The Office: Graduate Admission

What the heck happend to my October?

Travel happened.

I was out on the road for a couple of weeks, though thankfully I was able to get Not-Grad-Admission JS to upload the blogs for the past two weeks, and she'll be loading this week's shortly.

So what did we cover?

JR sat down for an interview on rolling admission.  Rolling vs round admission affects the way people are assessed for a program - in a round-based admission process, an applicant is judged with respect to the pool of applicants.  In a rolling admission process, the applicant has to be judged solely on their own merits and their appropriateness and fit for the program. 

BrainNinja also came in to talk on mic, about these very blogs.  Her interview is basically to introduce the blogs to prospective students who don't know about them already - what they are, why they might be interesting, how a student might use them - that sort of thing.

And today's podcast is to the very practical topic of practica - specifically the practicum for the MEd in School Counseling.  TP came in for an interview on Tuesday and we talked about why the program has a practicum, when and where students do their practica, how they find their site, pre-practicum observation hours, and how the MEd is different from other School Counseling programs in the area.  It's a little bit on the longer side, but the information's good (at least, if you're considering that program.

Enjoy!

PhD in Clinical Psychology

This week's podcast is a doozy; it's on applying to the PhD in Clinical Psychology program here at Suffolk University.  I saw down with the program director, and we went over a bunch of different topics - concentrations in the program, what it covers, what they're looking for in each of the credentials they ask for, and what to expect after the fact.  It's one of our longest podcasts to date (I think it racks in at 27:09 with the bumpers), but it covers so many of the questions we typically get asked that I just couldn't see cutting it down further. 

For those who are inclined, we'll also be having our Virtual Information Session on November 8!  Check the Suffolk Graduate Admission website for more info!

Study Abroad

Today's podcast is on graduate study abroad.  A lot of people are sort of surprised to discover that there is such a thing - graduate programs being usually brief and very much focused - but there is!  YH, the Director for study abroad and I sat down for an interview. 

For students who have some room to transfer in credits, study abroad can be a great opportunity - especially over the summmer.  (Since summer terms are short, 2 classes over the summer tends to be much more feasible than doing it in the Fall or Spring.)  Suffolk University has study abroad arrangements with over 50 universities and colleges world-wide, so there are plenty of options.

At any rate, check it out, especially if you're interested in taking a few credits outside of Suffolk.

CAPS program

This week's podcast is all about CAPS - our Continuing and Professional Studies program.  TB talks about why students take CAPS - to test drive a program (and graduate school in general), to demonstrate ability to do graduate work if you're undergrad was not as good as you might like, in order to get to take classes even though the deadlines to apply to a program have passed, and so forth.

Classes start next week (which, I couldn't believe until this week, when we had a cold snap), so there's still the ability to sign up for CAPS.  Take a listen!

More on internships!

This week's podcast is going up a little early - this week, I sat down with the program director for the Women's Health program to talk about the internships in the MAWH.  

Dr. A was really excited to talk about the internships - the students in the MAWH do a lot of interesting things with their internships and get great experience while doing it.  From International organizations to local ones, the students work in all different facets of women's health, from education to policy to research.  The program is only a few years old, so there's a relatively small number of graduates so far, but to hear the list of places where they've internshiped was really impressive.

At any rate, I strongly recommend checking it out!  (But then, when do I not say that?)

Administrative fellowships

This week, I got to sit down with CP, our Asst VP of Enrollment and the Director of Student Financial Services to talk about administrative fellowships.  I just finished posting the podcast of that interview.  

Now, every school I've worked for (not that there's all that many) has only run thanks to the work of student workers.  What many professors will tell you that they absolutely find their student employees and graduate students indispensable, students are no less important to the administration of a school.  If you come into the Office of Graduate Admission here at Suffolk University, you'll probably see at least two and maybe more of our student workers.  We typically have 3 graduate fellow positions, and a smattering of work-studies.  Our grad students lead tours, answer phones and walk-in student questions, work on marketing pieces, staff information sessions, and otherwise function as an integral part of the office  (and if all goes well, will start blogging this fall). 

At any rate, CP talks at length about how to go about getting a fellowship and why students who were not selected for merit fellowships should consider looking for an admin fellowship.  Now that we're getting close to the start of the semester, offices are shoring up some of their plans and making their final decisions about whom they will hire.  So go check it out!

Sustainability

Today's podcast is with Erica Mattison from Suffolk's Sustainability office.  I'd say she's the recycling maven, but really, the Sustainability group does so much more.  There's somewhat more impact on the undergraduate side, as she works on things like making the new doorms LEED silver/gold certified and with Sodexho to encourage the campus food to be local and organic.  On the side that impacts grads and undergrads alike, she works on using materials to improve air quality in classroom retrofits.  She works on encouraging and making it easy to get to Suffolk through lower-environmental-impact means (bikes, carpooling, public transport).  Yes, and she works on improving our recycling and composting efforts.

The sustainability thing is a strange one for us to try to really get the word out for - at the graduate level, people are not usually as interested in the goings on of the university in that way, but I think Suffolk's efforts really say something about the school.  Anyway, give it a listen!

Libraries

Today's podcast is on the Suffolk University libraries, mostly focusing on our main library, the Mildred Sawyer Library.  I sat down with AM in one of the library's study rooms and talked for a bit about what the libraries have - both from a collections side and from a facilities side.

I don't think anyone is likely to choose their graduate program based upon the school's library.  (OK, maybe you would in an MLS program.)  That said, I can totally see people choosing to not go to a school based upon that school's library.  Aside from the fact that grad students can expect to spend at least some time doing research, and not all of it is likely to be the kind you can google, it also says something about the university itself. 

I admit, I'm a library person.  I just moved to a house that is a block away from my local branch of the Boston Public Library, and I love it.  I grew up going to the library (every Thursday night with my grandfather).  I am, I thought, a library enthusiast; I had no idea.  Modern libraries are not just about books and periodicals - they're also about things like quiet communal space, technology and access, refuge from distractions, and at a university they're also about space dedicate to self-directed learning. 

I've been to the Sawyer library before (to study at a desk, to do some research for my econ topics paper, and to read and wait for a late-starting class in a comfy chair out of the snow), but I didn't know about the number of study rooms available, the fact that they had projectors for people to work on their power-point presentations, the laptop collection that can allow a student to work on a paper in the library, the reserve collection of books required for every class in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Sawyer Business School, the e-readers and e-book collection, or the noise-cancellation headphones.  And during the school year they're open until 11, so it's not a bad place to spend a few minutes while waiting for a late train.

At any rate, give the podcast a listen and find out more about the Suffolk libraries!

OPT anc CPT

Today's podcast covers OPT and CPT - two types of professional training available to international students.  CPT is curricular training - it's oriented around doing training while you're still working on your degree.  OPT is the up to 1 year of training done after the completion of your degree.

I'll sort of say this about it - the podcast is very short (it clocks in at 3:46, without the bumpers).  The interview was really quite a bit longer - but much of it wound up in the proverbial trash bin.  Work authorization for visa holders is complicated (which is why we have immigration advisors in the Center for International Education).  I wound up asking questions to which the answers all sort of start "well, it depends." Frankly, in the interest of clarity (and to not confuse my prospective international students more than need be), we wound up going to "this is what it is and you should come speak with an immigration advisor to discuss what's best for you and what your next steps are."  It's not really the most satisfying way to go (I like being able to have a really solid, self-serve, find-your-information kind of podcast), but it is the best way to go.  I don't want to confuse people and I don't want to have incorrect information out there. 

Anyway, enjoy!

Bonus!

OK, not really.  It's just the weekly podcast - there are two this week because there weren't any last week, so now we're back on track.

This week, I sat down with Professor Han in the Finance department to discuss course waivers in the MSF program (and MSFSB).  I've been learning a lot about how different programs handle course waivers (and what the philosophy is behind them for each program), so it's sort of interesting as a college administrator to listen to this podcast vs the MBA vs Accounting.  I also hope that it's interesting to people interested in our graduate finance programs.

Enjoy the long weekend, folks!