Summer (before fall applications)
Deep dives into labs, programs, and schools
This is where I did the heavy lifting of looking into labs, programs, and schools. Like I probably have (or will) mention in a different post, people I’ve met seemed to choose schools to apply to in one of two ways (these are the extreme with plenty of people in the middle):
1. Applying to broadly strong programs
- Applying to programs based on 1-2 labs
some people choose to apply for broadly strong programs while others apply to programs for specific PIs. I think the former can be a great approach if you’re broadly interested in an area and open to what exact application you pursue for your MS/PhD. If you’re narrowed in on a research area, looking for specific PIs and applying to those programs is probably your best bet. The PI-specific approach is what I did.
So, I spent the summer looking into PIs/labs, which can be a daunting process. I wrote about some specific ways to help with this in this post.
GRE
My recommended timeline
SUMMER
FALL
OCTOBER – DECEMBER
DECEMBER – JANUARY
FEBRUARY – MARCH
APRIL