While your excitement builds in anticipation of starting your graduate program at the end of next month, here are a few things you can do to prepare for the fall semester.
- Complete GW First Class and review the New Students Page on the Elliott School website.
- Save the Date for Fall 2015 New Graduate Student Orientation, and RSVP in GW First Class.
- If you’re already local, make a trip to campus to pick up your GWorld card.
- Familiarize yourself with campus by taking a walk around or taking a virtual tour.
- Register for your Fall 2015 courses, and review the Registrar's registration policies to avoid tuition penalties.
- Familiarize yourself with the University Bulletin, which lists University and Elliott School policies.
- Review your program's page on the Elliott School website to review your curriculum requirements.
- Begin working on a draft of your plan of study (we expect this to change, and will go over the form in detail at Orientation).
- Introduce yourself to other new students on the discussion board found in GW First Class on Blackboard.
Have other tips or suggestions for new students? Feel free to leave a comment below.
These are all great tips! Another thing that if you get it done over the summer will make the start of your fall semester easier: the Professional Development Action Plan. You can find last year's on ESCC, and while GSCD will send out an updated one at the start of the fall semester, it should be substantively the same. Your action plan will be due to GSCD midway through the fall semester, and continued access to ESCC and career services depends on you submitting this, so get it done now before the semester starts. All you'll have to do is copy and paste your plan into the new version when it comes out.