made.
3. Get your application in at least two months early.
One of the most helpful things in the application process is getting your application in early. When a school uses rolling admissions, sending in your application early can improve your chances of acceptance. The applicant pool is generally smaller in the first wave of admissions, so you will have less competition when you apply.
4. Don’t obsess over your test scores.
At the end of the day, what you have made on your GRE/MCAT/PCAT is what you have made. You can retake it once or twice after studying and expect decent results, but repeatedly retaking those tests will only hurt you. Constant retakes only push back your application submission timeline.
5. Remember the most important thing:
Acceptance of rejection from a school does not define you. You’re fabulous no matter the outcome. After your app is in, try to make up for all of the fun you missed out on.