Hi everyone! Right now we are at the peak of Admissions season for the spring semester. That means that acceptance letters are going out and we are hosting events for both prospective and accepted students. Our events take place on-campus, off-campus, and online. A full list of our upcoming Admissions events can be viewed here.
This past Saturday we had an Open House for anyone interested in Penn GSE, both now and in the future. Since my graduate assistantship focuses on events, I worked very closely with this project. Even though it was stressful to plan at times, the event was successful and I really enjoyed meeting prospective students. We had presentations from GSE Dean Andy Porter, program managers, faculty, students, Student Financial Services, Admissions and Financial Aid, and campus resources. I'll post more tomorrow about this event and others!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Spring break countdown
Spring break starts tomorrow, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really excited to have a few days off. I don't have any plans to go somewhere warm and tropical; the most adventurous thing I'm doing during break is going outlet shopping in Atlantic City with my mom. I haven't been home all semester since work and my comps exam took up most weekends, so I've missed my family a lot!
These past few weeks have been filled with coursework, applying for jobs, and trying to make the most of the time I have left at Penn. I'm hoping to stay in the area after graduating (maybe even at Penn, if I'm lucky enough to find a position here), but I know that being a student and being a working professional are very different lifestyles. I worked for a year in between college and enrolling at Penn, and while I miss receiving a salary, I'm really going to miss taking classes. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting to be in school, which is one of the benefits of working in higher education. You're constantly part of a community of people who consider themselves lifelong learners (plus, a lot of institutions offer tuition benefits for employees).
I'm going to wrap this up since I have a lot of work to do around the office before leaving for break (I'm planning two major events for the end of March--our Open House on 3/22, and our Admitted Master's Student Preview Day on 3/28). Both will be a lot of fun, so check them out on our website if you have a chance!
https://www.gse.upenn.edu/rsvp
These past few weeks have been filled with coursework, applying for jobs, and trying to make the most of the time I have left at Penn. I'm hoping to stay in the area after graduating (maybe even at Penn, if I'm lucky enough to find a position here), but I know that being a student and being a working professional are very different lifestyles. I worked for a year in between college and enrolling at Penn, and while I miss receiving a salary, I'm really going to miss taking classes. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting to be in school, which is one of the benefits of working in higher education. You're constantly part of a community of people who consider themselves lifelong learners (plus, a lot of institutions offer tuition benefits for employees).
I'm going to wrap this up since I have a lot of work to do around the office before leaving for break (I'm planning two major events for the end of March--our Open House on 3/22, and our Admitted Master's Student Preview Day on 3/28). Both will be a lot of fun, so check them out on our website if you have a chance!
https://www.gse.upenn.edu/rsvp
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Advice for the job search
Before I begin this post, I want to clarify that I did not come up with these bits of advice myself; rather, this is a collection of words of wisdom that I have received from professors/mentors/coworkers over the past few months. Recording these tips here is just as beneficial for me as it is for potential readers =)
1) Start early.
Although we do not graduate until May, nearly everyone I've spoken to about careers in higher education emphasizes that beginning one's search early is the key to securing a job not too long after graduation. To avoid confusion, I have been stating in the beginning of my cover letter that I will not be available to start working until late May. However, a common start date for jobs in higher education is July 1st, the start of the new fiscal year.
2) Be flexible.
One mentor told me that for your first job after graduate school, "You can choose the location, or you can choose the exact type of job, but it's difficult to choose both." Given my experience and current education level, I think it's important to just get some professional experience at this point. I really want to stay in the Philadelphia area though, so I've been seeking out specific schools and looking at jobs in both admissions and event-coordination.
3) Don't be afraid to negotiate a salary.
One of my professors talked to us about this earlier today. She said that the concept of negotiating a salary may seem taboo, even though many jobs provide a salary range rather than a set dollar amount. My professor encouraged us to leverage our skills and education to try to negotiate the best possible situation. A classmate who works in the Career Services office at Penn added that referencing data about average starting salaries in a certain field is also helpful.
4) Networking is key.
Another professor shared with my class that 80% of today's hires are a result of some form of networking. Especially for recent graduates, networking seems very intimidating. I enjoy talking with people, but navigating how to work in the fact that you are looking for a job can be difficult. One thing that I have realized is that networking does not have to be akin to "schmoozing"; it can just be mentioning that you are on the job market and maybe contacting the person a few weeks later to ask about potential openings at their institution/department.
I hope these tips are helpful! I'll add some more as I receive/think of them. Have a great week, everyone!
1) Start early.
Although we do not graduate until May, nearly everyone I've spoken to about careers in higher education emphasizes that beginning one's search early is the key to securing a job not too long after graduation. To avoid confusion, I have been stating in the beginning of my cover letter that I will not be available to start working until late May. However, a common start date for jobs in higher education is July 1st, the start of the new fiscal year.
2) Be flexible.
One mentor told me that for your first job after graduate school, "You can choose the location, or you can choose the exact type of job, but it's difficult to choose both." Given my experience and current education level, I think it's important to just get some professional experience at this point. I really want to stay in the Philadelphia area though, so I've been seeking out specific schools and looking at jobs in both admissions and event-coordination.
3) Don't be afraid to negotiate a salary.
One of my professors talked to us about this earlier today. She said that the concept of negotiating a salary may seem taboo, even though many jobs provide a salary range rather than a set dollar amount. My professor encouraged us to leverage our skills and education to try to negotiate the best possible situation. A classmate who works in the Career Services office at Penn added that referencing data about average starting salaries in a certain field is also helpful.
4) Networking is key.
Another professor shared with my class that 80% of today's hires are a result of some form of networking. Especially for recent graduates, networking seems very intimidating. I enjoy talking with people, but navigating how to work in the fact that you are looking for a job can be difficult. One thing that I have realized is that networking does not have to be akin to "schmoozing"; it can just be mentioning that you are on the job market and maybe contacting the person a few weeks later to ask about potential openings at their institution/department.
I hope these tips are helpful! I'll add some more as I receive/think of them. Have a great week, everyone!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Comps, job-seeking, and Ed.D. weekend
Happy Friday! Hope everyone enjoyed their snow day yesterday (which was most of the East Coast, it seems). It was nice to catch up on some reading and apply for jobs. It's difficult to know exactly when to start applying considering we wouldn't be able to start until the end of May, but there are some positions that are looking for a later start date. It would be amazing to have a job lined up at graduation, but I don't think that's feasible considering the hiring timeline for most Higher Ed jobs (people who are leaving tend to do so at the end of the school year, so a lot of job openings are posted in the summer). This year went by SO quickly. This time last year, I came to visit Penn during my spring break from teaching in Miami, and I remember the current students saying that the Higher Ed program flies by since it's only two semesters. I believed them, but this takes on a whole new meaning when you experience it for yourself!
Speaking of graduation, next weekend is our comprehensive exam for Higher Ed Master's students. Eeeekk. What this means is that at 9AM on Friday, we get an email with two essay questions, and then we have the weekend to write a 2,000-word response. Even though the actual paper is short, this exam is high-stakes since passing it is required for graduation. We are also allowed to draw upon materials from our courses, but we have to do some outside research as well. Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this being over!
This weekend is our second doctoral weekend, but this time for Ed.D. applicants. The events will be the same as those that I blogged about last week. I'm looking forward to meeting some new people and eating delicious food! =)
Speaking of graduation, next weekend is our comprehensive exam for Higher Ed Master's students. Eeeekk. What this means is that at 9AM on Friday, we get an email with two essay questions, and then we have the weekend to write a 2,000-word response. Even though the actual paper is short, this exam is high-stakes since passing it is required for graduation. We are also allowed to draw upon materials from our courses, but we have to do some outside research as well. Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this being over!
This weekend is our second doctoral weekend, but this time for Ed.D. applicants. The events will be the same as those that I blogged about last week. I'm looking forward to meeting some new people and eating delicious food! =)
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Ph.D. weekend
This past weekend was extremely busy but also a lot of fun. It was Ph.D. weekend, where GSE brings its top applicants to campus to find out more about the school and its programs. We had applicants fly from as far away as Asia to visit Penn, so we wanted to make sure that they had the best time possible. There were a lot of dinners, programs, and activities over the weekend, and myself and the other GAs had the opportunity to help with all of these. Rather than describing everything, I decided to use pictures to illustrate the weekend.
This is the Penn Museum, an on-campus venue where we held a dinner and reception on Saturday night. The Ph.D. applicants as well as GSE faculty and staff had a busy day, so we wanted to plan a relaxing and enjoyable evening for them.
This is the room in which we held the dinner and reception. Since the Penn Museum focuses on Archaeology and Anthropology, this room had an Egyptian theme and featured artifacts and paintings around the space where we had dinner. It was really interesting!
A hallway of paintings in the Penn Museum.
The string quartet who performed at the event. They played both modern and classical music, which was really cool!
I shamelessly took pictures of my food the whole time. Our first course was Caesar salad.
I ordered the filet for dinner...it's not often that us grad students get to eat steak!
Dessert!!
Myself (middle) with Amanda and Wesley, my co-GAs in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Myself, Amanda, and Joe (also a GA) at dinner.
The lighting was dim in the room where we held the reception, but this was a group picture of our table! From left to right: Jesse (GA), Monica (GA), Natalie (Director of Admissions and Financial Aid), Lauren (Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid), Joe (GA), Amanda (GA), and myself. Wesley took this photo (thanks Wesley!).
On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at a restaurant downtown that was attached to the hotel where the applicants were staying. At this point I was feeling a little under the weather due to lack of sleep, so this was my morning "cocktail" (Emergen-C Vitamin C powder mixed with water)!
At breakfast we had 4 current Ph.D. students form a "New to Philly" panel, during which they answered questions about moving to and living in Philadelphia. They did an amazing job! They all made us laugh as well as provided so much helpful information (I've only lived here since August, so I learned a lot from them too!). From right to left: Demetri, Cecilia, Kelsey, and Jinsol.
After breakfast, we took the applicants on a tour of historic Philadelphia. Our tour guide was wonderful--he used to be an 8th grade U.S. History teacher and is also a native Philadelphian, so he had a wealth of knowledge about Philadelphia history. This photo in front of the Liberty Bell is of myself, Andrea, and Jesse, two of our GAs.
So those pictures pretty accurately sum up the weekend! Last but not least, I wanted to give a huge shout-out to Lauren, our Assistant Director, for planning the whole weekend so successfully. Everything went very smoothly due to her diligence and careful planning!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
"3-5 years of relevant experience required"
Happy Thursday, everyone =] This week was technically the first full week of the semester, considering that last week we had MLK day and a snow day, and the week before classes didn't begin until Wednesday. While my classes this semester require slightly less reading and assignments than the last, I have a 6th class this semester--job hunting. I say that because of the time and effort it will take to find a job. Luckily both Penn and GSE have a lot of available resources, and even just being here offers so many networking opportunities for careers in higher education. Penn itself is huge, and there are a ton of colleges and universities in and around Philadelphia. Since my family is in New Jersey, I'd really like to stay in the area. That being said, I know that jobs are scarce, so I'm planning to start looking as soon as possible.
I'd like to start my career in higher education by working in Admissions (this is starting to sound like my cover letter). I would prefer graduate admissions, but I'm flexible. I realize that I likely won't be able to choose both the region and the exact area in which I work. To be honest, I'm really nervous about beginning my job search. I graduated from college in 2012 and taught high school for a year before enrolling at Penn in Fall 2013. My program is only a year, so I'll be looking for jobs with only 1 year of full-time professional experience and 10 months at my graduate assistantship. I just got my resume critiqued at the Career Center this morning, and the woman told me that I have a good variety of experience. She told me that I am "in a good place" to begin the job hunt (I wonder if a lot of career advisers have counseling degrees?) I'm just concerned about my amount of previous experience. I worry that with a Master's degree at age 24, I'm overqualified and underexperienced. Let's just say that those job descriptions that want at least 3-5 years of experience are keeping me awake at night!
I'd like to start my career in higher education by working in Admissions (this is starting to sound like my cover letter). I would prefer graduate admissions, but I'm flexible. I realize that I likely won't be able to choose both the region and the exact area in which I work. To be honest, I'm really nervous about beginning my job search. I graduated from college in 2012 and taught high school for a year before enrolling at Penn in Fall 2013. My program is only a year, so I'll be looking for jobs with only 1 year of full-time professional experience and 10 months at my graduate assistantship. I just got my resume critiqued at the Career Center this morning, and the woman told me that I have a good variety of experience. She told me that I am "in a good place" to begin the job hunt (I wonder if a lot of career advisers have counseling degrees?) I'm just concerned about my amount of previous experience. I worry that with a Master's degree at age 24, I'm overqualified and underexperienced. Let's just say that those job descriptions that want at least 3-5 years of experience are keeping me awake at night!
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Returning from Winter Break
Well, classes started again after a wonderful three and a half weeks of vacation. I know this sounds crazy, but I am terrible at having time off. I'm so used to being busy that when I do have time off I actually don't know what to do with myself. I end up sleeping late and watching way too many shows on Netflix for a few days, and then I have to do something productive. I actually went back to work a week early since the Admissions office was really busy. I also ended up having to get my wisdom teeth removed, so that took up some time as well and allowed me to watch more Netflix, guilt-free. Also, my family went to Disney World for Christmas which was a lot of fun, and I spent New Year's in Philly with my best friends. Aside from the wisdom teeth, it was a pretty awesome break!
This week has been amazing since we had off on Monday for MLK day and then had a snow day yesterday. I know I was just "complaining" about having time off, but surprise snow days are always nice. I got ahead in some of my classes, made dinner, cleaned my apartment, and even baked banana bread which is very uncharacteristic of me (I'm not great at cooking or baking, but I'm getting better). I also updated my resume and started to work on a cover letter...ahhh, the job hunt is starting! I'll write more about that in the next few weeks. I also have some pictures to post from winter break!
This week has been amazing since we had off on Monday for MLK day and then had a snow day yesterday. I know I was just "complaining" about having time off, but surprise snow days are always nice. I got ahead in some of my classes, made dinner, cleaned my apartment, and even baked banana bread which is very uncharacteristic of me (I'm not great at cooking or baking, but I'm getting better). I also updated my resume and started to work on a cover letter...ahhh, the job hunt is starting! I'll write more about that in the next few weeks. I also have some pictures to post from winter break!
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