The University of Memphis Graduate School sought to inform students on what programs are offered, as well as encourage graduating students to enroll, with an open house event Feb. 27 for students who intend to expand their education in their respected fields.
Bryan Meredith, Associate Dean of UofM Graduate School, said the UofM grad school has a wide reach of students that expands beyond the city of Memphis.
"Our mission is a mixture of research, educating and preparing interested graduate students for the future, marketplace and workplace," Meredith said. "We're here not only to serve our students that are undergraduates but well over 4,000 students make up the graduate school here at the University of Memphis from all over the globe and the United States. We have an international reach to our graduate mission as well as a domestic reach."
The UofM grad school offers more than 120 degree programs. Masters degrees are offered in 54 areas through seven colleges and four schools. In addition, the UofM offers a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 21 areas through six colleges and three school.
Meredith said grad school is more of a laser-focused field of study, whereas undergraduate schools have a wider array of study.
"For incoming students graduate school is a change of depth and breadth," Meredith said. "They've been able to do there bachelors degree and have obviously done that well enough to get into graduate school. The graduate experience is a very individual experience but it can also be depending on the major, concentration and discipline very group related study and research. It's a broad experience but it can be a very narrow direct experience for that academic discipline."
Meredith said attending grad school is solely based on the students career goal and may be necessary to allow students to rise up in their careers.
"I would always encourage a student regardless of discipline or major to consider graduate school and talk to the folks they work with and for and also talk to their faculty. They can really probably give them specific tangible advice because a lot of the experience is faculty driven in graduate school," Meredith said. "I would encourage a student that's trying to weigh there options on going to graduate school to talk to their faculty but also employers. In most cases employers are going to want a very competitive individual in their workplace and a graduate school lends itself to developing those skills."
Meredith said the faculty is the driving force for graduate programs due to not only their control of the curriculum but they lead the research component that makes up most of graduate programs. The faculty challenges their students but also push them to succeed in their studies as well as in the workplace. While the whole college experience is faculty driven but that drive becomes more individualized and focused as a student progresses through their graduate studies.
If a student is unsure of if they want to enroll in grad school at the UofM, they have the option to take a nondegree approach for a semester to determine if they would like to stay or not. If the students decides to stay they can apply to be degree seeking in the following semester.
Fatima Jamio, a biology major at the UofM, said she is thinking of taking a year off before she applies to a professional school such as optometry but she is keeping her options open.
"I want to have a backbone just in case I don't get into the professional school I want," Jamio said. "I know I'll have a job secured with this degree because I know many people who have gone through this path and it's been fun for them."
The UofM graduate school is currently accepting applicants for the upcoming fall semester.
