Graduate / Professional School

Are you interested in earning a master's degree? The College of Arts and Science, in conjunction with the Graduate School of Arts and Science, is offering a special tuition program for recent CAS graduates.
Career goals, admission requirements, financial aid, location—chances are one or more of these factors will strongly influence your decision about whether and where to continue your education.

Selecting a Graduate or Professional School

Begin your search with a list of schools that offer the program or degree in which you are interested. Then gather more information by talking to faculty in your academic department, current graduate students, and advisors. Visits to prospective programs can be extremely informative. There are often campus events which bring graduate and professional school representatives to NYU to meet with prospective students which can be valuable to your search and application process.

All students are encouraged to use the resources available in the Preprofessional Advising Office resource library (726 Broadway, 7th Floor). Pre-Law and Pre-Health students are strongly urged to seek advisement in the Preprofessional Advising Office (726 Broadway, 7th Floor).

Graduate Admissions Tests

Specific graduate admissions tests are required by many graduate programs. The scores are used as one measure of your likelihood to succeed in a program. Schedule the test with time to meet application deadlines. (It is wise to allow enough time to retake a test if necessary.)

Preparation

The test companies provide information about the exams and even practice exams. Preparatory guides from several publishers and commercial test preparation courses are available. Talk to your faculty advisor about which CAS courses may prepare you for the test related to your field.

Transcripts

You will need to submit an official transcript in conjunction with each application to a graduate or professional school. If you have attended another post-secondary institution, you will need to contact that school to have a copy of that academic record forwarded to prospective schools.

Recommendations

Most schools require recommendations in support of your application. The best sources for recommendations are professors whom you know well and who can provide an accurate evaluation of your personal and academic potential. Recommendations from employers can also be helpful, especially if you have professional experience related to your intended field of study.

It is very important to consider who your recommenders will be:

  • Does this person know you well enough to comment effectively?
  • Will this person write a strong letter?
  • Will this person write the kind of letter you need?
  • Will this person be able to meet the required deadline?

Help recommenders by providing them with valuable information:

  • A personal "profile" which includes your academic achievements, educational and career goals, extra-curricular activities, work experience, and an official transcript.
  • Information about the purpose of the letter (admission, fellowship, or employment), who the audience will be, and deadlines.

Plan Ahead!

You may be planning to do other things before graduate or professional school. Many programs welcome students with work or "life" experiences beyond their undergraduate years.

You may find it helpful to ask professors to write letters of recommendation now while you and your achievements are fresh in their minds. Suggest that they keep a letter on file to be updated when necessary. You might find it helpful to keep such letters in a credential file managed by a service which stores and sends important documents (e.g. Interfolio.com).

Additional Resources