Seize Your Superpower
As a transfer student, you bring a source of knowledge, experience, and wisdom to your career development journey at UCSB. When you first arrive, develop an achievable timeline for yourself; as you acclimate to your new environment and the fast-paced quarter system, take advantage of campus resources available to help you accomplish the goals you strive to achieve.
While your time as a transfer student may be short but sweet, thinking about your academic and career possibilities throughout your studies will support your integration into life at UCSB. From internships, to graduate school planning, to working on-campus, to achieving your post-graduation goals, we encourage you to engage early and often with Career Services. Read on to learn more.
Key Campus Resources @ UCSB
Explore Grad School: Transfer Students
For complete information on graduate school search strategies and the application process, review our starter tips to Explore Grad School in all careers as well as the specialized tips on this page.
Getting Ready for Grad School
If you plan on pursuing a graduate program within a year after you finish at UCSB, know that there are many pieces of the application process to work on. During your first year on campus, start researching programs to get an idea of the requirements. Then, start to work on applications the summer before your final year at UCSB.
Additionally, establish relationships with your professors and TAs as soon as possible. You can do this by attending office hours and applying for research opportunities during your first year. This will allow you to maintain beneficial relationships and secure letter of recommendation writers for graduate school.
However, you may feel like you have limited time to even consider graduate school, let alone time to explore your options. The good news is that many UCSB students take time off before applying. This can be for a variety of reasons, but also know this: most graduate programs like to see that you have obtained some real-world experience before you decide to apply to their program. Therefore, taking one or more gap years may be beneficial.
Learn More
Check out our Grad School 101 page for general tips and make sure to attend Graduate and Professional Schools Day during fall quarter to explore options.
Applying to Professional Programs
In addition to graduate school options, you may be interested in types of schools for furthering your education. Click below to explore these options further.
Medical school applications are submitted in June, more than a year before you would plan to start medical school. Most applicants take at least one gap year between undergraduate and medical school. Gap years can strengthen your application in manners such as: allowing you to share your full undergraduate record, giving yourself more time to prepare for the MCAT, and gaining any relevant experience that you need in order to prepare.
Learn More
Be sure to review our Clinical Healthcare tips, and speak with the Pre-Health Advisors as well as our Career Counselor for Science + Health. This will help you create an academic and experiential-related plan.
Start considering your law school applications when you arrive to UCSB. If you are planning to apply directly after you obtain your undergraduate degree, you should begin to build your qualifications as early as possible. These can include experience in volunteer work, campus organizations, UCDC, EAP, and more. Additionally, start educating yourself on the process for law school admissions.
Learn More
Read our tips for careers in Law and speak to a Pre-Law Advisor to learn more about the many career paths in this field and how to pursue them.
