Carefully select your courses
- Your fall courses and grades are crucial, so make thoughtful selections and try your best to earn all A's.
- A list of courses you take in the spring semester will be required on graduate school applications; therefore, take courses that advance your knowledge of your discipline.
Take a graduate-level course
- Start now to think and act like a graduate student.
- Early exposure to graduate-level work will make your transition to graduate school smoother.
- Speak with graduate students and postdocs in your department. As recent applicants, they can tell you what to expect regarding graduate work.
Undertake an honors thesis or a senior research project
This experience is highly recommended as a good test of your commitment to scholarship. Also, undergraduate research is the beginning of a long-term research agenda; you begin to build "intellectual capital" that you draw upon later. Topics that you explore now can develop into a master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, scholarly article, or monograph.
Attend scholarly lectures and discussions
- During the academic year, scholars offer many focused lectures and discussions to the campus community. The schedule can be found on the campus calendar. Lectures also may be announced in your department or on departmental web sites.
- Make a goal of attending one lecture a month.
