How College Juniors Can Prepare for Senior Year

By Alyssa Laffitte on February 3, 2018

Junior year is an exciting time. As a junior, you’re now an upperclassman! However, this means it’s time to start thinking about graduation, and what comes after. Your junior year should be all about determining what exactly you want to do once you graduate, and planning and setting yourself up to achieve this plan. Here are some things you should do as a junior to prepare for your senior year and for graduation.

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Start researching your options, and pick one!

Now that you’re a junior, it’s time to seriously think about what you want to do after you graduate. Do you want to continue your education in graduate or professional school? Or would you rather enter the workforce right away? This decision will affect how you approach the rest of your college career. For example, if you want to attend medical school, you need to ensure that you’ve completed all the pre-med requirements and you need to study for the MCAT. Again, it’s important that you decide what you will do after graduation, since it will change the course of your last few semesters of college.

Visit your school’s career planning office

Once you have decided on your post-grad plans, it’s time to put them into action! Visit your school’s career planning office so they can help you start moving in the right direction, no matter what your plans are. They will be able to offer advice on applications, resume/cover letter writing, interviews, and how to find opportunities. Even though graduation is still two years away, it’s worth taking a trip to the career planning office.

Double check your major’s graduation requirements

It’s important to double check your major’s graduation requirements to make sure you will have fulfilled all the requirements come spring semester of senior year. The last thing you need is to have to delay your graduation because you forgot to take a required class!

I would recommend that you plan out what classes you will take for the rest of your college career. For example, if you need to take three required labs and you have four semesters left, plan out your semesters accordingly so you can take these labs in time for graduation.

You should allow some flexibility in this schedule, in case you can’t take a class when you originally wanted to. Yes, classes can fill up very quickly, or it can conflict with a more important class.

To keep yourself from having to stay in college longer, make sure that you will complete all your major’s requirements in time for graduation.

Get real-world experience in your desired field

You should spend the summer between your junior and senior years of college gaining real-life experience in your desired field. Usually, this means an internship or volunteering. If you are in a research-oriented field, you can spend the summer doing research full-time. You can also choose to volunteer for an organization that you might like to work for.

Spending the summer working in your field is not only great for your resume, but it will also help you see what a job in your field would look like.

Prepare your resume and cover letter

During your senior year, you will be filling out a lot of applications, whether they are for graduate schools or for jobs. These applications will likely require a resume or a cover letter. Your junior year is a great time to start drafting these documents, because you will be extremely busy during your senior year! When application time comes, you will be thankful that all you’ll need to do is update your already created resume.

Attend conferences

If you want to work in a research-oriented field, you should attend conferences in your field. Conferences are opportunities to network. You never know who you might meet! It’s also an opportunity to present your own research. Being able to communicate your research is important for any researcher, and professional schools love that.

Study for any standardized tests

If you decide to continue your education into graduate or professional school, you will likely need to take a standardized entrance exam like the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, or MCAT at the beginning of your senior year. These exams are not to be taken lightly! They require many hours of preparation, but if you’re a junior, you have plenty of time.

At the end of your junior year, you should start looking into registration for these tests, as seats fill up quickly. It’s also a good idea to invest in study materials or a prep course and spend your summer preparing for your test.

As a junior, you have plenty of time to consider your post-grad options. Use that time wisely! If you do, you will set yourself up for a great senior year and a great career.

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