Getting the Most out of Senior Year
- Improve Grades: Your undergraduate transcript can come back to haunt you or help you. The stronger your grades are, the happier you will be when an admissions committee or scholarship selection board takes another look at your transcript.
- Polish your resume: The staff at Stony Brook's Career Center can help you improve the look of your resume. If you have time, work on the content, too. There are research, health-related, and leadership experiences that you can only get in college. Acquire them now, so that you can impress people later on!
- Identify multiple options: It always helps to have more than one possible path to your goal. That way, if one route becomes blocked you just take the other one. Even if it costs you a little more time, you should eventually be able to reach your goal. For example, "If I don't get into med school this year, I will do a master's degree at a medical school," or "I am really not sure if I want a career in research or healthcare. I know what I'll do. I'll apply to the NIH Academy so I can get a year of research experience."
- Establish lines of communication: Think of all the professors and university officials you have dealt with over the past years. How many of them do you remember by name, and how many of them would you ask for a letter of recommendation. Hopefully, you have at least three people you can ask for recommendations, and at least two of them are professors. If you can, it is a god idea to keep in touch with some professors for a few years after you graduate. Even a few years after you have your bachelor's degree, the support of a professor from your undergraduate years can help you a lot depending on the circumstances.