By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
For the eighth year in a row, the Career Center at Springfield College hosted its Planning for Graduate School Series. The series is split into two no-cost sessions with the first taking place on Sept. 23 during common hour at the Dodge A/B room and the second on Sept. 30 with the same time and location.
The graduate series started back when an overwhelming number of students rushed to the Career Center asking for advice and recommendations that spanned outside its area of expertise. This included recommendations about financial aid, references and citations from the library. To solve this issue, Director of the Career Center Scott Dranka reached out to other departments of campus for help.
“We decided at that juncture to be able to bring expert speakers who represent graduate admissions, financial aid, library resources and recommendations to support what we’re doing here in the Career Center for one on one appointments with students,” Dranka said.
Part one of the series was titled “Application Timeline and Graduate School Testing; Personal Statements and References,” focusing on key steps of the graduate school application process, testing, how to craft personal statements and how to choose references.
This year’s expert speakers were Senior Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions and Events Rachel Ahlmeyer and Graduate Admissions Counselor Tessa Dowd. Ahlmeyer and Dowd highlighted the importance of crafting an application essay and not being discouraged by a professor or faculty member turning down a recommendation letter. Having the support of the Office of Graduate Admissions has been integral to the series.
“Whether it’s Rachel, Tessa or Magie Pereiras, the Executive Director of Graduate Admissions, we’ve elicited their support along the way because a lot of students we’re finding will enroll at graduate school right here at Springfield College,” Dranka said. “So it also gives them the understanding of meeting with the graduate admissions counselors and their director and the inside knowledge of the entire application process at Springfield College.”
A key takeaway from Dranka about part one’s discussion is that students need to start the application process early. This means honing down exactly what major and program the student wants as they can’t be in an exploratory angle in graduate school.
“You need to write a really detailed essay pursuant to the questions they’re asking and stay on track with what the graduate school application is asking for, to support professional references that go along with the application process, really understanding the timeline and the necessary components that go into that by starting your research early,” Dranka said.
Part two of the series takes a look at financial aid fellowships and being able to finance graduate school. With the help of the Learning Commons, students will learn how to look for resources and how to do research at the level graduate schools are looking for. At the graduate level, there aren’t as many grants, non-paybacks and scholarships compared to undergraduate students. Those enrolled at graduate programs finance it through loans after the FAFSA application, outside loans or paying it as they go.
“Many opt to find graduate fellowships at their respective colleges and universities that they’re applying to because when you get a fellowship you work with an academic department or unit on campus,” Dranka said. “It’ll depend on the position and the level of caliber of that position, but students usually get tuition reimbursement or tuition waivers. That is a very exciting thing for a graduate student to be able to land to help offset some of their financial loans.”