By Clarissa Anderson | Reporter
Students considering graduate school will have many of their questions answered by attending Baylor’s Graduate School Open House on Thursday. The open house is free and will inform prospective students about resources and programs for master’s and doctoral studies.
“We are wanting to diversify our recruitment resources that we have at Baylor, and nothing like this has ever been done before,” said Emily Corntassel, Baylor graduate recruitment and admissions analyst.
The Graduate School Open House takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, but students can attend as their schedule permits. Although online registration ends today, students are also able to register the day of the event in the Blume Conference Center, 506 Cashion Academic Center.
“It is come-and-go,” said Diane Hunt, graduate admissions analyst. “They just show up, and we’ll get them registered, and they can come in and view what we have.”
There will be a welcome message at 10:15 a.m. from Dr. Denny Kramer, senior assistant dean and coordinator of Baylor-U.S. Military graduate programs.
Most of the graduate departments speak with students at booths. The Baylor Graduate School Association and the Educational Testing Service, the organization that administers the GRE and TOEFL tests, will have booths as well, Hunt said. Graduate Admissions will have a booth with computers available so students can begin their Baylor Graduate School applications.
Campus tours will leave at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. from 506 Cashion. Tours are guided by current graduate students and will last 30 to 45 minutes. The tours will mainly be like the undergraduate tours, but with a graduate student focus.
“I hope that this opportunity will give them the chance to feel at home at Baylor,” Corntassel said. “[To] come to campus, be welcomed by us, take a tour and really get to know the culture of what it’s like at Baylor as a graduate student, not as an undergraduate.”
There will be break-out sessions about getting ready for the GRE and TOEFL exams and about navigating the application process at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in 100 Morrison Hall. The breakout sessions will be guided by Corntassel and Julie Shurts, Educational Testing Service associate director of global client relations, in both sessions. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the GRE, TOEFL and graduate applications.
While graduate school is closer in juniors’ and seniors’ future plans, freshmen and sophomores are recommended to start learning about graduate school and planning early, Hunt said.
“We have heard from our students here that are graduates,” Hunt said, “and their wish was that they knew more about graduate school at a lower level in their school, starting to think about it when they were a sophomore instead of their senior year.”
