Is There Graduate School in Your Future?

Next week offers a virtual smorgasbord of workshops and admission panels for the UCSB student planning ahead for possible graduate or professional school culminating on Thursday’s Annual Graduate Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside in the Arbor Mall. Most students can see the participant list of more than 80 graduate and professional business, education, law, medical, psychology programs by going to our web page at http://career.ucsb.edu under “Career Fairs”. Students might also wish to sort their options by going to the website http://gradschools.com.

Our staff is proud to have such a diverse and outstanding line-up for everyone. We work hard to pull in leading admission representatives to give further details on admission strategies, scholarships and financial aid options. We also team up with our local area Kaplan and Princeton Review test preparation services to give details for GRE, LSAT, GMAT, and MCAT. Most students do not realize that GRE and GMAT are now computerized so there is flexibility when you sign up and take either of these tests. Nor do students know that scores are good for up to five years after you graduate in case you decide to wait. Our Reference Letter Service is also good for five years after you graduate. We strongly suggest you solicit letters from your professors and/or TAs before you leave us this December or June. This way you won’t have to worry if these individuals will remember you one or two years out. Details are also on our webpage at: http://career.ucsb.edu/rls/index.html#at

For liberal arts or non-business students toying with an idea of an MBA, I might suggest applying for one of the summer four to six week intensive summer programs now available for juniors and graduating seniors through the following:

• UC Berkeley Haas Center http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/BASE/;
• Stanford University http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/si/
• USC Marshall School http://www.marshall.usc.edu/gpp/summer-global-business-program/

These summer programs give a crash overview of key business skills while giving you exposure to faculty at these competitive programs. You might also want to do an overseas international MBA through Austra Learn http://www.australearn.org/Search/ and/or a year long internship/MBA in London or New York City through Mountbatten at http://www.mountbatten.org.

Finally, please do not stress on applying now if you are a senior. Most students wait at least a year or two before applying. In fact, our research indicates that less than 25% of our graduating seniors go directly into graduate school. Most of you will need time and further experience before you can better assess which program best fits your talents and goals. It’s okay to wait. Indeed, many of the top MBA programs require a minimum of three years experience anyway. In the meantime, explore “gap year” options. (i.e., Americorps, Greencorps, PeaceCorps) or teach English abroad. Google and purchase the paperback, “Delaying the Real World” for a very readable list of options to explore.