Students network with grad schools at on-campus expo
Waynesburg University hosted 31 universities and colleges at a Grad School Expo Tuesday, Sept. 27, in the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse. Some of the schools in attendance, along with Waynesburg University, included West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Akron.
The main goal of a graduate school expo is to get students thinking about their future, according to 2001 Waynesburg University graduate Jerry McCombs, the assistant to graduate admissions at Slippery Rock University.
“[Our goal is] to help educate about the process, because the graduate admission process is a lot different from the undergraduate process,” said McCombs.
School representatives at the event emphasized that planning is essential to moving on to a graduate degree program.
“If you’re thinking about not only law school, but any grad program, you need to plan well in advance even if you have a standardized test,” said Nolan James, director of admissions and financial aid for the University of Akron School of Business Law. “Plan, leave yourself time to adequately study for those tests. Most programs require a letter of recommendation. Be static and leave plenty of time for that.”
Waynesburg graduates who are now enrolled in graduate programs were in attendance to illustrate how graduate degrees can help students.
“We are just looking to educate students and help them understand what this graduate degree can do for them,” said Megan Bayles, a member of the 2016 Waynesburg University graduating class, now a graduate assistant with Reed College Media Online Programs.
Abby Pittinaro, coordinator of graduate programs at Waynesburg, and member of the 2014 Waynesburg graduating class, feels spreading information is important to help lead students.
“[We are] spreading the word of programs we have, answering questions, basically guiding these juniors and seniors on what they want to do for the next part of their life,” said Pittinaro.
Students also shared their thoughts of the event.
“It’s important to get the most information as early as you can to make the most informed decision that you can,” said sophomore Micah Stanko.
Senior David Martin said the assortment of graduate schools present was helpful.
“I was pretty satisfied I have a pretty short list of where I was considering going,” said Martin. “Two of the schools I wanted to go to were here so I was pretty happy about that.”
Other students learned about programs they had no idea existed.
“I learned about programs at schools I hadn’t heard about,” said junior Maura Fenske. “Even the universities in our [athletic] conference have graduate programs I didn’t know about. It was definitely informative and I plan on attending next year as a senior.”