There is surely a lot of work that goes into preparing an application to graduate school, so it’s best to get prepare ahead of time so you are less stressed out as deadlines approach!
Faculty
When looking for a graduate program, first make sure that you find faculty members that you could see yourself working with. That is, check to see if your research interests align with someone in the department. If that is the case, don’t be afraid to send them a short email indicating that you would like to work with them, and inquiring about open positions in their lab for the upcoming admissions cycle. It’s never too early to express your interest!
Curriculum Vitae
Try to update your CV frequently because it will save you a lot of time in the long run! If you don’t know what to include, Purdue offers several tips here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/resumes_and_vitas/writing_the_cv.html
Also, you can always ask a professor or mentor to take a look at give you advice!
Letters of Recommendation
Your letter writers are one of the most important components of your application because they vogue for your success at the graduate level. To say the least, you don’t want to ask a professor that you took one class with freshman year to write your letter for you. Start building relationships with your professors and mentors as soon as you can so that they know you well enough to write a good letter of recommendation for you! If you already have letter writers in mind, start preparing a document for each of them indicating classes you took with them, papers you wrote for them, research you’ve done with them, grades you got in their class, etc. Professors are extremely busy, so reminding them of what you have done with them will give them more to write about!
Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose
The statement of purpose is your opportunity to convey your aptitude for success in the program, so take your time! If you are applying to multiple programs make sure that you tailor your statement to each school of interest. While the base of your writing will express skills/experiences/interests, you should discuss your reason for choosing that program in particular. Absolutely make sure that you have a trusted professor - preferably more than one - read and comment on your statement. The first draft is never perfect so be prepared to make many revisions before you are ready to submit!
Other things
If the program you are applying to requires the GRE or other standardized tests, take them ahead of time! The GRE can be very costly, so if you want to take it more than once give yourself enough time so save up a bit and study so that you do even better the second time!
The graduate admissions process can be intimidating, but if you take the time to prepare you won’t be as nervous for those admissions deadlines.
