Program Subcommittee (Southern)
How to Finance Your Graduate Education
This session will focus on the resources available to finance a graduate education. Special emphasis will be placed on campus-based and external fellowship support available as students advance in their graduate programs. Included in this workshop are ways in which students can effectively negotiate their financial awards and options available at the dissertation and post-doctoral stages of the graduate school experience.
How to Prepare for the GRE
This seminar will introduce students to the? Princeton Review's approaches, techniques, and strategies for dealing with GRE verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing sections. An overview of the GRE will be provided, and a few specific techniques for tackling GRE questions will be presented.
How to Select, Apply to, and Prepare for Graduate School
This workshop will discuss the merits of graduate school, the nuts and bolts of applying, and everything you need to know to submit a strong application.
Discipline-based panels: (Physical Sciences/Math, Life Sciences, Engineering/Computer Science, Social Sciences, Humanities/Arts, Business/Management and Education)
Different disciplines have different norms and ways of operating. These panels are intended to provide students with an understanding of various aspects of graduate study within a given discipline. For each of the disciplines listed above, panelists offer insights on such topics as how to prepare strategically for admission into a graduate program, what a graduate program entails (content, workload, process, time to degree), and career options (including a snapshot of the life of a faculty member). Most panels include two faculty and one graduate student.
Keys to Success and Survival in Graduate School
This panel permits students to hear directly from current graduate students about their experiences in graduate school --theproblems they have encountered and the solutions they have found. Topics may include coping with isolation and finding support groups, cultivating academic and personal mentors, inside tips and strategies for passing qualifying exams, and successful time management.
How to Write a Winning Statement of Purpose
The goal of this workshop is to help students understand the role of the Statement of Purpose (SOP), the value of investing time into developing a strong SOP, and the necessary components of a SOP. The key objectives are as follows: (1) explain the role of the SOP in a graduate school application package; (2) outline basic components of SOP; (3) timeline/strategies for writing a strong SOP (examples of what to do and what not to do); and (4) additional items as appropriate, including demystifying rumors about SOP.
The Role of Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Graduate Admissions
The goal of this workshop is to help students build a solid foundation for understanding the basics of an undergraduate research program. Information that will be covered includes: application components, program components, timelines, web sites and helpful resources, benefits of participating in such a program, and how to choose the right program for oneself.
The Relation of the Master's Degree to the Ph.D.
Students often pose these questions: What is the difference between a master's program and a Ph.D. program? Should I get a master's degree first or go straight to a Ph.D. program? This workshop helps to demystify the role of the master's degree both as a stand-alone degree and in its relationship to the doctorate. Students will hear from presenters from doctoral-granting institutions, such as the UC, from private and independent universities, as well as from master's-level institutions, particularly the CSU. Among the questions answered: What careers can I have with a master's degree? What is the transferability of a master's program to a Ph.D. program? Should I earn a master's degree first? Will a Ph.D. program give me credit for my master's work? How much time will it take to earn a Master's? What is involved in earning a master's in terms of course work and thesis?
