The grad school waiting game

Your applications are in – now what?

You aced your GREs, got awesome letters of recommendation, wrote amazing essays, and submitted all 5, 8, 10 of your graduate school applications by the deadlines. You should feel relieved and relaxed, right? But it’s been a couple of months and you check your email several times a day…nothing.

Don’t panic. Admissions committees are still reviewing files and making decisions every day. Although it feels like an eternity, it’s still pretty early in the process. Below are some suggestions to make the waiting game a little less painful.

• Visit some of the schools you applied to – go with the eyes of an admitted student. Even if you were there before, things will look different. Sit in on a class, hang out at the student union, schedule a meeting with a professor. Scout the local area for housing and places to hang out. When you start getting admission offers, this new knowledge will help you make some tough decisions.
• Take a course – if you haven’t been in school for a while, taking an evening class at a local university or community college can get you back in the game.
• Use your network – look at your LinkedIn connections and find people who have degrees from your desired programs. Ask lots of questions. Would they do it again? What did they like best? What wasn’t ideal? How was job placement?

Tip: Don’t look back at your submitted applications. If you find something you aren’t happy with, you can’t change it. Avoid that extra anxiety and leave those applications alone.

Before you know it, those letters will start rolling in and the fun begins– choosing your landing place for the next couple of years!