I wouldn't ask people for LORs just yet. I would just shoot them emails and let htem know what you've been up to, how it relates to what you learned in school, what you're thinking about for next year, maybe ask them some advice on what they think would be a good fit for you (outline some interests, maybe something you did in one of their courses that you'd like to follow up on).
You should take the GRE ASAP if you haven't already. You'll want time to take it again, just in case you don't do well the first time. I'd schedule to take it two months or three months from now--not too far away that you can keep on putting off studying, but not too close that you don't have enough time to study. I don't advise taking the final GRE any later than October... you'll just end up sweating over whether or not they've gotten to your schools or not.
One thing you don't have in your list is researching schools. This is a step that I wish I had put more planning in -- I missed out on some good schools because I was so frantic to just finalize the list and get working on some SOPs. You can research schools by asking profs, going to websites, hanging out at the university library and reading the intros of books (or articles in anthologies). This will probably also help you figure out what exactly you want to study.
After that, I'd ask profs for recs (early October). This is ideally when you'd have a draft of your SOP as well and a little writing portfolio and a CV. Don't give it to them now. They'll probably just lose it...
I spent most of November and December super stressed over the SOP. I wasn't really stressed about the LORs because my recommenders all knew me very well and had all offered on more than one occasion to write me a LOR. It's really important to emphasize your fit in the SOP, but understanding a program's strengths/weaknesses I found harder than I thought it would be. I think this is unique to the interdisciplinary programs i was applying to though.. I literally just had to dig through lots of books to figure out where each prof stood in their field.
Anyway, good luck. Way to plan ahead. I started thinking about grad school in September of last year, even though I've known for years that I was going to apply...
Yeah, I was just planning on letting them know that I have them in mind to write me an LOR, and would they be able to write me a strong one? I do need to find that out before proceeding - I don't have too many professors to choose from.
I'm planning on taking the GRE ASAP and I'm pretty sure which departments I want to apply to, so no problems there. I've been thinking about grad school for about two years, so I've been sort of collecting information along the way... (which is how I formulated my "plan" here)
You should take the GRE ASAP if you haven't already. You'll want time to take it again, just in case you don't do well the first time. I'd schedule to take it two months or three months from now--not too far away that you can keep on putting off studying, but not too close that you don't have enough time to study. I don't advise taking the final GRE any later than October... you'll just end up sweating over whether or not they've gotten to your schools or not.
One thing you don't have in your list is researching schools. This is a step that I wish I had put more planning in -- I missed out on some good schools because I was so frantic to just finalize the list and get working on some SOPs. You can research schools by asking profs, going to websites, hanging out at the university library and reading the intros of books (or articles in anthologies). This will probably also help you figure out what exactly you want to study.
After that, I'd ask profs for recs (early October). This is ideally when you'd have a draft of your SOP as well and a little writing portfolio and a CV. Don't give it to them now. They'll probably just lose it...
I spent most of November and December super stressed over the SOP. I wasn't really stressed about the LORs because my recommenders all knew me very well and had all offered on more than one occasion to write me a LOR. It's really important to emphasize your fit in the SOP, but understanding a program's strengths/weaknesses I found harder than I thought it would be. I think this is unique to the interdisciplinary programs i was applying to though.. I literally just had to dig through lots of books to figure out where each prof stood in their field.
Anyway, good luck. Way to plan ahead. I started thinking about grad school in September of last year, even though I've known for years that I was going to apply...
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I'm planning on taking the GRE ASAP and I'm pretty sure which departments I want to apply to, so no problems there. I've been thinking about grad school for about two years, so I've been sort of collecting information along the way... (which is how I formulated my "plan" here)
Thanks for the tips, though.
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