In the months since being admitted into grad school, I have made an effort to attend the events that American has held for incoming graduate students to meet future classmates and become more familiar with the campus.
In February, I sat in on one of the many elective classes that are offered to students in the Strategic Communications master’s degree program. I knew that sitting in on a class was not going to deter me from officially accepting my admissions offer, but only solidify my decision to attend school at American. I sat in on a Grassroots Digital Advocacy class, where students learn about using digital platforms in advocacy and non-profit communications. I have always been interested in working in the non-profit sector, so I knew that I would be very interested in the class topics that would be discussed. I liked the mix of professor lecturing and class discussion, which made the class very engaging and it did not seem like it was a 3-hour class with only one short break. A few of the current students in the program that I talked to said that most of the classes have similar formats, so that was definitely a positive for me. The professor also made me feel very welcome and encouraged me to take part in the class discussion.
I also attended the School of Communications Admitted
Students Day for their graduate school programs in early April. There were around 60-70 students there who had
been admitted to one of the school’s many programs and it was really
interesting to meet everyone. There was a mix of those who would be starting
grad school straight out of their undergraduate studies and some who would be going
back to school after working for a few years or several years (like me). I was definitely very self-conscious of my
age when I heard several of them talking about how they had 3-4 weeks left of
their senior year of undergraduate classes and were finishing up papers and
finals. Obviously, it’s been several
years since I have had to worry about classes, finals, projects, etc., so it definitely
brought me back to my undergraduate years and all those stresses.
There was also a mix of students who were from the DC area
and those who were from all over the country and even around the world. Unlike me, not everyone there had fully
decided on attending American and were still considering other programs that
they had been admitted to.
They also had separate breakout sessions specific to the
program that students had been admitted to.
During that time, one of the professors gave a sample presentation of
one of the elective classes that is offered to students. As I found from when I had sat in on a class
in February, the classes are very discussion-oriented and I was totally engaged
in the conversation topic. Current
students in their graduate programs also shared their experience and answered
questions that us incoming students had.
One takeaway that I took from the current students and their experience in
the program is that their relationship with their professors is more like
working with a colleague instead of what the student-professor dynamic is like in an
undergraduate program. That was very
encouraging to hear since the program is not very large (I am guessing there
are only between 60-80 students) and it will be really important for me to
create good relationships with my professors for mentoring and networking
opportunities.
During lunch, we also got to talk with a few professors from
the specific program that we would be entering.
This was really beneficial to me because it allowed me to put
professors’ names with a face and also get a professor’s perspective on the
Strategic Communications program and hear about their teaching area. They were also very welcoming and took an
interest in getting to know each student and what area they were interested in
studying.
I also attended several of the happy hour events where I
have been able to meet more of my future classmates and talk to more of the
professors. At one of these events, I
was talking to one of the professors and she asked me, “So, what’s your
story?” I proceeded to tell her about
how I have worked in minor league baseball for several years and now want to
transition back into the communications field.
She immediately remembered my application because of my working in baseball and thought it was a really interesting path that I have
taken so far. That was humbling because
I would have never expected a professor, who probably looked at hundreds of
applications, to remember what was on my resume and what I had written in my
personal statement. I guess I made an
impression on the admissions committee!
During one of my visits to the campus, I also made my
all-important first American University purchase…an AU T-Shirt!
In my next post – a little vacation before the rigors of
grad school start this fall!
