Graduates with a College degree earn 1 million more than those that did not attend College. Since automation has reduced the number of jobs that require only a High School degree, there will be a shortage of highly educated and highly qualified job applicants in the US. Therefore, there is an increasing need to pursue Graduate School to gain more specialized training to advance in many fields. Because of my own interest to pursue Graduate School, I attended a session that guided us on the process of Graduate School application. It is not too early to think about Graduate School once you are a sophomore, as there are many requirements you need to complete during your junior year. First of all, you need to research for Graduate Schools and visit, if possible some of your leading choices, contact Professors in your area of interest as some schools will pay the visit if they are interested in your qualifications, take the GRE (general and subject if required). Graduate School will allow you to get advanced training to be able to work at the top of your field of interest and contribute to move the frontiers of knowledge. Graduate School is definitively an investment in your future career options as the jobs of the future will require highly advanced training.

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!

I have in the past briefly entertained the thought of going to a graduate school after graduating from Cornell. Although I am currently a junior Information Science major, I have recently developed an interest in marketing and advertising and may want to pursue this in the future. Last week’s event revolving around applying to graduate school helped me to explore this opinion in more depth.

I really appreciated Sara running the event as not only did she talk about the general process of applying to graduate school such as obtaining recommendations early on from professors and bosses at work, but she also shared her personal experiences in changing from one career path to another through graduate school. Additionally, Sara made sure to pay special attention to each student at the event by giving specialized advice or asking certain people by name about their view on a topic being discussed. In my opinion, it made the entire discussion about graduate school feel more personal and relevant to each person as we each shared our experiences and possible goals for life after Cornell. It was also nice having the opportunity to provide new information to Sara about current graduate school applications and discuss it with her in addition to learning from her, as when I was researching a graduate program I was interested in, I noticed that the application required a video-recorded interview, which acts as an alternative to a Skype or in-person interview where unprepared applicants receive a series of questions and are required to video-record their responses. I appreciated that the entire event was more like a casual open discussion than a miniature lecture due to the personal nature of the event’s focus.

Although I am still on the fence regarding graduate school, I highly enjoyed the event and will keep in mind Sara’s advice and experiences while completing the rest of my Bachelors at Cornell and considering my next steps after graduation.

GRF Sara led a productive discussion about the grad school process and helped many people in the room to formulate their own thoughts and plans. But for me it was most thrilling to hear how she paved her way to grad school. She worked in the consulting industry for many years before she had an epiphany. When she wasn’t consulting with clients, she was diving deep into literature, reading book after book of all sorts of genres. That’s what she wanted to do at the end of the day. So she figured, why wait until the end of the day? It’s a passion, not a hobby, so it should be ever present in life. She was already reading and writing extensively in her work for the consulting firm, so it wouldn’t be that dramatic of a shift. From that trail of thought she decided to consider grad school to pursue a career as an English professor. It was clear from the way she articulated her epiphany that she had made the right decision and that she is very happy. Tips can help in the near future without doubt. But sometimes it is a journey into the unknown that can be most rewarding in the distant future, the future we cannot picture in our minds even if we try.

Last Thursday I attended a great seminar by GRF Sara about how to apply to grad school. I had always kept grad school in the back of my mind as an option, but was unsure of how committed I was to the idea or what I would study there. The discussion we had helped me think of graduate school and PhD programs in a different way than I had before. They are continuations of education, but in a way they are almost like a job and should be treated as such. I also discovered that some PhD programs will actually pay you, in which case I can absolutely see myself getting a PhD.

When Sara mentioned that being paid to read books all day is like a dream come true, I agreed entirely. It got me thinking about historical scholars of literature, back in the 1700s or even further back. Before education was made widely available (or as widely available as it is today), education was reserved only for wealthy. People who wanted to study books all day and compare intricate symbolism in one genre to another could only do so if they did not need to work. The way PhDs are structured now is so different to the way education was conducted back then. People would just read in their “study” and learn from it, without needing to write long dissertations. It’s possible they did so for fun, but they weren’t accountable to anyone for it. For me to be able to consider doing something like this with my life, despite not being one of those “don’t need to work a day in my life” kinds of people, is absolutely amazing and should be taken as a privilege! I absolutely want to take advantage of the fact that I even have the opportunity to continue my education and hope others will feel the same way.

Last week I attended a talk with hosted by Sarah, a GRF in Rose house. We talked about grad school applications and ways to navigate the process. It was extremely insightful to hear from her because she experienced transitioning from the workforce to grad school, which was a unique perspective. She shared with us how she was a History major during undergrad and then went into consulting. After a couple years of working in consulting, she decided to take an unconventional path and apply to get her Ph.D. in English. In addition to her diverse background, she also mentored pre-MBA students in their application process. Once she shared this information with us, I was extremely excited to ask as many questions as possible.

One of the career paths I have been carefully considering is consulting, and she was able to share her experience with me about her time at a small firm. Due to the fact that I am not an economics or business major, I was concerned that I would not be able to break into this extremely competitive field. However, she gave me tips on how to be successful in the field and reassured me that my undergrad major was only a small factor in the decision-making process. We were also able to talk about what the best timeline would be, and I decided that getting experience in the field before ultimately returning to school to obtain my MBA is the best option for me.

Overall, attending this event was extremely useful because I had just recently been starting to consider what I would be doing after graduation. I am grateful for all the useful advice Sarah shared with us, and I plan on remaining in contact with her throughout the rest of undergrad and beyond.