_DSC0025_DSC0025By Steven Viera ’16

_DSC0025_DSC0025The Office of Student and Post-Graduate Development (OSPGD) held its annual Graduate Fair Wednesday. The goal of the event was to connect F&M students with a number of graduate institutions in a variety of fields and show students the opportunities available to them.

The event took place from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Alumni Sports and Fitness Center (ASFC). Attending students could browse from the graduate schools present, talk to a representative from a specific school, and enjoy free pizza provided by OSPGD.

“[OSPGD]’s Graduate and Professional School Fair, held annually, is an opportunity for students to engage with a large variety of programs and representatives from institutions across the globe,” said Matthew Thomas, program coordinator and organizer of the event. “The goal of the fair was to connect students with people who could speak directly to the quality of specific programs and to expose students to new opportunities in pursuing their education at a graduate level.”

The fair provided opportunities for all types of students; those who are undecided about their post-F&M academic lives could browse the available options, and students with more defined plans could go directly to representatives from specific schools to talk or ask questions.

Over 100 graduate institutions were represented at the fair from all types of disciplines, including the American University’s Washington College of Law, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Villanova University, and many more.

Three international schools were represented: University of St. Andrews in Scotland, University of East Anglia in England, and Study Across the Pond, an American representative for 32 universities across the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, many of the institutions present at this year’s fair were not at last year’s fair.

“It’s a rotating list,” Thomas said in an article on F&M’s news website. “This year’s list looks very different from last year’s.”

Following the fair, two of the graduate schools present —MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Northeastern University’s School of Business — held additional hour-long informational sessions on campus for interested students.

OSPGD organized the fair in conjunction with the Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC), an organization designed to “assure and advance the general quality and the intellectual vitality of member colleges,” according to its mission statement. Through the CPC, F&M partnered with Gettysburg College and Dickinson College to plan the fair, and, as a result, many of the schools present at F&M’s fair were also present at graduate fairs at Gettysburg and Dickinson earlier last week.

“This year’s fair was planned by numerous individuals from [OSPGD], and each year F&M, Dickinson, and Gettysburg work together to put on a series of fairs at each respective institution,” Thomas said.

Sophomore Steven Viera is the News Editor. His email is sviera@fandm.edu.

 

By TCR