Join Graduate School Counselor, LaTonya O’Neal and current students as they discuss their experiences on how they leveraged and took part in a variety of academic and professional opportunities such as study abroad, domestic exchange, dual degree, 3+3, and early assurance programs.
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It's good to see you all. Thank
you all so much. I hope you all are enjoying spellbound. And again, we just want to welcome you all back. This first of all, let me introduce myself before I get carried away. My name is Miss Christy Johnson and I am one of the assistant directors of admissions here at Spelman College, I am serving as a territory manager of the entire southern region. So it's again a great pleasure to be before you all today. So today's panel, this is begin with the end in mind pathways beyond the gates. And this session runs from four o'clock until five o'clock, and we do have some amazing things in store for you. And before I get started, I do have a few housekeeping notes. This is a webinar therefore we cannot see the audience but you can utilize. You can see the panelists, please or know that guests can utilize the chat function to post questions that will be answered directly in the chat or address live. This session will be recorded and can be accessed via this platform by the end. In order to view today's agenda, select program agenda button at the top of the event platform. And so now without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and toss it over to our wonderful spell tonight. Sidney,
take
it away.
Thanks, Mrs. Johnson. Dr. Height is incredible. Anytime you get to hear from her, I hope you're paying attention because she is always dropping gems of knowledge. As you all know, I am a psychology major on the pre med track with a minor in comparative Women's Studies. But my future aspirations are to become a clinical psychiatrist that specializes in women's health. I have had passion for Spelman and women's health ever since my first experience with a physician that looks just like me, the connection that I felt was undeniable. It was so inspiring to see her and her confidence and how well well she led her team. It was not until later in the visit that she shared that she graduated from Spelman College just like my mother and my sister. I immediately had tons of questions for her and she's so willingly answered them all. We chatted so long that I started to wonder if she had any other patients to see that day. Over the years, we remained in touch. And when I got into high school, she became an important mentor for me in my life. Between the support from my mom, my sister and my mentor, I decided to apply and now I am here sharing my story with you all today. Although Spelman was my number one choice, it was important for me to know how Spelman will prepare me to continue my education and my future career goals. Whether you know what your end goal is or not, it is important to know what resources are available to you all to accept to help. Sorry, excuse me, to help you excel in the future. So get the notebooks out and get ready for a great discussion. See you guys later. Thank you, Sydney, Sydney has to be tired you are she is just going from place to place the place. But thank you so much Sidney for those for that wonderful insight just to kind of your your major and things that you are working on. So without further ado, I am going to turn it over to let's hon your own nail and she's going to introduce herself as well as the panel that is going to be before you all today. Again, ladies enjoy.
Love it and Sydney, come see me we need to start talking about what your goals are in plans. I love it. Welcome, everyone. Welcome, and thanks for joining us today. My name is latonya O'Neill and I serve as the graduate school counselor. I work in the Office of Career Planning and Development and sit on a team of six individuals that are here to help students get to that next point or next step beyond the gates of Spelman. We work within grad school arena as well as in careers. But I'm here to talk to you about the grad school piece of that. I'm joined by my esteemed panelists of current students that are getting ready to graduate class of 21 and a few alumna that has come back to share their journey. I'm going to ask my current students know let's start with alumna. I'm going to ask her alumna to to introduce themselves and share with us the programs that you were admitted to or just the amount of programs you're admitted to and this the school and program that you are pursuing. And after I love the speak then our current students. Let's just talk about where you going. I didn't say that right. Now. Okay, either. You're all fabulous. You tell me so go ahead. Let's talk with our alumna kindred, take it away.
Hi, everyone. My name is Kenji Grissom. I am class of 2020. During my time at Spelman, I was a history major with a concentration in United States and African American history. I am from Baltimore, Maryland. thanks to the help of Miss O'Neill, I was admitted to three history PhD programs at Vanderbilt University, University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins University. I am currently a first year PhD student in the Department of History at Johns Hopkins University where I study African American history with a particular focus on radicalism, labor history, black women's activism and black political thought.
Okay, do I see I think I lost one of my Okay, everything. Can you go? Can you go next please?
Yes. So, Hello everyone. My name is raising will it be? I am currently a graduating senior from Spelman College originally from Washington DC, the city not the area, but the city. I am currently a chemistry major and mathematics minor. And I will be attending Stanford University for chemical engineering PhD. So yeah.
Enjoy.
Hi, everyone. I hope you're having the most amazing time. I personally loved my spell down even though it didn't come with a Sydney so y'all are getting like some extra credits there. My name is Joy. I'm a senior graduating senior economics major from East Texas and I will be attending Columbia University to get a degree in applied analytics.
latrina kay check my panelists on dasia Gordon. Ambitious Hi.
Hello, everyone. My name is David Gordon. I am class of 2019 Spelman alumna. Currently, I'm finishing up my last year in law school at Stetson University College of Law. And I'll be taking the bar exam next year.
Perfect. Well, let's go ahead and jump in. And I know we're gonna get a lot of questions from our audience today. But I want to throw out just a few questions to get the conversation started about your journey. So discuss for us your graduate school search, what are steps that you took, and anyone can take this, discuss the steps you took to identify and prepare for, for your graduate program. Oh, my man, one second. Olivia. Olivia, introduce yourself and tell us the program that you are in and the year you graduated.
My name is Olivia Jenkins. I'm class of 2019 from San Diego, and I'm currently at Howard University School of Law and my second year.
Can't believe this. Okay,
so the question I threw out was discussed your graduate school search and the steps you took to get there. Anyone can take it.
I can start with my law school search. I know early on I believe I was a junior or senior definitely start as a freshman. But I went to the Tanya's office and I told her that I want to go to law school. And that kind of started my search. From there. I was kind of clueless on what I wanted to do in terms of geographical location. And so I sat down with her and we looked at kind of the things that are important when looking for a law school, like what area that school may specialize in their location. Where do you want to live long term? Where do you want to take the bar. And so then I began to do a cursory search of the top schools and maybe like the second tier schools, and then you know, the biggest thing, tuition, who's giving out scholarships and how my personal profile made me whatever the school is looking for. And then from there, I just started narrowing it down going to law school fairs and the grad school fairs latanya put on and talking to different recruiters and from there building personal relationships and then going to see the schools. So there from there, I was able to narrow down my top five schools that I wanted to apply to and then I was able to apply.
Can we hear from one of our current students? Same question.
Yeah, um, I can speak on this. So I guess my journey was kind of different. I definitely was in Miss O'Neill's like, phase to the point where she thought like, I was always graduating, but I wasn't, um, but basically, I actually came in as a dual degree engineering major, but then had the opportunity to actually finish early and just like changed my whole like strategy to go to grad school after Spelman instead of engineering school. So basically, it was kind of like my junior year, I had set up an official like meeting with Miss O'Neill, I was like, I'm going to grad school, I'm kind of nervous, I don't know what to do. And it was basically, because I already have prepared myself by going to grad school fairs, and having those one on one mock interviews, and just putting myself out there through like pipeline programs of such beforehand. Um, for me, it was just like, okay, just sit down. Let's have a conversation of what are you thinking about? What you want to do? Let's look at the schools and then applied from there. And the application process was really just me like writing stuff up sending it to miss O'Neill, getting their revise, getting it back and forth multiple times, multiple times. So I had like the strongest application when applying.
I love it. I love it. Okay.
Let's talk about when you first came to Spelman, did your goals or your ambitions changed as you matriculated through Spelman? Meaning that you come and saying that I wanted to do a but somewhere along the line, something changed, and now we're going to go the B route? And if so, if that happened, how did you navigate that? How did you how did you navigate that moment that that happened to anyone?
Yes, actually, I came into Spelman. intending to be a social studies teacher I wanted to teach high school social studies and work toward development developing inclusive social curricula and public schools. But then, my freshman year, I came across a professor who was a uncf Mellon Mays undergraduate fellow, and she encouraged me to apply for the program. And I heard the name Mellon Mays a couple times, and was encouraged to apply my sophomore year. Now, the Mellon program for those who don't know serves as like this early identification program for students in the humanities, social sciences, and some arts, who are willing to go to grad school and become college professors. And they provide you with mentoring and financial support throughout your undergrad experience. And so, when I applied to Mellon, and was subsequently accepted, it opened up alternative career paths for me, allowing me to realize that I could do the service work in public education that I wanted to from the vantage point of a professor, and being a professor would enable me to specifically teach African American history. Give me expertise in history, that would be an asset, hopefully, and asset to you know, school districts. And yeah, yeah, so Mellon kind of shifted my career path
or anyone else.
But we do have a question from our audience. And this is from Miss eaglin. My daughter also is admitted for a dual degree program for engineering on the pelvis that chose grad school Can you repeat what grad school you went to and study? What were you going raising? That's for you? Her daughter's interested in materials engineering and wants to eventually work in fashion and design and designing different material?
Yeah, um, so I was previously dual degree engineering, but now I am fully a chemistry major math minor. And starting this fall, I'll be attending Stanford University for a PhD in chemical engineering.
Kendra, what was the name of the program that you mentioned?
The uncf Mellon Mays undergraduate fellowship program, we just call you and
I love it. You ladies are on it. I love it. I love it. Okay.
What,
um, what advice? What advice would you give students and parents as you're preparing for post undergrad?
Um, oh, go ahead, joy.
Oh, no. Okay. I was just going to say, Do not be afraid of reaching out and I think that's both and right, like so your resources at Spelman when you all come in with them Spelman eight. So Miss O'Neill and anyone else in the Career Planning and Development Office are extremely helpful and amazing at doing their job and helping you lay out the path of what you would like to do. And then also helping connect you to the resources that you need to be connected with in order to execute on that path that you lay out. And then also don't be afraid to reach out to admissions officers at the programs that you're looking at. I have made some great relationships by just sending a few emails about Jumping on some virtual tours or just virtual coffee chats that that program is hosting throughout the year. So I think that's a great way to kind of get your face in front of admissions at the program that you're seeking to go to and for them to get to know you a little better and you to know the program a little better. And also a really good way for you to have a better understanding of what you're looking for.
Joy Can you share with them? I know you and I, we talked about a lot of things over the, over your time at Spelman, but specifically specifically Sorry, I'm very southern y'all. Specifically, the discussions about MBA and taking a break during the prefer program. Can you talk to the students and parents about your decision? Or how you're having how you have two routes? Or three, the job opportunity?
Did you mention that
you have at the job opportunity or offer opportunity to job all for the grad school offer? And then the NBA? Thought
Yeah, so I definitely came into Spelman with the understanding that I was going to be going out with something and now I've kind of got more choices than I can take on. So when I came into Spelman, I came in as an econ major thinking that I would go and do what Kendra did and be like a professor in Econ, I quickly found out that is not what I wanted to do, and decided that I should start looking into like Business School. And that is when I started to do some research and find out about deferred MBA programs. So a lot of students at Spelman who come in looking for something under the business umbrella, typically don't think about MBA programs they think about going to work straight after. And so MBAs have done this amazing thing where you can essentially apply to the program while you were in school. And a lot of times, it's that like reduced costs, it's also with different step scores. And you can be accepted into the program and then go and get work experience and matriculate later. So that is a see somebody asked what the deferred program is essentially when you are accepted while you're an undergrad, usually a senior in undergrad, but you don't attend that school until two to five years later with the expectation that you go to work. So I was able to get a job offer as Miss O'Neill stated, I had an internship my junior year, which led to a full time job offer straight out of college. And then recently, about a month ago, I found out that I was admitted into Columbia to attend a applied analytics masters or pursue applied analytics masters. And so because I will be now attending graduate school straight out of college, I'm still eligible to apply to MBA programs deferred. So it's a great route. If you're looking into the business arena, or thinking about doing anything in the corporate world and you want to have an MBA later in life, I would definitely recommend looking into getting a deferred or applying deferred MBA route.
Thank you for sharing. So we have a couple questions come through on and if I missed some I do apologize. But this is as far back as I can see. Is it advantageous for all students to go to a post graduate school? Or does it depend on your career goals? It depends on your career goals, honestly, and this is to AJ. It's up to you. One of the things we do as a staff, our faculty at Spelman, we support what your goals are, what you're trying to accomplish as a student. So if you're not sure as as a freshman, what you want to do, that's okay, you have academic advisors, you have the Career Center, you pretty much you can throw a stone and there's someone there at Spelman, that's going to help you decide what you want to do. And like joy was mentioning we don't just push push you and and one avenue one track, we like to offer options for you. So it's okay though, to pursue graduate school opportunities. It's okay to pursue a career opportunity. It's okay to invest simultaneously in both these avenues. And then at the time of graduation, you have offers from both it's not a or b, you have a nd and you can decide which is best for you. So we're here to support what your role are. So you tell us and then we're going to open these doors and opportunities and go find the answers half the time to help you accomplish what you're trying to do. Okay. Let's see, are they are Bachelors of Science MD programs for biology students. The Health Careers department has a lot of partnerships with various medical schools that are out there. The Health Careers department works just like the career department, except they're focused solely on those that are interested in going into the medical field. My department, we work on everybody else. So yes, there are several partnerships, then I recommend that you speak with Dr. Bass, Dr. Rosalind bass, she's over that department to see what's available with any of our partnerships with the graduate programs. Usually students identify maybe their freshman or sophomore year that this is what they want to do, and then are part of whatever this pipeline program is to make it a smoother transition for them. And then they're identifying earlier on. So it's not a surprise when you hear a suburbanite saying that I'm already admitted to some program, some graduate program in their sophomore junior year, because you're participating in one of the pipeline programs. Do you have any information regarding Georgia Tech's exchange program and how to participate? I don't off the top of my head. However, joy, I'm going to drop my email in the chat. And I'll be happy to look into this and get this information for you. Or are one of our representatives from spellbound, but I can find out for you. Another question is can I contact you as a freshman? Yes, please, please contact me as a freshman I love working with you from the beginning. Actually, class of 21 would be my my graduating class I'm gonna claim you anyway. of them was bummer for four years. And I love seeing freshmen come in and saying I don't know what to do. Great, perfect. Let me show you everything. Let me introduce you to all these opportunities and working with you early on getting you involved in you know, research, getting you involved in internships, getting you involved in speaking with recruiters, doing mock interviews. When it's your turn in four years, when it's your turn to actually go out there. you're you're you're ready, you're not nervous, you're not scared. You already have your resume built. You've gone through this experience left and right, you know what to do. So yes, come as a freshman and and let us help you were Welcome to open the doors and welcome that. Alright, so we have that question. What dual degree programs are available at Spelman, I'm interested in getting my master's in social work. So the Great question, there are going to be programs that we advertise on a website, you can actually go to strategic partnerships on specimens website, and you can see that different schools, that there are partnerships, regardless of what department and then there's opportunities that, you know, individuals like myself may know about, or can pick up the phone and call a colleague at another school and say, Hey, I need you to talk to the student about
about your program or I have a real strong candidate that I need to, you know, to really put your eyes on so that kind of happens. Okay. What about what about art students? If I want to further studies in the field, going to schools at Spelman in, I'm sorry, I'm less of a mess. Can I offer an options? So I'm for art, the art department does a great job with type of career fairs and graduate school fairs. I hosted the first Spellman graduate school was that fair? performing arts school fair, was the first time we offer that which was a larger fair, we had around 20 schools participate and invited us of course Spelman students, Morehouse, and Clark, Atlanta. So there is a lot of attention on the arts as well. We like to give all of them majors a lot of attention and provide opportunities for them. So it doesn't matter what your major is, if you're interested in something specific that maybe we're not doing, come talk to us and that's how a lot of events are created. When I started a Spelman, it was really a research day fair and the law school fair. And and since my, since my time here, we've created like, seven, seven different fairs that takes place. So it just depends on what you're looking for. All right. So I'm gonna throw out a question and then come back to To the panel because I haven't a little emergency in front of me. What is one piece of advice you would have? You will have found most useful if you were attending spellbound today. This is a this is class, what class are you 33 she'll be entering so I'm expecting letters of recommendation from all the new Spellman Knights. So what was the piece of information or advice, this is for my panel that you would have found most helpful. If you were attending spellbound today.
I would say
not to be afraid to get involved on campus. That's one thing I didn't know going in kind of the importance of just shooting for the stars with leadership roles. And then also don't stay limited to your major. Um, I wish someone has great courses to offer and I kind of just I did Polly sigh and I stayed with them that Polly side courseload. But I go back wishing that I took more electives and other in other subject areas, but also that you can do any major you want and still go to a certain grad program in law school and realizing I didn't need to be a policy major. And so I go back sometimes thinking I wish I could have majored in something else. So just explore all options when it comes to what major you want to have. And the courses you take and know that you can still be depending on the industry, the field you want to be in without a specific major.
And I agree with little of you said don't pigeonhole yourself and start early. Because those four years go by so fast, and your senior and you're like, wow, I wish I would have went abroad. I wish I would have done this done that. And for the law school perspective, actually, a lot of our I guess bosses and things like that, that are current lawyers and professors, they actually tell us a science degree would have helped you a little bit more of the analytical part of law school. So I did English and I know Olivia did Polly side, but a lot of people are like actually a science degree. Those analytical skills help you a little bit more getting over that learning curve. So definitely agree with, you know, not pigeonholing yourself to your specific major or your area and truly just seeing everything that Spelman has to offer.
Livia thought or question for you about how did you choose to discolor attend and how Howard's School of Law? Can you speak more to how you pick that school and your experience so far?
Yes, so
um, my senior year, I was actually given an internship at a firm, that missile now having to do a mock interview for and I ended up getting the job. So that was pretty exciting. And during that time, I met a lawyer named Ellen Mitchell that worked up a firm and he was unapologetically himself in a corporate setting, which I admired because the legal industry can just be really intimidating. And he went to Howard. And we were just having so many discussions about just being yourself and his journey. And when I would ask him about Howard, he would say like, law school is hard, but I love the people there versus when I asked people from Emory are these t 14 schools, they're like, I hated it. But I'm a lawyer. So I just really asked people about their experiences at law school. And that helps me narrow down my choice to Howard. And it's been a great choice. So far, especially with everything that's going on in the world. With the police brutality cases going on right now. And just kind of learning. The law that goes behind. It can be very daunting, but we have professors that are telling us what we need to do in order to make a change or just explaining the background to us to really make sense of things. And those discussions don't happen at other schools. So it's just a really unique experience to get a law degree from an HBCU and apply it to real world things and not ignore race or not ignore gender and class when you're having these important discussions that are impacting, you know, our history and our futures. So I love it so far.
So for those that experience internships, a student asks How do I go about getting an internship in government building or law firm? I am a polysatin major and it's not my pushing them in them room.
I would say through Miss O'Neill, always be on the lookout for opportunities. You have and then with the law firm, um look out on be to your like your junior year that you're eligible but ciphered Shah, because that's the internship that I did and resulted in me having a summer offer for them as well and hopefully a post grad offer. So it just goes to show that these experiences that you could have at Spelman could then give you something else long in the future once you establish those relationships. But missile nail usually has that information for you for government. And what was the website handshake as well,
I think, yeah, thanks for that intro the handshake. So for all Spelman nights, we send out weekly calendars of everything that is going on for the week, it will come to your Spelman email address. So it's going to be important that you read your emails, and I know it will be a lot because there's a lot of people that wants to talk to you. But once a week, on Fridays, we send out a combined email of opportunities for grad school and for job opportunities. And let me tell you, it will be a lot of opportunities and this just happening within that one week. So it is possible. And I had to, you know, say this earlier in a meeting, that just for this week alone, there were like 20, something graduate school opportunities, and then 30 something job opportunities. And they're new, we're not repeating. So what happens was with every company that you know, wants to speak with our students, they post your position on a platform called handshake. handshake is equivalent to like indeed, or monster I'm dating myself, or LinkedIn job search or anything like that. It's just a platform of everyone at any job opportunity when they're looking for graduates from institution, a lot of these positions that are available, are Spelman specific, that they're looking for a Spelman knight to take on that role. With graduate schools, they don't too much advertise in handshake, however, we put the events that's happening that we locate or recreate ourselves, we put it in handshakes, because students are used to go on a handshake, and we advertise that way. So there's gonna be a lot of opportunities that go out. And I would share internships with you, I will share research opportunities with you. And we do it weekly. So there's new opportunities. So please read those emails. And please take advantage of those opportunities because it helps build your resume. So by the time you're submitting a job, submitting your application for a job, you have a very solid resume.
Had there been any students who have majored in computer science and have had been in graduate school?
Oh, I think I guess Okay, so, I am not a computer science major. However, I do know a lot of computer science majors who have done graduate school. And basically, a lot of them have kind of like engineering and like kind of computer science all fit in the same category, per se, when it comes to applying grad school. But yes, I would say if you're looking for a Master's PhD, it's still kind of the same process. It's just like, kind of different in the sense of like, what's weighed differently if you're applying to a Master's versus a Ph. D. program. Okay,
so are there other opportunities for students in education majors? What school systems do you usually get jobs at? It's a great question Jeremiah, and an English education. Education, English English department, education permit education, saying that right. There's a lot of, there's a lot of eyes on Spelman. So you're going to have school systems from all over reach out and education area, that department they host their own career fair, which is like a week long events. They have a job fair, they have graduate schools come in. They have different type of sessions are something I didn't get a chance to participate in an entire event. I participated in grad school and career peace, the job the job opportunities, fair, but yes, pretty much for every major that we have. You have the support of the Career Center, and IT departments themselves are hosting events for their students. So it's kind of like, layer on top of layer on top of that layer. You're going to have opportunities placed in front of you. It's just up to you to take advantage of it. So, every major we have, I'm going to say to departments are as involved in Aqua homes for the students as the Career Center. Okay? Alright, so let me throw out how important is maintaining a competitive GPA and your search for grad school or career. And anyone can take that live read the chat. I guess I'm gonna
go first, cuz I probably likely had one of the lowered CPAs on this call with my amazing Spelman sisters, I would just say, well, it is super important to have a great GPA. Schools really, at least from a business perspective, when, when looking at business schools or things like that, I'm not sure about the other side. But um, they look at you holistically. And so if your GPA isn't the strongest, or isn't a four oh, or a three, eight, was not going to be the only metric that they're looking at you for just the same way as this film. And right, they're looking for someone who's also participated in a lot of extracurriculars, or a healthy amount of extracurriculars and something that supports their story and the narrative that you're building about yourself. And all of that sort of comes into play whenever they are considering you. So as someone who has a GPA on the lower end, which not too low, I also have a quarter two, but I was still able to gain acceptance into a program and have a job offer. So it's not the end of the world, I promise.
And one of the things I noticed from the law school perspective, completely agree with what Joyce said, of course, the higher GPA, the more opportunities but specifically for scholarships. Um, we know that school comes with a hefty price tag. So you will definitely get in, like I said, they look at you holistically your leadership, your internships, and different things you did on campus, going abroad, things of that nature, but it does help financially, the more you can leverage, you know what you're working with. So I definitely agree with that.
So one thing I want to add to that, there's gonna be a lot of opportunities afforded to you all, as students of Spelman and it's easy to get kind of wrapped up into social side of Spelman because there's a very large social vibe of Spelman with different types of events that are gear for social networking and things like that. I also want you to keep in mind as you do that, keep your mind on your future as well. And don't ever think that, Oh, I'm just a freshman. Please don't ever think that because that doesn't exist in my mind. I'm just a freshman. We like to prepare you we like to I don't want to use a term train. But get you ready. So we're going to always provide opportunities and introduce you and help you network. You know as you matriculate your Spelman, so don't don't say well, I'm just going to put this off until my sophomore my junior year. Even as a freshman, we're going to start talking about what you're going to do this summer after you finish your freshman year, that summer needs to have a research opportunity or internship or a job that because not everyone can maybe get an internship that quickly. So even a job somewhere is is helpful. What we're doing is looking for skills that you've gained while you're having that experience. And it doesn't matter what that job is, we're going to look at it and we're on we're going to an mes. Specifically, I want to talk to you about what you learned in that and ask you what did you do on a day to day basis, because a lot of times you forget, you know, you kind of make what you were doing very small. But as we start talking, you realize, wow, there's a lot of transferable skills that I've gained in this position. And these are the things that we put on our resume, and then you're going to go back into your sophomore year. And now we're going to talk about research if that's your field, or maybe doing an internship and grow and this helps you solidify a I'm going to grad school, or I know that I'm going to go for a career. I job. Okay, so one of the questions for the panel. How does it three plus three program work for students interested in law school? So Spelman has for sure that I know of three plus three program with Syracuse Syracuse University School, law. And that's when they would do three years at Spelman and then automatically go into their three years at Syracuse, when they decide to do a three plus three, they are identifying maybe their freshman year no later than sophomore year. But it just depends you work with Dr. Davis and doctors sheffy ship epi center, Optima, patina. Okay. You work with them to say, this is what I want to do. And they put you on that track that you're taking the right classes that you're supposed to take, so that you requalify. I know some other programs that they're we're working with our as an agreement with Hastings College of Law, I believe they were talking to Drexel, and Emory as well. As far as designing some type of three plus three program, and there's others, you know, within health careers that I know they have replaced three, as well. It just depends. So when you get your advisor and you talk with someone from the department, and you will get this information when you get here, I'm just speaking off the top of my head here. But when you identify this is what you want to do. We will do everything within our power to make sure we get you on the right track to get to the overall goal. How was the interview process when getting into your grad programs? there anyone doing an interview?
Yes, yeah, several interviews. And like I did several interviews for several schools. And then some schools had multiple rounds. Basically, the interviews are really just trying to get to know you. And you really kind of see you more than what you have submitted. So basically, when you submit your graduate program application, it's really your personal statement. Sometimes they ask for a research statement. And then they have all your like logistics as far as your GPA and letters of recommendation. And then also your score. So your GMAT score. And then outside of that, when there are interviewing you, more, most likely the first round, they're just trying to get to know you. For me, all of my schools, it was in someone who like I wanted to work with possibly. So it was just like really getting to know me as a researcher, as a person. And then the second round normally was somebody higher up, so maybe the assistant like chair that like second chair of the department, and then the last final interview for me, was the chair of the department. And that was really just like solidifying, solidifying. If that school, like do I want to go there? And is that school, right for me just as a person and how I'm presenting. So it's really just a conversation to get to know each other. And that kind of like, seem very daunting. So yeah.
Thanks for sharing. In my previous role at Georgia State University. as assistant director of recruiting, I interviewed candidates for our MBA program, as well as our Masters of Science in, you know, whatever business programs, there was, like 19 of them at the time. During the interview, what I was looking for is confirming that it was you that filled out that application, and maybe going into more detail about what you wrote in your personal statement. Or if there was something that was in your transcripts or within your letter of recommendation, and I read that I just wanted more clarification on. And a lot of times when I was evaluating someone during this interview, I was trying to imagine if they were going to be a good fit for the program that I was representing. Sometimes you can, you can put a great application for it. But once you know, when you're building a cohort, you're looking for someone that's going to add value to the class that's going to engage into conversation, and not just be a student that's just sitting there. And one of the things that I used to say I'm looking for a future alum that not a student I can find a student anywhere but someone that's going to take this degree and really go somewhere so that was the that was what I was looking for in an interview and I think a lot of recruiters do the same when they're trying to get a better I get a better picture of who you are. And you know what type of student you would be into in the classroom. Okay. So a student asked, and this is a great question. Can you reach out to me to engineer a figure out suggested course sequence I wish I could have or I cannot. We have wonderful faculty that have PhDs in these areas that have designed The curriculum for you, I am, I am support. You know, I will not speak on the classes that you've taken. And I can't because that's not my area of expertise. However, whatever you decide whatever major that you decide to pursue, and if you're looking at grad school, I'm going to look at what you have, and and talk about how we can speak about the experiences that you do have and what degree that you want to go into. And we're going to pull from your strengths and I'm going to help you tell your story and how it relates to that graduate school program. Okay.
So Camilla young asks, Can you repeat the law firm program? She missed a name so Olivia.
sidebar the Shah.
He wrote it, okay.
Okay,
okay.
Trying to find a question and you guys are answering the questions in here. These are great.
I love it. Love it. Just to add a quick note to the question that you just asked about the coursework. I as an econ major, and I know that other some of my other friends and other majors especially like the STEM fields, education English, virtually every major I've heard of at Spelman, if you when you get on campus, and you go to your advisor for your first advising session, they will sit you down with a course sequence like printed out every class you should take over your four years, freshmen, sophomore, junior senior, I actually found the one for economics online before I went to Spelman, so I knew I had a sound. So you probably can do some digging online and try to find it that way. If you're just curious about what classes you'll be taking.
So one of her questions is what percentage of students go on to attend grad school? Great question. We wrapped up our numbers for a class of 2020 and other graduating classes 2020, we had 34.5% of the students go off. That's a round of applause. That saves everyone. 34.5% of students went off to pursue graduate programs. That according to NACE, which is our National Association of Colleges and Employers, the national average of students going to graduate school is at 18%. So Spellman doubles the amount than than the national average one second baby.
So I, I see a lot of questions that are speaking individually. And those are great questions. I did drop my email in the group, feel free to direct.
But
there's career paths and grad school paths to any major at Spelman, really, it doesn't have to be specifically in the area that you're studying, if you decide to go off to grad school, that's fine. I'm one of those recruiters that look at what your What is your overall goal, what are you trying to accomplish? You know, whatever your undergraduate major is, may not be your, your grad school major, for example, I am political science undergrad, my first may have masters is in leadership. And my second one is in managerial science, which takes me over to the business area. I look at what you're trying to accomplish. If you have some work experience if that work experience has encouraged or encouraged you or solidify your decision to go a different route. That's fine. And just as you know, joy was speaking about being an econ major. Her her goals, you know, going into an MBA program. Granted, Spelman does not have a business major, but we have the with the minor joy.
And I believe it's management organization,
management organization. And to have someone like myself that is coming from an MBA recruiting background to talk about, you know, what are the things that you need to incorporate in your application that's going to show the skills to whatever graduate program that's that that you're applying to. And that's what we look at and that's how we design those those responses. To your essay type questions, which will be your personal statement, or statement of purpose, or whatever they're asking. So, when you start speaking with me, I asked a lot of questions, we really get to know each other and then help you draft what you're trying to say. Okay.
All right. Um,
am I missing any other questions?
Questions, there's
some study abroad questions in the chat. I know a couple of us did study abroad. Spellman has so many study abroad programs, I don't know how it's going to be affected with COVID. But I know while we were there, I had the opportunity to go to Spain for a month. And I know ilias question is, is it for a semester or a year? I know there's programs where you can go, for instance, to England for a semester. And then there's some summer programs that you can go to for two weeks, or a month. I know the Dr. is a two week program. But then Spain is about a month. So I don't know if anyone has that experience as well. Yeah, I
went abroad like Oh, go ahead, repeat.
I'm about I just wanted to add just like, don't be afraid to study abroad, if you're also like a stem major. They are a lot of like opportunities to get involved not only in your interest, but also being able to go study abroad.
Yeah, I was just gonna say I went abroad after almost every semester while I was at Spelman. And just like David was saying, there are a lot of different opportunities that look entirely different than what you may be thinking. So there are opportunities that are just like for a week, or for two weeks, during the summer or during the winter break. So it doesn't necessarily have to pull from your experience, like resume was saying, if you're a stem major and have a really stringent courseload, you can go during the summer or maybe during a winter break. And it'd be where you can still get the experience but not interrupt your courses. And the Study Abroad Office is just as helpful as the Career Planning and Development Office and helping you find opportunities, ways to pay for it and fund it and help you decide like where you want to go and why.
There was one question I saw in the chat that I kind of wanted us to answer rather than responding, asking how do you help introverts develop? And I thought that was a great question, because especially this law school journey, I feel forced to have to talk to people, but um, but I would just say, take baby steps and have goals for yourself that are personal to you don't think you need to talk to everyone, or do everything. I realized, like for me, it's just establishing genuine relationships with like two or three people that are doing what I generally want to do versus going to a career fair and trying to talk to everyone in email when everyone after. So just think about some goals that you'll have set for yourself. It could be joining an organization, getting to know those members so that the next year you become comfortable to run for an eboard position. So stuff like that that can help you be more comfortable to then branch out of that shell a bit.
Thanks for bringing that up. I saw that question that was very interesting as well. When working with my department, career planning development, we're not going to push anyone outside of their comfort zone. So it's, you know, having a conversation with me, or our director, herro Bell, or any of my colleagues. And if there's additional support that we can offer you, we're more than happy to do it. And I think we're established enough in our careers to identify maybe if a student has not orally said that I'm not comfortable that you we can kind of tell from mannerisms. And I'm going to give an example, during the AUC graduate school fair, I student was afraid to actually walk into the auditorium to where all the graduate schools are. And at that time, I believe, maybe 200 or something, were at schools that were in this room, and she was nervous, and it was something that I saw. So you know, what I was doing was checking students in and so I asked another student to sit in my spot and check students in and I walked around with her. I was beside her And she was more comfortable talking that she wasn't alone. And these are things that we do Can Can we do it for everyone? No, we don't have the manpower for that. However, if you're working with us and I know this is something that you may need, I am more than happy. To join you, if it's an event like that I, I, you know, like Olivia said, literally pushed her in the room. Because I've been working with her, she's been in my office, I knew her, I knew this organization that was taking place. This opportunity. I knew what her goals were. So it was I was comfortable grabbing her by the arm and saying you need to go on there. Now this comfortable with that company and saying, hey, I want you to speak to her real I don't want the the fluff, you know, what can she expect? And, and that just opened the door. And that's what she was able to share that story with you. So all these things kind of kind of happen. And they happen naturally. Okay. What medical schools do we have partnerships with? I did drop in our chat. What are referred to earlier about strategic partnerships and that list, all the medical schools that there's partnerships with the English department in the engineer, and so you can go to that website and see what's there. There miss anything else? panel? So I know we're almost at time.
Okay. Well, I would like to think thank everyone that thing. thank everyone for joining me tonight. If there's no other questions. Any last thoughts, panelists, anything that you want to share?
I'd like to jump in real quick. I mean, this is not to like kind of the work that we've just done about talking about grad school and planning for the future. But just wanted to assure anyone who may be feeling pressure that you don't have to know what you're going to do what what you want to do at this moment. I know there a lot of there's a lot of pressure to know your career path and know where you're going to go after Spelman. But really, don't put too much stress on yourself undergrad is about discovering what you love what you're passionate about. If you come in with an idea, it's okay, if it changes. I To be honest, as a graduate student who's on the track to be a college professor, I still don't know if that's what I want to do some time. So it's okay to not know Don't, don't lean into the pressure
to have answers. Okay. That's all
that that that is great advice, and it is okay. It's okay. But if you're not sure, let's start talking about it. And there is no pressure. When speaking with myself or my team. Sometimes we're just an ear. And and that's okay. As long as there's you have someone to speak with about what your goals are. And it's okay, if they changed. At least we're taking some steps towards to the right direction. Oh,
this has been an amazing conversation, I would want to thank Mr. Tanya O'Neill for her just being open enough to share some great dialogue. This panel was amazing. Kendra, you ended out with a statement with that I feel is very important. Because even as adults, sometimes we hit the reset button over and over and that and that is okay. I think that there's a lot of pressure that happens there. But this conversation can certainly be helpful. So as we prepare to close this, this session out, I want to again thank all my lovely panelists for their time. You all have been tuned in to begin with the end in mind this is pathway beyond the gates, we hope that your time was well spent and that you learn information important information that will assist you in making your decision to become a Spelman Knight. As a reminder, this session has been recorded and will be available via this platform at the end of the week. In addition to viewing sessions, record session recordings, we encourage you and your family to explore our site at your leisure to learn more about our current students, faculty, and all that awaits you inside the gates of Spelman College. The next session that will be after this session is going to be the curriculum designed with you in mind mock lecture with Dr. Spence, you all are in for a treat. That session runs from 515 to 6pm.
And if you
have any questions, definitely let us know. Don't go too far.
We'll be back
in about 15 minutes go get you some water bathroom break what have you. But we will see you guys again in 515. Thank you again so much for joining. You all have a great 15 minute break. All right. See you later. Thank you. Bye
everyone. Have a good one.
Bye
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