Plan Ahead for Grad School
7 Things to Do Now
Graduate school is all about exploring what you love. Whether it’s medicine, literature, airplanes or archeology, in graduate school, you will become an expert in your subject area. The best way to prepare is to discover what fascinates you. Explore. Do. Learn. Expand your world.
- Tour the UW campus. Visit the library. Hang out on the Quad. Picture yourself in college.
- Get a summer internship in an area of interest. Work as a camp counselor. Volunteer on a farm or food bank. Help out in a research lab.
- Interview someone in a field that interests you. Talk with your family physician. Chat with a coffee shop owner.
- Get online. Listen to world music. Visit the Smithsonian Institution website. Take an online language course.
- Take the most challenging courses you can — Running Start, Advanced Placement, honors — and keep your grades up.
- Participate in the arts. Visit a museum. Attend a performance at the UW or in your community. Watch a documentary. Go to a poetry slam.
- Read. Read the news, classic novels, contemporary nonfiction, plays, poetry, science fiction. Learn about the world around you.
The University of Washington offers more than 370 graduate and certificate programs in 120 academic departments across three campuses.
Graduate students make up one-quarter of all UW students, and they come from 48 states and 90 countries, with 60 percent of master’s and 39 percent of doctoral students from Washington.
To ensure that our students earn more than a degree, the UW Graduate School offers a range of opportunities so they can develop the leadership, communication and personal skills needed for a rewarding life and academic, research or professional career. For instance, our graduate school prep course helps undergraduates and returning students set goals and craft their applications.
Grad School Prep Course
Undergraduates at the University of Washington have the opportunity to take a for-credit course where they will discover if graduate school is right for them, learn about the application process and work on developing materials for the application.