On Feb. 22, a graduate school panel was held in Agenstein 126 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta), a biological honors society, hosted the event.

 

Missouri Western science faculty answered questions about what graduate school is, what the application process is like, what completing a graduate program looks like and student-provided questions.

 

The professors who attended the panel were Dr. Jeff Woodford, Dr. Steve Lorimor, Dr. Natalie Mikita, Dr. Carissa Ganong, Dr. Todd Eckdahl, Dr. Mark Mills, Dr. Dawn Drake and Dr. Aracely A. Newton.

 

Macioe Firsching is a member of TriBeta that helped organize the event.

 

“We were looking at having professors from a variety of fields so that we can get different perspectives and we can have more students come.” Firsching said.

 

Callie Punzo is also a member of Tribeta and helped with the event.

 

“Since a lot of the people who come to TriBeta are interested in either research fields or going to a professional school, we figured it'd be good to get some sort of exposure. The best way to do that, especially here, would be to do a professor panel.” Punzo said.

 

Dr. Dawn Drake, a geography professor, was part of the panel. During the panel, the professors helped clarify what the process of going through graduate school is like and what to expect from the process.

 

“I think a lot of them (students) don't totally know what to expect and that's why we do things like this, so that we hopefully can take our experiences at having not known what to expect and make it less scary and less unknown for the next generation.” Drake said.

 

The professors also took turns talking about why they personally went to graduate school and things for students to consider before they make the choice for themselves.

 

“If when you answer the question, ‘why do I want to go to grad school’ if it's ‘because I don't know what else to do’ or ‘I’m not ready to go to work yet,’ those aren't the right answers.” Drake said.

 

For students that may not know if graduate school is the right option for them, Drake suggests talking with professors.

 

“If you're at that stage where you're starting to look, don't be afraid to reach out to other professors. They're humans too, and they want to talk to you.” Drake said.

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