PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 21, No. 17, April 4, 2002

Career Center helps students explore options after graduation

By Kesha Green,News Bureau Staff Writer
(217) 244-0470; k-green3@illinois.edu

Photo by Bill Wiegand What now? Karen Paulsen, the associate director of the UI’s Career center, says there are three types of opportunities for graduates: professional school (law or medicine), graduate school and employment opportunities. The center helps students not only explore those options, but also prepare successfully for them.

All students begin college with a wide range of career options, but the choices they make while in college will dictate which options are still viable upon graduation. The UI Career Center helps students not only explore those opportunities, but also prepare successfully for them.

Karen Paulsen, the associate director of the center, said that there are three doors wide open for graduating seniors: professional school (law or medicine), graduate school and employment opportunities. But "nothing ever shuts until you have shut the door," she said.

Students generally practice an "ESS schedule: eat, study and sleep," Paulsen said. "They may grow intellectually, but what transferable skills have they developed while in college? What opportunities have they experienced to enhance their decisions to pursue graduate school?"

Even students with well-defined goals may not know how to reach those goals successfully. The Career Center encourages students to become more aware of what admission directors and employers may require.

Eight full-time counselors are available at the center to help students focusing on graduate education become better informed when developing a strategy to pursue a graduate career. Eighty-three percent of the entering freshman class said that they want to go to graduate school, according to survey data gathered by the Office of Instructional Resources. "Students should not think of graduate education as an alternative, but an integral part of their complete education process," Paulsen said.

The Career Center has several resources that students can tap for general career guidance: the Career Library, career counseling, Mock Interview Program, resume review and various presentations. It also provides a Credential File system for students to house their letters of evaluation for graduate/professional school.

The Career Library’s walls are lined with an array of informational handouts, while also housing references, catalogs and other career books to help students investigate various areas of advanced education.

Career counseling helps students consider graduate school by advising them on how much time, academic commitment and money is required to complete an advanced degree. Also, students may have to consider moving.

The Mock Interview Program helps students hone their interviewing skills, allowing them to field questions regarding their credentials during an hourlong videotaped interview session. "An interview can be made or broken in 10 seconds," Paulsen said.

"What’s in the [student’s] soul may have never been expressed verbally." The interview helps verify "that this is not a whim, but a commitment."

The career counselors also encourage students to start a credential file for a one-time fee of $20. The credential file service holds six evaluation letters that can be sent to graduate or professional schools. The file lasts for 10 years, which is advantageous for students who want to begin working after graduation. If a student decides to pursue a graduate program after a few years of employment, the letters remain in the student’s file, reflecting academic achievements at UI. Returning to campus for a faculty letter after being gone for some time can result in a mediocre letter, Paulsen said.

Students also can glean pertinent graduate school information from the center’s "Guide to Graduate School" presentations or the college-specific Graduate School Speaker Series. The center has started a Graduate School Weekly electronic newsletter that gives notice to interested students regarding locations and times for those presentations and other events.

While all UI students can utilize previously mentioned programs and services in their graduate school search, the center also offers programs for students interested in health professions. The Career Center mails Health Careers Weekly, an electronic newsletter, to at least 2,200 students each week. The newsletter provides students with current admission information, a list of recruiters visiting campus and opportunities in the community for volunteer experiences.

Applying to a health profession, especially medicine and dentistry, requires special attention because of the application process, Paulsen said. With only 125 medical schools and 52 dental schools in the United States, thousands of students nationwide are applying for limited enrollment and the application process is less flexible than many graduate school applications. Timeliness, accuracy and proof of competitiveness are essential for a successful candidate.

In October, the center sponsors a Health and Graduate School Fair, which features representatives/admission officers from about 150 schools over a two-day period. Last semester’s fair had 72 health professions schools in attendance on the second day. Students can explore and discuss program requirements for schools that interest them.

Health and Graduate School Information Nights involve admission officers, recruitment directors, or alumni from a particular school. Sometimes they are also willing to meet individually with students during the day. "From a competitive position, recruiters can better put a face with a name and a name with an application," Paulsen said.

Even with all the programs available to UI students, there all still some who make career decisions based on misinformation.

"All [students] have to do is ask and we will help," Paulsen said. The career counselors want to make freshmen more aware of what it takes to gain admittance to a graduate program. They also encourage students to re-evaluate their competitiveness as they consider entering the job market or applying to a graduate or professional school.

"Pressure to make career decisions does not give a resourceful outcome, but awareness and correct information will help position yourself for three wonderful choices upon graduation," Paulsen said.