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The Graduate/Professional School Search

Completing your undergraduate degree at Hopkins is an accomplishment that will enable you to explore and achieve success in the future, whether you choose full-time employment or continued academic study after graduation. According to the 2005 Post-Graduate Survey, within six months of graduation 44% of 2005 graduates were either enrolled in graduate or professional school or in the application process.

Are You Ready for Graduate School?

You may be ready for graduate school if…

• You wish to study a particular field in-depth and you have accurate information about your intended field and know you need a graduate degree.
• You can balance the demands of graduate school with the rest of your life plans.
• You have talked to people in the field, and they reconfirmed your desire to attend graduate school.
• You are ready to spend long hours in the library or lab, continue a limited income lifestyle, and are committed to an advanced degree.

  You may not be ready if…

• You are feeling burned out academically.
• You view applying to graduate school as an alternative to the job search.
• You are considering widely different fields of study.
• You have no idea what types of jobs you could acquire with the degree you plan to obtain.

How to Get Started

If you think graduate or professional school is the next step for you after Hopkins, the Career Center staff would like to help you with this transition. We invite you to investigate the services available to you, and here are a couple of suggestions to help you get you started with the process.

• Make an appointment with a career counselor to discuss your options and your decision.
• Review graduate school guides in the Career Center Library and read the Graduate School Handout (pdf) to learn more about the search process.
• Talk to faculty and graduate students in the specific discipline you are seeking.
• If you are applying to professional school (law, medicine, dental, veterinary, business, etc.), seek guidance and counsel from your advisor in Pre-Professional Advising.