WJC Grad Seminar

Yesterday, as you passed through the Union I hope you noticed the plethora of tables devoted to various graduate schools.I also hope that you stopped to chat with individuals about any questions, or interests you had in graduate school. However, if you didn't because you lacked the time or courage to ask questions I will summarize their information for you.

Marketability:
Although graduate school is a great marketing tool when applying for jobs make sure to highlight other important things about yourself as well. Were you involved in leadership positions in organizations, have you had job experience or internships, do you know knowledgeable individuals in your field? Graduate school on its own won't make you successful. It is important to continually work on your marketability to help you be successful.

Application Process:
Research the programs you are applying to, and stay organized. Different programs and universities will have different requirements and deadlines it is important not to mix information up during the application process. Try to apply well before the deadlines so that you can follow up and make sure all requirements are met.

What Grad Schools Look At:
Graduate schools obviously look at your transcripts from your undergraduate experience.They expect you to have a high grade point average, but they also look at the difficulty of the courses you have taken. If an individual was moderately successful in a very difficult degree they would be more likely to be accepted than an individual who was very successful in an easy degree. Graduate schools will also look as how well you performed on standardized tests (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, etc.) Another thing they will look at when you apply is your cover letter/ personal statement and reference letters. These both provide the college a better idea of who you are as an individual and describe your character. These should tell the college about you and should act as your interview. Don't have your resume restated in these, or state why you are interested in going to graduate school. Let them get to know your passions and involvement through a story. Make sure all your documents are error free and brief.

Test Prep:
Although not necissary it is a good idea to have some test prep before going into your standardized tests.It is a good idea to practice in the same environment as the one you will encounter when actually testing. Practice time management skills to give you ample time when testing. Finally make sure to research what tests are required for the program you are interested in. Also research if there are programs offered to help you prep for these tests. Take advantage of these opportunities.

Financial Aid:
There are scholarships and grants available to help pay for graduate school, but other options might include student loans or working. Other options to look into are tuition reimbursement programs through companies, or graduate assistance-ships. An online website they encourage individuals to look at is fastweb.com to show various scholarship opportunities.  

I hope this summarized information was helpful as you you continue to look at graduate school, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Look for the next posting after we return from break. Once again enjoy the week, and its a great day to be a cardinal!         

What now?

So, you are about to finish your undergraduate and don't know what to do with your future. Sounds like you and I are in the same boat. You know that your field requires an advanced degree, but how do you go about picking a school or program? Its important to weigh the pros and cons before applying for graduate school. Will it further your career? Do you have the time to commit to the work load the program requires? Financially can you afford to go back to school now? There are five things that you need to look at when deciding on a school.

1.What is the reputation of the school and its graduate program?
2. Are the faculty leaders in their field who are willing to mentor you?
3. Is the location acceptable and close enough for you?
4. What is the cost of tuition?
5. What is the length of the program, and do the classes meet when you are available?

This series is going to focus on helping you better understand the application process for graduate school, and hopefully help you make your decision about if graduate school is the best option for you. Look for next weeks blog and as always come out and support the cardinal football team this Saturday for the last home game!

Halloween Success for Career Athletes

Hey readers! This week is the final blog to focus specifically on Career Athletes. For those of you who walked through the Union on Halloween you saw Sarah and me handing out candy and signing people up for the networking site. We are so thankful for everyone who stopped to chat and learn more about how the site can help you guys both now and after graduation. We will begin transferring from Sarah to Chole as the on campus intern, so if you see her make sure to congratulate her, and ask any questions you may have. As always feel free to come visit me in Career Services and ask me any questions you might have about Career Athletes. Look out for the next blog series on grad schools and good luck to the William Jewell women’s soccer team in the GLVC’s final four tournament!

Finding Jobs on Career Athletes

Happy Friday Readers! This week I’m going to talk about how to use the Career Athletes website to search for national job postings. This is my favorite service offered by Career Athletes, and probably will be one of your favorites as well since I’m assuming you would also like to get a job after leaving Jewell. To begin hover your mouse over the tab entitled “Job Center” it will expand to three different subcategories:  “Search Jobs”, “Bookmarked Jobs”, and “Jobs Applied To”. Click on the subcategory entitled “Search Jobs”. This will bring up a page that allows you to narrow your search field by location, field of interest, and job post date. Make selections based on your requirements and then click “Search” at the bottom. All jobs posted through Career Athletes that match your requirements will be brought up allowing you to click on them and read more in-depth descriptions of the job opportunity.  Some cool features that Career Athletes offers includes tabs at the bottom of the job description that allow you to apply online, bookmark the job post for later reference, and allow you to email the job description to a friend. I would suggest utilizing this part of the website even if you don’t use the rest because it allows you to see thousands of job postings in your specific field. So get to it a start looking at job posting that are related to your field. Make sure to tune in next week for the last Career Athletes blog post, and as always it’s a great day to be a cardinal!

It's All About Who You Know

Hey guys! I know Tuesday isn’t my normal blog posting day, but since Fall Break starts tomorrow I am switching it for this week. As most of you have realized (at least I hope you have) a main function of Career Athletes is providing networking opportunities. Networking whether it is through this site or in face to face interactions is an important part of establishing yourself in a career field. As Career Athletes states on their website, “85% of careers are achieved through professional networking!” Since networking is such an important tool when looking for jobs you might be asking "How does someone go about setting up these connections in a professional manner?"  Not to worry Career Athletes provides you with six tips on how to accomplish this. To find these networking tips hover your mouse over the tab labeled “Get Career Advice” in the left hand home column. It will expand to show “Career Resource Center”, “Virtual Career Coach”, “Networking”, “Finding a Job”, and “Using Career Athletes”. Click on “Networking” and a list of the six steps will appear. These networking tips are geared specifically toward Career Athletes, but they can also be incorporated into face to face networking as well. As most people know it isn’t what you know, but rather who you know. Hopefully these tips will help you improve your networking, and I hope you all enjoy your Fall Break!

Lets Get Together: Groups on Career Athletes

Afternoon Readers! We are continuing the theme of short posts for yet another week, yay! The topic for today is connecting to groups on Career Athletes. Connecting to various groups that you have similar interests with allows you to gather more specific information that would benefit you in your networking and future job hunting. The first step in adding groups is to hover your mouse over the left hand tab labeled “Groups”. As with the other tabs this will break into subsections: “My Groups” “All Groups” and “Create Groups”. Click on the subsection labeled “All Groups”. This will bring up a list of all the groups that have been created. Then all you have to do is scroll through and request to join ones that are relevant or interesting to you. It might take a couple days for the group to accept your request which will then allow you to see the discussion boards. I would suggest joining these groups as a starting point if you are unsure what you are interested in:

• Athletes Helping Athletes
• Division II Athletes
• Internships Unlimited
• Kansas City Connect

As always I hope you all enjoy your weekend, and good luck to the Cardinal Swim Team today at their first meet of the season! See you all next week. :)

Adding Jewell Connections

Howdy readers! I hope you all have enjoyed homecoming week, and are ready to show some spirit tomorrow afternoon at the football game! Today the post is about how to connect with other William Jewell athletes on Career Athletes. This isn’t really challenging so short post today. Once you have logged on to your account hover your mouse over a tab labeled “Network with Athletes”. This will break into two subsections called “William Jewell College Athletes” and “All Athletes”. You can click on “William Jewell College Athletes” and peruse current and former Jewell Athletes and add them as connections by clicking on “Connect” to the right of their name. You can send them a personal message or simply send a prewritten explanation of why you want to connect with them. And bam you have connections at Jewell! But once again I hope you will all come out to support the William Jewell Football team at 1pm. Bring your signs paint yourselves and prep those voices for an afternoon full of cheering on our team! See you all at the game!