1. Attention Juniors! Get Involved! It’s not too late to get involved and strengthen your graduate school applications!

2. I don’t have a lot of time… Students can do to many time-limited activities to strengthen an application Informational interviewing: – Sitting down with a professional once or several times to discuss the professional field, educational opportunities, ways to prepare, trends and challenges in the field, etc. Short-term activities: – Get involved in a short term project like a Habitat for Humanity build, Race for the Cure, a food drive, Buckeye-thon, etc.

3. I’m already involved in other projects… Great! Find ways to expand on that involvement so you can get more out of it! Leadership: – Can you campaign for a leadership position in your student group? Can you lead a research project in your current lab? Can you take on additional responsibility at your volunteer position? Expansion: – Can you help create additional services where you are currently involved? Can you expand the population your organization helps? Can you help create connections with community agencies? Leverage your skills: – Does your current project need someone to help with data analysis and you happen to be very good at statistics? Does your current organization need a website makeover and you happen to be good at developing web-content? Does your current project need additional exposure and you are great at writing letters-to-the-editor or you already host a blog with a 200 person readership in the area?

4. But I have to study… Even commitment to academics can create additional avenues for personal development! You learn best when you teach others: – Create a structured tutoring network in your classroom or in your major cohort. Ask for help: – Consider developing an MCAT or GRE study mentoring program with seniors who did well. Start a book club: – Select books from a variety of authors, genres, and cultural or historic contexts. – This is a good way to study vocabulary. – Your personal statement will be more interesting to the reader if you use a variety of sentence structures and phrases. This is a good way to explore different composition styles.