Graduate School Fair prepares students for the future

Katie Herman / Staff Writer / The USD Vista

As the school year quickly progresses, many students see their time here dwindling and their futures beyond graduation looking uncertain at best. Luckily, the annual USD Graduate School Fair showed students the wide variety of opportunities in graduate school available to them post-graduation.

This year’s fair was held on Tuesday in UC Forums A and B. Kasey Kobs, a counselor in USD’s Career Services organized the event and said, “The goal of the Graduate School Fair is to bring graduate programs and schools to campus so USD students can explore their options after they graduate.”

According to Career Services, about 18 percent of USD students attend graduate school directly after college but this number varies depending on the state of the national economy. When the country’s economic climate looks bleak, students typically take more interest in graduate school and Kobs believes this trend will continue with USD students if the economy continues in its recession.

Over 75 institutions were represented at the fair and the graduate programs being promoted included fields in business, international studies, engineering, psychology, education, health fields and law. Other specialty programs were present as well, such as The New School of Architecture and Design, SDSU American Language Institute, Peace Corps and CSU Long Beach Sport Management program. Public and private institutions were represented as well as schools in California and out of state. Students were able to roam around the different tables, collect information from the different schools and learn about the schools’ admissions requirements and programs.

Carlos Correa, a senior, said, “I came to see what schools were represented here. I’m thinking about going to grad school for business, but it’s not set in stone. This is a helpful event because sometimes finding out about these programs is kind of hard, so it’s good to meet people from the school face to face.”

The fair provided plenty of opportunities for students to talk directly to admissions representatives and to get information about what each school is looking for in its applicants.

“We look through the whole application to look for students that will fit in well at our school. We look for students that will enjoy their time and fit in with the rest of the student body,” Colby Carter said, an admissions counselor at Chapman University School of Law. “We come to this event every year and it’s a good way to get to talk to students who are interested in law and in the school in general.”

All the admissions representatives seemed to enjoy promoting their different programs and engaging in conversations with prospective students.

Despite the variety of different institutions at the fair, some students felt that there was not enough variety in the schools that were represented. “There’s a bias towards business and law programs here,” junior Ana Baddios said. “I’m looking for social science programs. I’m a sociology major and there aren’t that many sociology graduate programs besides a few social work programs.”

Perhaps as the country’s economy continues to change, the graduate school fair will change as well to better suit students’ interests and post-graduation needs. But as of now, the graduate school fair was an effective way for students to get a feel for what graduate programs are possible options for after graduation.