Many people want to further their careers by doing a master’s program or pursuing a Ph.D. program in the United States or Canada. This is a good plan and it is an interesting endeavor. However, many prospective candidates do not know what the timeline is. By timeline, I mean when to start the process and how long the process takes to complete. If you do not have this information, you will miss out on deadlines and may not be able to maximize the opportunities that may be available to competitive candidates such as scholarships, graduate assistantships, and other funding opportunities. So, let’s dive in. In the United States and Canada, the school resumption varies from college to college. However, on a general basis, the most popular school resumption dates are the Spring semester (January), and Fall (August/September). There are some schools that allow summer resumption. For most schools, resumption in the summertime is limited for most schools, especially for international students. Let us focus on Spring and fall semesters. To resume in January (Spring Semester), prospective students need to start the application process a year before. For instance, candidates that will resume in January of 2022 will need to start their application process in 2021. You should start putting your documents together, doing your school search by July, and start applications by August. The processes that go into the application can be categorized into School search, application documents submission, waiting period, Admission acceptance, visa preparation, and finally student orientation. Please look forward to other articles on our blog that give details on some of the steps mentioned above such as school search. Below is our proposed timeline for efficient preparation for your application. Spring Semester (January) Fall Semester (August/September) School Search June of preceding year August of preceding year Application documents submission July -September of preceding year September-November of preceding year Waiting Period October-November November- March Admission acceptance December March-July Visa Preparation December-January June-July Student orientation Welcome welcome Walking through this process may be tasking if walked alone without guidance. It feels good to have someone to show the way every step of the journey to prevent you from getting stuck in the process. At Route Consult, we walk you through the process, from desire to arrivals. You can sign up at Routeconsult.com or reach out to us on WhatsApp at +1 415 570 4139.