GRF Sara led a discussion about Graduate School during this seminar. First, I’d like to say that her own story about how she got to where she is today was very interesting and admirable to me. She graduated with an undergraduate degree of History and worked at a finance firm after graduating and somehow got to be a PHD student in English here at Cornell. Her passion and enthusiasm for the humanities is definitely a major reason why she is here. I especially admire her passion for what she does, as she phrased it, “What kind of grown-up gets to read everyday for fun?”.
As for myself, I intend to go to Physical Therapy School after undergrad and I plan to get a doctor in physical therapy. Our discussion however pertained mostly to other types of grad schools such as MBA programs, PHD programs and other master degrees as well. The process for each program does overlap in that we must apply with a personal statement, interviews, and recommendations. I learned a bit more about gap years and what my fellow peers’ opinions were on it. In my opinion, a gap year or years, would be a good time to gain some professional experience in the real world before going back to school. I believe it would help make an application to grad school stronger in I would be more mature and experienced. However, like my other peers, I have doubts about taking a break from school and not having the same mindset and drive to work academically. I’m still open to either option and I’m excited to see where my experiences take me!
It’s quite cool that Sara has PhD in English despite being a undergraduate history major. That’s nice to hear that your undergraduate major doesn’t limit you only to careers in that field. A lot of students probably feel limited by their majors when, in reality, you can make any career for yourself independent of your major.
I wish I went to that talk. It’s strange to think how close graduate school and life beyond is. I guess I better start doing some research.
That’s an interesting background for a PhD student? I think sometimes we get so focused on being the perfect applicant for various things that we forget it’s ok to be human: not everyone is always on a linear path, and that’s ok!
Wow this sounds like a very informative event! I too am planning on applying to grad school. While I see the benefits of taking a gap year, like being more mature, I decided not to take a gap year because I think that it would be too difficult for me to return back to academic life after having worked for a year or two. This certainly is a difficult decision, and is different for each individual.
I think this is really helpful, because right now I don’t know exactly what I can make out what I will make of my major in undergrad. But seeing the possibility that you can change the course of direction in what you can do in graduate school makes me think there are more possibility after graduation.
Maybe I will take a gap year to think about what I want to do with my education as is.