What can I do to strengthen my chances for being admitted to graduate programs, and future career paths?
This is another answer of “it depends,” and advice can differ depending on who is offering it, and the paths being considered. That said, there are a few common pillars you might consider.
Grades are very important for graduate and professional school, though they may be less important for other pathways. Most graduate programs, and job postings, will post requirements for consideration. To know whether grades are an important factor, you should carefully review what has been posted.
Volunteer and work experience can be very helpful, especially if you can communicate the skills that you have developed through those experiences. For example, working as a server at a restaurant means that you would have developed skills such as working in fast-paced environments, potentially with challenging customers, and potentially in high heat (or cold)! If you have worked in retail, you may have been trusted with cash and/or keys to the business, learned to understand customer needs, and found solutions when customers were dissatisfied. In each of these roles, you likely gained experience using good judgment for when to escalate challenging cases to your supervisor. Volunteering through opportunities such as research labs and other placements can be a great way to make connections with others, build relationships with mentors who may be potential referees, and they can be a great way to determine if certain paths are of interest. For example, if you volunteer in a research lab and determine you don’t like research, this is really helpful to know when it comes to choosing your next steps (e.g., a research-focused program may not be what you want)! It is important that you take time to reflect on the skills and experiences that you have through work and volunteer experiences, and consider how you can make connections between those skills and experiences, and what the specific opportunity of interest would benefit from. Articulating experiences in the context of a current opportunity is an important skill. If you have a career office either at your school or in your city, they are a great resource for helping you to communicate about your knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes in ways that are meaningful for the opportunities at hand.
If there are standardized tests associated with your future path, taking time to prepare can be a very wise investment. Students often ask “how much time should I devote to preparing for this big test?” The answer is it depends—this can vary a lot by individual. One approach to understanding how much prep time is needed is to find a practice test, and take it without preparing. This can be a helpful benchmark for determining how much you know at the outset, and how far you need to go with your studying.
Lastly, an important thing to consider no matter what you are applying to is your references. Graduate and professional schools often require written letters, where a phone reference is more typical for jobs (though written letters can also be requested). References should come from people who know you well in a professional setting. A reference from a research supervisor or seminar instructor will be much more detailed and nuanced than a letter from an instructor in a large course who doesn’t know you well. Building professional relationships to have strong and detailed letters of reference takes time. You should consider who you know that could write you a strong and detailed letter. If you don’t have anyone who could serve this role, it’s a great time to start building those relationships. Attending office hours, attending public lectures happening within your current program to get to know folks, asking questions, and getting involved through volunteering and small classes are great ways to build these relationships.
For graduate school, students should look at the websites of schools they are curious about applying to. They will list admission requirements on their website. Students can track these requirements, working towards meeting those requirements during undergraduate training. To help with tracking this, students can make a copy of this website, filling it in with program admission requirements.
For specific jobs, job postings should tell you if there are specific competencies that would be helpful. To help track this information, you can make a copy of this spreadsheet and track information from jobs that are of interest to you.
