Yale is not forever: planning your future

While most of you are still recovering from the chaos of the thousands of forms and essays in the college application process, many are already planning for life after college in medical, law, or graduate school. For students interested in pursuing one of these options, Yale's educational and counseling resources will provide you with a great amount of information with which you can make informed decisions about what studies to pursue and where to apply.

Medical School

Though pre-med students at Yale vary widely in majors-- from psycho-biology to political science--all should take those specific classes required by most medical schools. These include two years of chemistry lab, one year of organic chemistry, two years of biology lab in any course except biochemistry and botany, one term of basic calculus, and one year of English. Freshmen should have taken one math and one science course by the end of the year, and med school applicants are expected to have finished the bulk of their requirements by the summer after their junior year.

The Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) office provides counseling to help premed students them in making many of their decisions for the future. During the first week of the fall term, UCS holds a meeting for freshmen considering medical careers in order to discuss course selection and medical school requirements. Similar meetings, held in subsequent terms, answer any student's further questions about requirements and course choice. The office also provides listings and on-line catalogs of available medical internships for those students eager to explore their interests through hands on research.

When junior and senior years roll around and students start to think about med school applications and interviews, help is ready. The Yale Alumni in Medical School and the Yale-New Haven Hospital House Staff Referrals programs give students access to doctors and residents who can tell them how they made their own decisions on schools and courses. The Health Professions Advisory Board provides each student with an advisor from the Yale Medical School to guide her through the application and interviewing processes. In addition, UCS compiles the Admissions Statistics for Applicants to Medical School from Yale, and the Medical School Interview Reports, to inform students about how medical school applicants from previous years fared.

Law School

While there isn't a pre-law major at Yale, students are advised to choose a well-rounded curriculum and pursue a major in which they find true interest. One of the most important parts of the law school application process is the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). UCS suggests taking this test as early as possible, so it can be retaken if needed.

To help students learn about past law school applicants, the Law School Admissions Council releases the Action Report to demonstrate how applicants did according to their GPA, LSAT scores, major, ethnicity, and state of residency. The Law School Data Assembly Service analyzes and summarizes biographical data for each applicant. This does not replace the application process, however.

According to UCS, law schools don't just want 4.0 students who head many activities; they also tend to like older applicants, who took a couple years off after college to explore a field of interest, or work at a résumé-building job. Before you make lists of Yale, Harvard, and Stanford law schools during freshman year, think about what you want to do. There is no right or wrong way to get into law school.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

The best source of advice available to potential graduate school applicants is the Yale faculty itself. It's a good idea to discuss graduate programs with faculty in your intended academic field early on. They have connections and information on programs available around the world.

Early in their junior years, applicants should use UCS's catalogues to investigate and become familiar with graduate fellowship and scholarship opportunities, and compile a list of desirable (and possible) schools. Also register to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) general and subject tests that same spring and summer. The GRE tests verbal, quantitative, and analytical skills. In all cases, it is always good to talk to other students about their views on different programs, since by sharing the varying results of your research , you will all end up making better decisions about applying to schools.

In the end, the key to success in the law school, med school, or grad school application process is researching and using all the advising facilities available at Yale, including the faculty, UCS, and students themselves. So don't get stressed in your pursuit to get into yet another "dream school," because all the answers and help you need are right at your fingertips!

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