On February 27th, my Professional Development Anthropology class was very fortunate to receive a visit from the Graduate School. Dean Paul Gemperline and Director of Graduate Admissions Robin Ashley gave a thorough overview of the steps, procedures and major issues related to applying and going to graduate school particularly ECU’s graduate programs. It’s not often a class gets treated with a visit from our top administrators at ECU so we were very appreciative of their time and expertise.
Specifically, Dean Gemperline shared national data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to show how on average, salary levels are significantly higher and unemployment lower for individuals who achieve a graduate degree. He said that although graduate school is not for everyone, for those who want to excel and become an expert in a particular field of study along with increasing their chances for employment getting a graduate degree is a necessity.
Additionally, Director Ashley provided a detailed presentation to the class on understanding the nature of graduate school and the procedure for applying to graduate school. She highlighted several graduate programs at ECU and described the typical graduate school application. Director Ashely also talked about taking standardized exams, financing graduate school, emphasizing the five-step process of the graduate application and showing the lower cost of ECU’s graduate programs in comparison to other graduate programs.
By the end of their talk and presentation, Dean Gemperline and Director Ashley answered all the major questions from my class and helped to dispel a number of misconceptions and fears related to getting a graduate degree. Check out a few pictures from their visit.