BEGIN EXPLORING AND PREPARING FOR CAREERS OR POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
An Arts & Sciences education prepares you for life by building highly desirable skills required in a variety of professions, rather than training you for any particular one. The key is to recognize the skills you are building through your Arts & Sciences education, as well as to discover how you might translate these skills to careers or post-graduate programs that interest you.
To investigate possible careers, supplement your major with hands-on experience. To explore professional or graduate school, start inquiring and building an application portfolio this year (yes, even now!).
Doing so during the sophomore year and following summer is not essential, but it can be helpful. Start thinking today about what comes next, and when you graduate, you’ll be prepared to make the next step.
Exploring Careers
To explore careers, get hands-on experience! Experience is the route to developing yourself and understanding your world, to finding a match between your passions, your skills, and the world’s needs.
• The Praxis Program: The Praxis Program invites students in the College of Arts & Sciences to pursue a liberal arts education while acquiring the skills essential for the workplace. Apply prior to or early in your sophomore year. For more information, see http://praxis.artsci.wustl.edu.
• Student Entrepreneurial Opportunities at WashU: The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies offers courses and opportunities for students to train as entrepreneurs. These courses and opportunities are open to all students, including A&S, and are relevant for any student interested in entrepreneurialism, whether now or in the future. See http://www.sc.wustl.edu/. For more information, contact II (Two) Luscri at luscri[at]wustl.edu or 314-935-6338. The Student Entrepreneurial Program (StEP) provides a unique opportunity for students to own and operate a business on campus. For more information, go to http://step.wustl.edu/getinvolved.php.
• Internships for Summer: Imagine using next summer to get paid or earn credits for doing something you really enjoy and want to learn about. Imagine yourself as an intern! Prepare for summer internships THIS FALL by taking the Internship Success and Stipend Course. This short course leads you through discovering your interests, finding and interviewing for an internship, and making the most of your internship experience. Contact the Career Center at careers.wustl.edu or 314-935-5930 and sign-up through CareerLink.
Create a resume by bringing it by the Career Center for review, and attend the NSBE Career Fair, Fri., Sept. 25, from 10:00-3:00 in the Athletic Complex, as well as the All-Campus Internship and Job Career Fair Friday, October 2, from 10:00-2:00 in the Athletic Complex. Look for internships through the Career Center’s CareerLink at http://careers.wustl.edu/careerlink/, academic departments, the Gephardt Institute for Public Service at http://www.gephardtinstitute.wustl.edu/, the Office of Undergraduate Research at http://ur.wustl.edu/, the Office for International Students and Scholars at http://oisshome.wustl.edu/, and the Skandalaris Center at http://www.sc.wustl.edu/.
• Job Shadowing and Informational Interviewing Job shadowing and informational interviewing let you find out what people really do in a particular job, the kind of people they work with, what they like about that job, and what they don’t like. This is how you can start.
o Job shadowing lets you closely observe the work life of someone in a field of interest to you, typically for a few hours or a day. With some instructions from a career advisor, it is very easy to set up.
o Informational interviewing is a formal skill you need to acquire, and if you start as a sophomore, it can give you a competitive advantage in starting out making great, well-informed choices. You interview a professional about his or her work, and thereby make a personal connection. Often, the connections made through informational interviews can lead to actual internships and job offers. It is much easier than you think, if you sit down with a career advisor to prepare.
o Interested in learning more -- or getting individual coaching on how to arrange a shadowing experience or informational interview? Call or come by the Career Center: 110 DUC, 314-935-5930. Also check out the networking handout on our web site: www.careers.wustl.edu.
Exploring Medical or Law School
Are you interested in medical school? Be sure to contact prehealth[at]artsci.wustl.edu to join the pre-health mailing list. For more information, including a list of pre-health advisors, visit http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/prehealth.
How about law school? Contact prelaw[at]artsci.wustl.edu to join the pre-law mailing list. Also attend the Sophomore Pre-Law Info Session in early spring semester. Exploring
Graduate School
If you’re interested in graduate school, come to one of the following info sessions:
• Th., Oct., 8, Is a Master’s or Ph.D. Right for You? 4:00-5:00, location tba
• Th., Oct. 15, Brainstorming Pathways to Graduate School, location tba
See the pre-grad website for a listing of more events on campus and helpful hints at http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/pregrad. Also contact one of the pre-grad advisors to begin exploring what graduate school is about, and whether it’s right for you, as well as to be added to the pre-grad mailing list (a great source for upcoming events and tips for preparation).
Finally, give serious consideration to applying for one of the competitive national scholarships, the Barry M. Goldwater and Morris K. Udall Scholarships. The application process for these scholarships (whether you win or not) is an excellent way to begin building an application portfolio for graduate school. Both of these scholarship competitions have internal WashU nomination processes. See http://college.artsci.wustl.edu/national-scholarships-fellowships or contact Dean Joy Kiefer (jkiefer[at]artsci.wustl.edu) for time lines and requirements.
KEEP IN MIND
The Cornerstone Technology Laboratory can assist you in all of your pre-professional needs, whether you are pre-health, pre-law, pre-business, pre-grad school, or just don’t know yet. Cornerstone has the most current books (written by both Kaplan and the Princeton Review) and information for the MCAT, LSAT, GMAT, and GRE, and they have their resource CD-ROMs. These programs are preinstalled on all of the PCs in the Tech Lab. Informational booklets for each test explain how to sign up for the test online, by phone, or mail.
"The faculty and staff in Arts & Sciences are incredibly supportive, whether you’re pursuing a study-abroad opportunity or organizing a community service project."
