- Transcript
- GRE or other standardized test scores
- Letters of recommendation
- Admissions essay(s), also known as a personal statement
Ensure that your application contains all of these components because incomplete applications translate into automatic rejections.
Transcripts
Your transcript provides information about your academic background. Your grades and overall GPA, as well as what courses you've taken, tell the admissions committee a great deal about who you are as a student. If your transcript is filled with easy A's, such those earned in classes like Basket Weaving 101, you'll likely rank lower than a student who has a lower GPA comprised of courses in the hard sciences.
You won't include your transcript in the application that you send to the graduate program. Instead, the registrar's office at your school sends it. This means that you'll have to visit the registrar's office and fill out forms for each program to which you'd like to forward a transcript. Begin this process early because schools require time to process your forms and send the transcripts (sometimes as much as 2 weeks). You don't want your application to be rejected because your transcript was late or never arrived. Sometimes transcripts never arrive, due to errors on the side of your school, the mail room at the school to which you're applying, or the varied hazards of snail mail. This means that you want to submit your request for transcripts early enough to request them again in the unlikely even that you need to. Be sure to check that your transcript has arrived at each of the programs to which you've applied.
Graduate Record Exams (GREs) or Other Standardized Test Scores
Most graduate programs require standardized exams. such as the GRE's, for admission; however, law, medical, and business schools usually require different exams (the LSAT, MCAT, and GMAT, respectively). Each of these exams is standardized, meaning that they are normed, permitting students from different colleges to be compared meaningfully. The GRE is similar in structure to the SATs but taps your potential for graduate level work.
Some programs also require the GRE Subject Test, a standardized test that covers the material in a discipline (e.g., Psychology). Most graduate admissions committees are inundated with applications, so apply cut-off scores to the GRE, considering only applications that have scores above the cut-off point. Some, but not all, schools reveal their average GRE scores in their admissions material and in graduate school admissions books, such as the Petersen's Guides.
Take standardized tests early (typically, the Spring or Summer before you apply) to guide your selection of programs to which to apply as well as ensure that your scores arrive to the programs early, before the admission deadline.
