Pregraduate Advising Office Pregraduate Advising Office Arts & Sciences and Trinity College Duek University

Timeline: Planning Ahead

First Year

  • Students who expect to attend graduate school should seriously consider declaring their majors before or early in their sophomore year so that they may receive the benefit of advice within their major departments as early as possible.
  • Explore research opportunities with faculty, especially for the summer; summer programs have application deadlines beginning in January.

Sophomore year

  • If not done previously, declare your major in the fall.
  • Collect information about graduate school and the graduate school experience. Discuss your interest in graduate study with your major advisor and/or with the Ph.D. advisor in the department or area of interest; seek help planning electives and skills courses to meet the expectations of graduate programs for breadth and depth of study.
  • Discuss the graduate school experience with your graduate teaching assistants and other graduate students in the department.
  • Look for opportunities to help with research projects on campus and/or during the summer. Stay up to date with opportunities announced by the Undergraduate Research Support Office.

Junior Year

  • Attend the Forum on Graduate Education and Fellowships sponsored by the Duke Society of Fellows (typically, October).
  • Discuss prospective graduate programs with your faculty advisor and the Ph.D. advisor in your department. Your choices should be guided by the vigor of the prospective graduate program at an institution, the intellectual strength of its faculty and the liklihood of your identifying an appropriate doctoral mentor there.
  • If you will be applying for national/international graduate fellowships that require an institutional endorsement (e.g., Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright), register your intention with the Office of University Scholars and Fellows, and attend the spring information meeting. The deadlines for these and national fellowships (e.g., NSF) will need to be integrated into your calendar for applications for admission.
  • Become familiar with the application process for each school of interest. Visit their web sites, register as a prospective applicant and view or download the applications forms. You do not need to complete the forms at the time of registration.
  • Summer.  To ensure your preferred testing date and location for the General Test, register for an individual appointment well before the publicized registration deadline. Subject Tests, if needed, will be offered on two designated Saturdays in the fall. If you will be taking a Subject Test, register as early as possible if the preferred testing site is in the Triangle area. Duke is not a GRE testing site. 

 

Timeline: the Application Year

August-September

  • Finalize the list of programs to which you will apply. Make sure you have established an account at each school that uses an on-line application. (Important note: do not establish multiple accounts for any application since this can and has resulted in mismatched recommendations when letters are electronically submitted.)
  • If not done earlier, register for GRE testing.
  • Select the individuals you will ask for recommendations and visit each one to make your request and to discuss your plans. If the schools give a choice, ask whether the recommender prefers paper or electronic format for submitting recommendations, and let him or her know you will be returning later in the fall with more information.  (If you will be applying for national scholarships such as the Marshall and Rhodes, you will be asking for recommendations during the summer.)
  • Begin drafting your personal statment. The final document should be the core of your submission for each application but will need slight modification for each program.

October-November

  • Deliver recommendation details/forms to each of your recommenders noting deadlines for their attention.
  • Complete the biographical information section for each application and upload your personal statement.
  • Submit requests for transcripts to the Registrar’s Office at each undergraduate school at which you have taken courses.
  • Stay alert for communications and/or use the on-line checklist to confirm that documents have been received.

Early December

  • Continue to check on each institution’s application web page to make sure your applications have been completed.
  • Follow up with recommenders and registrar offices as needed.

February and March

  • Respond to communications from the admissions offices and departments.
  • Attend recruiting events if offered an invitation. 

 

Notifications

Applicants are typically notified of admission and fellowship decisions in February, March or April through an electronic communication. April 15 is the common date to notify the schools about your decision unless your notification comes after that time.