While many undergraduates consider graduate school as an option following graduation, continuing in an academic environment isn’t for everyone.

“In some professions it’s considered a requirement … [but] it really requires motivation,” said Joan Abe, director of graduate admissions and student services at the UW.

Graduate school is for students interested in furthering their study of one aspect of their undergraduate education. Students often use graduate school to focus on a particular topic or branch of study from within a broad undergraduate major such as biology, mechanical engineering or psychology.

Before applying to graduate school, most students endure a lengthy search and weigh their options carefully to find a program that’s a good fit.

Jake Summers, a masters student in Korea studies at the Jackson School of International Studies, began his graduate school search using his undergraduate resources.

“I took like five or 10 of my favorite books that I read in undergrad and looked at where they were written,” he said.

Many of these publications were written by professors at the UW, Harvard or UCLA. This eventually led Summers to apply to the UW, which he also attended as an undergraduate.

Budgeting time to complete the graduate school application process is not comparable with the undergraduate experience. Abe advises students to plan about a year in advance.

“There is a lot of preparation as far as knowing where you want to go [and] writing personal statements. It’s not something that’s easily or successfully done in a hurry,” Abe said.

Summers agreed that preparation is the best method for success, but he hopes undergrads are not pressured into the process.

“Plan your time — that’s very important,” Summers said. “I think you really have to care about what you’re doing. … School will always be there.”

Standardized test scores are one component of the application process for most graduate schools in the United States, but they are not weighed as heavily as undergraduate academic performance and personal ambition.

“I bombed the GRE,” Summers said. “I only had a week to prepare for it, but luckily the [admissions] people knew that wasn’t reflective [of me].”

Aside from at least one standardized test, graduate school application requirements are fairly similar to those of undergraduate applications.

“As far as entrance exams are concerned, grad student applicants should be prepared to submit GRE scores, letters of recommendation [and] a statement of purpose, along with their college transcript,” Abe said.

Most applications are due in the winter prior to the first year of study, and deadlines can be as early as December.

In terms of funding graduate education, potential sources are not especially plentiful.

“A lot varies amongst the disciplines,” Abe said.

For example, engineering and other “hard science” applicants will have the opportunity to apply for a larger pool of available graduate school funding. Nevertheless, Summers applied for five fellowships to help fund his “soft science” education and said the process was laborious.

“It took me at least 60 hours. … I went to three classes in a week,” Summers said.

He was awarded one scholarship and receives tuition and a stipend to attend the UW.