Review your transcript with your adviser early in the academic year
- Plan to take courses that will strengthen your skills and prepare you for graduate school.
- Consider doing an honors thesis during your senior year; start preparing for it now.
If you are a transfer student, be proactive
- See specific information for transfer students in Planning Your Years @ Cal.
- Attend the CalSO transfer student program. See the section in Earning Your Degree (pdf) for planning tools.
- Your curriculum at Berkeley depends upon whether you have completed California's Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC); therefore, seek advice right away.
- The Transfer Student Center offers orientation courses, tutorials, workshops, community events, advising, and referrals.
- It is not too early to begin planning for graduate school. Get information early; graduation arrives very quickly.
Take an upper division independent or group study course
- Gain research experience with an independent study course that focuses on an interesting research topic.
- Write a research proposal upon which the course will be based.
- You will need the approval of your major adviser and that of an instructor who will supervise the study.
Read current articles in your discipline
Review journals in your field to learn about issues and topics of scholarly interest and how scholars report their findings.
Be involved with a summer research program
Ask your adviser to help you identify possible programs to apply to during your junior year. The programs may begin during your junior year or take place in the summer following your junior year. Consider the following research programs or opportunities:
