The Xavierite
Saint Xavier University’s Career Services held a graduate school fair on Wednesday, October 28. The event was held in the Butler Reception room from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. The graduate school fair gave students the opportunity to meet with representatives from graduate and professional schools in the area.
Senior Psychology major, Hadeel Abderrhaman, appreciated the opportunity to learn about different graduate schools. “Overall, I thought the college fair was really cool. It’s nice to see that our school provided resources like this for us,†said Abderrhaman.
Upon entering the Butler Reception room, students were given an informational packet from the Career Services team. The packet contained information about getting started with thinking about graduate school and a timeline for completing graduate school applications.
Students also received a list of the twenty graduate and professional schools participating in the career fair. Representatives were in attendance from colleges including Chicago State University, Dominican University, Elmhurst College, and Governors State University.
There were also representatives for Saint Xavier University’s graduate programs. Despite the number of schools in attendance, some students did not think that there were enough colleges for specific programs.
“I think SXU could have gotten more colleges to come out because there was a limited amount of colleges and some students did not even attend the fair since the schools/programs they wanted were not there†said Abderrhaman.
The representatives of each graduate or professional school set up a table in the Butler Reception room with brochures and flyers that contained information about their schools’ specific graduate programs. Many representatives also gave out free items with their school’s logo such as pens, water bottles, and stress balls.
Students had the opportunity to speak to the representatives about their graduate programs, application processes, financial aid opportunities, and more. They were also able to sign up to receive more information about the programs that interested them.
Even though Abderrahman believed that more schools could have been present, she was pleased with the number of schools in attendance that offered programs in psychology. “The college fair was really helpful for me; I actually got a lot of information on the program and schools I was looking into so I’m really excited about that. I liked that each school had multiply programs laid about with the information ready,†said Abderrahman.
The graduate school fair was held as a part of Saint Xavier’s graduate school week which was ran from October 26 to October 30. Career Services also hosted two workshops that week on writing personal statements for graduate school applications. Senior Biology major, Maleka Suleiman, believes that events such as the ones held during graduate school week give students the opportunity to broaden their horizons and explore new options.
“These events are super important. I discovered a different career idea that I never thought about until I spoke with one of the representatives for this particular program. These events give you options and make you think outside the box for future career choices,†said Suleiman.
When asked what she would like to see more of from SXU and career services, Suleiman suggested tailoring events to specific majors. “It’d be nice if SXU made these events major specific; maybe make them a requirement to attend for senior seminar within your major†said Suleiman.
Besides the events such as graduate school fairs and writing workshops, the career services team also offers other services to support and prepare students interested in applying to graduate school.
Career Services offers students various informational materials that can be obtained from the career services office located in the modular unit behind Pacelli Hall. For example, they have material about writing graduation admission essays, preparing for admission interviews, and more.
Students can also go to the Career Services office to have their resume reviewed or to meet with a member of the career services staff for graduate advising. To learn more about the resources offered by career services, or to schedule an appointment with a member of the Career Services team, call 773-298-3131 or send an email at careerservices@sxu.edu.The Career Services office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Resume Walk-in Hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Yasmeen Abdellatif
News Editor
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