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This timeline has some overlapping information with our timeline for all graduate school applicants,
but with additional information that might be useful to international students. We encourage that you look at both!​

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12+ months before application deadline

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• Keep up with your coursework and volunteer in research labs. If you already have your bachelor’s degree, apply for lab technician jobs where you can work while getting paid and gain more research experience.
   

• GREs (General and Subject Tests): Many schools have dropped their GRE requirement, but you want to double-check the requirements of your programs. If you have a low GPA, you may elect to take a relevant subject test to help increase your chances. If you take the general GREs, you may want to have at least an average verbal score.
   

• English proficiency tests: International students who have not graduated from an accredited English-speaking institution are generally required to take the TOEFL or the IELTS. Be sure that your scores have not expired, and the school will accept them. Some programs only accept the TOEFL or IELT but not both.

  • Some schools are becoming more relaxed about English proficiency exam requirements. For instance, program web pages may say that they require applicants score of 100 on the TOEFL, but if you get a 92, apply anyway! Certain programs have started abolishing the English proficiency test requirement completely.

  • Remember you can send a few score reports for free, unlike the GRE that allows you to do it at the end of the test, you have to submit the institutions before giving the TOEFL on their website.

  • See this list to check which graduate programs do and do not require the TOEFL, and additional useful information! (Credit to Aníbal Tornés Blanco)
     

• If you are able, try volunteering at a science outreach or advocacy organization. It will enrich your experience and broaden your impact as a scientist.
   

• Build/update your CV. Keep it fresh with new, relevant experiences. Seek feedback on the format, content, word choices (use strong action verbs). Look at examples from other graduate students applying to US schools! (link here). There’s a good chance that CVs are different in your country than the type that your programs of interest will be expecting.
   

• Contact professors you are interested in working with. Each program, particularly in different fields, have their own quirks. For some programs, your application might greatly benefit from having a professor that already knows you and wants to work with you. Send letters of interest to professors whose research you are interested in and ask them questions about their research and if they are accepting students (sometimes labs are just full). Better to do this as early as possible, but you can send letters to professors until about a month before the application is due (but do not email more than three professors in a particular program or department). Sometimes if a professor is interested in having you in their lab, your application might rise to the top of the pile. For other programs, it can at the very least show your proactive and enthusiastic about a research program. Letters of interest can do very little to hurt you, but they can do a lot to help.
  
   

6-9 months before deadline
 

• Research programs, areas of research that interest you. If you are applying to exclusively U.S. schools, we recommend you apply to around 10 programs that interest you. Apply to a range of schools that might be more or less difficult to get into -- don’t only apply to ivy league graduate programs, for instance.

• Check out lab websites, recent publications, current lab members (postdoc to grad student ratio), see where graduate students and postdocs that have left the lab have done after their time in the lab (most people are on LinkedIn and/or Research Gate). You can also reach out to current students and postdocs if you’d like their perspective on the lab environment.

• Reach out to individual PIs by email (see below).

• Start drafting your personal statement and update your CV. Make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors.

• Start thinking about potential letter of reference writers. If your letter writers need an example of what letters of recommendation for US graduate programs look like, you can refer them to these documents (note, word docs will automatically download: template, example letter #1, example letter #2).
  
   

3-6 months before deadline
 

• If possible, try attending conferences or workshops on campus. It can be very helpful to meet with the members of the admissions committee and find out what exactly they are looking for. If you live abroad, look for and register for virtual graduate school fairs. It’s rare for international students to be able to get application waivers (as far as we are aware) but you can also sometimes get application fee waivers through virtual grad school fairs!

• Revise your personal statement.

• Request champion letters of recommendation. The letters should be very strong and highlight your potential to be an independent researcher.
  
   

2 months before deadline
 

• Final selection of your schools. Budget your time and finances for applications and interviews.

• Send a gentle reminder to your letter writers. Chase after them if you must.

• Arrange your transcripts, test scores to be sent to your programs.

• Have someone check your grammar and spelling on your CV, personal statement and any other documents. If English is not your first language, then try to find a native English-speaker. Feedback from PIs, current grad students and postdocs can also be extremely helpful!