So You Want to Go to Graduate School

Bridget Gross & Brooke Mott Author

10/01/2024 Added

20 Plays

Description

Student Recruiters from the School of Natural Resources and current Natural Resources Sciences graduate degree candidate talk about how to investigate and apply to graduate schools.

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[00:00:00.840]All right. So here we go. Okay. So this is just a little bit about what we're going to do. So
[00:00:06.300]we're going to talk about how you get started. We're going to talk about the difference between
[00:00:09.620]a master's and a PhD. We're going to talk a little bit about how you find programs and then
[00:00:15.340]polite ways to reach out and contact potential advisors. So why consider graduate school? For
[00:00:23.320]most of you, it's probably for some sort of career advancement. So that's going to be maybe you go
[00:00:29.240]work for a few years and you decide I want to move up to the next step in the ladder. Well,
[00:00:33.200]they might require a master's degree for that. So that's for most of you probably why you're going
[00:00:37.620]to be pursuing this. If you're like me, I pursued my master's because I was just really interested
[00:00:42.100]in bees. So that's my background. So that's kind of why I pursued graduate school. So I'm
[00:00:47.320]the third bullet point right there. It's also a great way to make connections with other people
[00:00:52.460]in your field. Wildlife field is relatively small. So like most of these people over here know
[00:00:58.480]most of the others in their field. So it's a really great way to make connections with
[00:01:02.780]potential employers. And then of course, we're all out there to make some money, right?
[00:01:07.540]So your options are typically, we're going to talk a lot about this in the framework of UNL
[00:01:13.840]system, but you can also, some of this will apply to other departments. Like I did my
[00:01:18.780]master's degree in the entomology department. I know the master's degree non-thesis,
[00:01:23.120]the thesis option, the PhD option also exists over there. So you might notice that some of
[00:01:27.720]this is going to mirror potential other schools that you're looking at.
[00:01:31.120]On top of the master's degrees with the thesis and non-thesis, there's also a master's of applied
[00:01:40.340]science. That's kind of geared towards more professional career work. That also is not a
[00:01:47.060]thesis and that is an option that we provide in SNR as well. And like I said, oftentimes you can
[00:01:53.340]find a more applied degree to other schools. I don't know any off the top of my head,
[00:01:57.560]but I know that it is, well, we have like the doctor of plant health, which is a little bit
[00:02:01.480]more applied. Do you have anything else about this slide? All right. So how do you decide between
[00:02:08.800]if you're going for a master's of science degree or a PhD degree, how do you decide?
[00:02:13.580]So you have to remember that these take lots of time. It's a very big commitment. I,
[00:02:18.260]probably one of the best pieces of advice I received when debating going to graduate school
[00:02:23.280]was my professor saying, it has to be a topic that you're really interested in because
[00:02:27.400]it's going to be something that you're going to spend a lot of your time working on over
[00:02:31.740]the next couple of years. So also be considerate of your career goals. Do you want to enter
[00:02:37.000]academia? Do you think a PhD is necessary? Can you get by with just a master's degree?
[00:02:41.400]Do you even need to go to graduate school at all? So things to consider, especially
[00:02:45.640]talk to your professors about, pick their brain, pick the brains of other graduate students
[00:02:50.000]as well as to why they selected to go to graduate school. So a master's degree, typically
[00:02:57.240]of course you only need to have a bachelor's degree. Ours is about 30 credit hours, correct?
[00:03:02.760]Minimum 30 credit hours. Typically you're going to have to give some sort of thesis
[00:03:08.160]defense. So you're going to write a really long paper about your research project and
[00:03:12.080]then you have to present it and essentially defend it. And then you're going to have to
[00:03:16.620]give some sort of seminar. And then these typically take about one to three years. A
[00:03:27.080]I still find most people still prefer at least a master's for it. I'm looking at Brooke to
[00:03:31.040]see if she agrees with me. That's going to be a minimum of 90 credit hours. You're going
[00:03:35.840]to have some sort of comprehensive exam. So that's kind of like an exam that you take
[00:03:39.480]about halfway through your program. You're also going to have a seminar and then you're
[00:03:43.200]going to have your dissertation. So again, you're going to write a really long paper
[00:03:46.580]and then you're going to have to defend that paper. And that usually takes between three
[00:03:51.040]to seven years to complete. Some differences between the two. A PhD
[00:03:56.920]is going to be more research based. It's going to make you a quote unquote expert in your field.
[00:04:01.680]Whereas a master's is typically focused more on some sort of form of career advancement, learning new
[00:04:06.880]skills and still getting some sort of concentration within a field.
[00:04:10.340]So some things to be thinking about. What, who,
[00:04:16.580]do we have any freshmen or sophomores in here? All right.
[00:04:21.480]Awesome. Juniors. Excellent. Seniors.
[00:04:26.760]Seniors. And there's most of you. So some things to be thinking about for our freshmen and sophomores and even our juniors in here is you really want to be gauging your interest, your abilities, your career goals.
[00:04:38.600]So you said you're a sophomore, right? So our 101 class this year actually went and we talked with the career center, some of the career folks, and they talked a lot about as you're going throughout college.
[00:04:51.160]And this would include as you're considering graduate school, almost like making a list.
[00:04:56.600]Of your different interests, your values, things you're physically and mentally capable of and kind of using that to decide where you want to go within your career.
[00:05:07.020]So she gave the career coach, Stephanie, gave the example of her degree.
[00:05:11.760]It was in criminal justice, but she quickly learned that that's not a field she wants to go into because she didn't have she didn't want to worry about the physical capabilities.
[00:05:21.360]Not all of her values lined up with it. And now she's a career coach, which fits a lot better with her values.
[00:05:26.440]So some things to consider, regardless of whether or not you want to go to graduate school for your juniors and even for your seniors.
[00:05:34.820]It's never too late to start compiling this list. So even if you're like, oh, no, I'm behind where this says, don't worry, you'll get there.
[00:05:42.380]You want to be thinking about what graduate programs you want to move on.
[00:05:45.900]You want to be thinking about building up your resume, your CV, how you put together those application materials, whether or not you need to start thinking about studying for and taking the GRE.
[00:05:56.280]And then once you reach that senior year, start reaching out to contacts, use your professors.
[00:06:01.960]I keep pointing over here because they're all sitting over here in a little conglomeration.
[00:06:05.900]But even as a junior, reaching out to professors, talking to them about who they might know, who they know who might have funding opportunities available for you,
[00:06:16.020]and then kind of finalizing some of those materials that you'll need, looking at your transcript, your CV, your resume, your cover letter, a personal statement, all that.
[00:06:26.220]So, things to consider, again, what sort of research topic you want to go into, who has funding available, how well you get along with a potential principal investigator or advisor,
[00:06:40.660]and how well you get along with their lab members. Again, always thinking about your career goals, so whether or not this is necessary, whether or not you want to go for a master's and move on to a PhD or whatnot.
[00:06:50.760]And then location is going to be a big one, because if you're not happy with where you're living,
[00:06:55.580]you're probably not going to be too happy with your degree program.
[00:06:59.160]Oh, actually, I'm going to back up to this.
[00:07:02.840]I'm also going to highlight, so some people a lot of times might pick out programs based on prestige of the school,
[00:07:09.540]but I, and Brooke can maybe give her two cents on this, I've also always found it very important that your principal investigator,
[00:07:16.320]your advisor, whatever you want to call them, and your lab members, it's very important that you get along with them,
[00:07:21.400]because if you have a different learning style than your advisor,
[00:07:24.940]if you don't like them, your program is not going to go as well as you want to,
[00:07:29.060]and you still might get through it, but I've always found that to be a very big factor.
[00:07:32.720]Yeah, and I would also say, when you start reaching out to your possible advisors,
[00:07:38.860]it's great to have a few conversations with them as well, once you get their name and their contact information.
[00:07:43.800]Like, Mark was my advisor, Mark Burback over here, and I had a few Zoom sessions with him,
[00:07:49.240]just talking about what the masters would entail, and getting to know him a bit, and that helps a lot coming in.
[00:07:54.760]It's also, it is nice, like, when you kind of stay in SNR, you do kind of know the people here and a bit of the community.
[00:08:00.440]So if you're looking to stay, that's a great way, or being able to go and, like, visit, or if you know people at universities,
[00:08:05.240]taking some time to meet a few faces, that'll be helpful as well.
[00:08:07.880]Yeah, I guess Brooke just reminded me, too, of my own experience.
[00:08:12.940]So when I was first told about a program in Nebraska, I went, "Why would I want to move to Nebraska?"
[00:08:19.120]And then I came out here and visited, and I really liked Lincoln, so for me, that was a big factor.
[00:08:24.460]And staying in the Midwest, because I'm from the Midwest and everything like that.
[00:08:27.920]So if you get a chance to visit, that's going to be awesome, again, thinking about that location and who you get along with.
[00:08:34.960]So some ways that you find programs, of course, there's departmental websites.
[00:08:39.420]So this might be someone that you meet at a conference might say, "Hey, I work for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln."
[00:08:45.900]And you might go, "OK, well, I'm going to check out their website."
[00:08:49.020]Easiest one to potentially do if there's a university that you know has a really good program,
[00:08:54.160]then XYZ, great first place to start.
[00:08:58.520]You are often able to find a search function to look for faculty.
[00:09:02.340]So ours is under our people.
[00:09:04.920]We have a little directory on there where you can pull up different faculty members,
[00:09:09.340]what they study, their areas of study.
[00:09:11.600]A lot of times they'll list their titles, so whether or not they are interested in taking
[00:09:15.300]on graduate students.
[00:09:17.760]Also very important to contact your brook.
[00:09:20.960]Whether you're deciding to go here or whether you're deciding to go to a different
[00:09:23.860]university.
[00:09:25.140]So Brooke is our, for those of you who don't know, she's our graduate coordinator.
[00:09:28.820]So she is the person who you would reach out to potentially saying, "Hey, I want to come
[00:09:32.580]to XYZ University.
[00:09:34.380]I'm interested in this."
[00:09:36.200]She's a great contact to say, "Well, this is who I know who might have potential funding."
[00:09:39.740]Or you might say, "I'm interested in this topic."
[00:09:41.860]She's a great person to say, "Hey, well, this is who we have to work on this."
[00:09:45.760]Or you just have questions about, "How do I get into graduate school at UNL?"
[00:09:51.060]Another great person to contact.
[00:09:53.560]Waze, spotlighting you over there, John.
[00:09:58.160]Waze that you find people, again, you can look in the directory.
[00:10:02.360]Up here, you'll see that there's contact information.
[00:10:04.960]We've highlighted up here areas of interest.
[00:10:07.460]If you go, "Well, I heard this person talk and I want to know what other things they
[00:10:11.240]might be interested in," great way to look for it.
[00:10:14.500]You can also see their publications, background, so if you're just curious about, "Does this
[00:10:21.320]person share a similar background to me?
[00:10:23.260]Will they have values that align with mine?"
[00:10:25.840]Great way to look for that.
[00:10:30.320]You can also look at potential publications.
[00:10:32.680]I know for myself, like I said, I work with honeybees, so I was looking at people whose
[00:10:38.680]publications I had read before, so there was one person whose name just kept popping up
[00:10:43.280]over and over again.
[00:10:44.280]I ended up not doing graduate school with him because I came here instead.
[00:10:48.400]But he was just kind of someone who I was eyeing out, just kind of seeing because his
[00:10:52.960]name kept popping up in publications, and that's one way where I also knew that one
[00:10:59.380]of my advisors, that's how I kind of knew what sorts of work she did, because I was
[00:11:02.780]like, oh, these are the papers that your name has popped up on when I've been doing research.
[00:11:07.900]So also another great way to highlight people is by looking at the different publications
[00:11:12.140]in the field that you want to pursue.
[00:11:15.260]Texas A&M job board, if you've never looked at this job board, it's on the bottom of the
[00:11:20.680]weekly email.
[00:11:22.660]And they will also list, in addition to different jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities,
[00:11:27.580]they also have this nice little spot where you can look for graduate opportunities.
[00:11:32.440]Or again, another thing that I recommend to incoming students, so for those of you who
[00:11:37.340]haven't visited with me before, you might not have heard me say this, but I always recommend
[00:11:43.140]checking out our job board out here.
[00:11:45.460]Look on here for potential future jobs.
[00:11:47.840]Maybe they're not the job you get right out of school.
[00:11:50.340]Maybe they're the couple years out of school.
[00:11:52.360]Look at and go, oh, hey, they require a master's degree.
[00:11:55.760]So maybe that is something that I want to pursue.
[00:11:57.640]I'm not as familiar with this website,
[00:12:02.940]but Emma had it up here from last year,
[00:12:04.640]so that's why I'm showing it.
[00:12:06.160]But there's a Graduate Schools of America from niche.com.
[00:12:10.460]Conservation job board, another one
[00:12:12.620]that I tend to send out to students.
[00:12:15.100]They also kind of have this little--
[00:12:17.000]when you look over at the job type--
[00:12:18.420]I don't know why I'm circling it down here
[00:12:20.300]as if you can see me circling it.
[00:12:22.060]But they have that student/postdoc search function
[00:12:25.180]that you can look at.
[00:12:27.960]GradSchools.com, of course, so looking, again,
[00:12:30.760]for desired programs.
[00:12:32.780]Talk to your faculty members in SNR.
[00:12:35.560]Again, you might go up to Dennis and say, hey,
[00:12:37.900]I want to work with snakes.
[00:12:39.340]Who do you know who has opportunities for me
[00:12:41.180]to go work on rattlesnakes?
[00:12:42.600]So also, when you're looking at the SNR website,
[00:12:51.760]if you search some of our specializations
[00:12:54.220]that we have for our master's and PhD degrees--
[00:12:57.500]so we have a general natural resources degree,
[00:12:59.900]but you can do a specialization within them,
[00:13:01.720]like human dimensions, applied ecology, climate science,
[00:13:05.560]things like that.
[00:13:06.600]When you search those specializations,
[00:13:08.320]there's actually a tab that says faculty.
[00:13:10.540]And it'll tell you who is in charge of that specialization,
[00:13:14.140]as well as different faculty members
[00:13:16.000]who teach in that specialization and could be potential
[00:13:19.080]advisors.
[00:13:21.460]And we will have--
[00:13:25.480]I have a list of all the SNR specializations
[00:13:27.820]on the last slide so they can see what those look like.
[00:13:32.220]What do I have on the slide, even?
[00:13:33.880]Important to reach out to potential advisors
[00:13:36.520]prior to applying.
[00:13:37.700]So some programs-- and SNRs, I believe,
[00:13:40.020]is a program where they ask you to identify
[00:13:42.100]an advisor or principal investigator before you apply.
[00:13:47.220]I've found that also, too, even in programs
[00:13:49.300]that don't require that, it's really helpful
[00:13:51.160]for getting in if you kind of have someone who can vouch
[00:13:53.400]for you a little bit.
[00:13:54.820]When you're reaching out to them, be polite.
[00:13:57.340]Be professional.
[00:13:58.360]That's where you can come to myself.
[00:14:00.040]You can go to Brooke.
[00:14:00.880]You can go to Kenneth.
[00:14:02.360]And you can ask, please proofread this email.
[00:14:05.980]Does it look good?
[00:14:07.720]Is it nice?
[00:14:08.320]Am I using too much slang?
[00:14:09.940]Am I using too much jargon, on the other hand?
[00:14:11.900]So that way, you can kind of reach out and make
[00:14:13.780]sure that it's professional.
[00:14:15.480]You want to state your research interests.
[00:14:18.380]You want to ask them, do they have any availability
[00:14:20.860]in their lab?
[00:14:21.860]Don't get discouraged if they say no.
[00:14:24.520]I know I reached out to a couple of people
[00:14:26.240]where they were like, you look like a great student,
[00:14:28.320]but I don't have money.
[00:14:29.820]And some of them did offer to say, hey,
[00:14:31.480]if you have a project and you want to co-write a grant
[00:14:33.820]with me, but then I had other people who already
[00:14:36.240]had monies with cooler projects than I could think of.
[00:14:40.740]Yeah, and so sort of on that, since we kind of brought up
[00:14:43.460]the funding and the application process, at least with SNR
[00:14:47.080]and some schools are similar.
[00:14:48.280]Typically, we want you to be able to find
[00:14:50.560]an advisor before you apply.
[00:14:53.600]That way, you would already know, like, going in,
[00:14:55.540]if you're going to pay for the application
[00:14:57.360]or possibly the advisor could, like, pay
[00:14:59.060]for that application fee for you.
[00:15:00.740]I think it's about $40 or $50.
[00:15:03.640]But then that way, you already have the funds secured
[00:15:05.700]and everything so that when you apply, it's not just open
[00:15:08.440]and you're just hoping to get in.
[00:15:10.140]Because some other schools work like that,
[00:15:11.580]but kind of more natural resources.
[00:15:13.080]You're applying with an advisor to kind of get into the school,
[00:15:16.520]kind of having that pathway already figured out for you.
[00:15:19.220]So that's why we definitely
[00:15:20.260]recommend keeping in contact
[00:15:21.860]and having that advisor before the application process
[00:15:24.400]or talking to me about that process a bit
[00:15:26.460]if you're interested.
[00:15:28.400]And with funding, a lot of the times,
[00:15:30.300]the advisor is the one that has the funding for you.
[00:15:33.700]How that works is that you typically get at least an SNR.
[00:15:36.240]So you get a monthly stipend,
[00:15:38.080]and there's also tuition remission
[00:15:39.680]so that your credits are paid for.
[00:15:41.540]And so typically, you have a couple of fees that you pay
[00:15:44.760]or some fees that you pay twice a year.
[00:15:47.060]So you are getting paid as a grad student here.
[00:15:49.960]So some items for your application.
[00:15:56.260]So of course, you're going to have,
[00:15:57.500]they're going to either ask for a resume or a CV.
[00:16:00.040]Oftentimes, it's going to be more towards a CV
[00:16:02.740]because the CV is more focused
[00:16:04.040]on your academic accomplishments.
[00:16:06.580]You're going to have to typically write some sort
[00:16:08.480]of personal statement just like you had to write
[00:16:10.580]to get into college.
[00:16:12.080]Of course, you're going to have to provide transcripts.
[00:16:14.080]We're going to talk a little bit about the GRE.
[00:16:16.120]We're going to talk about each of these more in depth.
[00:16:18.220]And then some sort of recommendation letter.
[00:16:19.660]So a resume and a CV.
[00:16:24.160]Again, you want to include your professional contact
[00:16:27.740]information, so not the email address that you made
[00:16:30.200]when you were in sixth grade.
[00:16:31.300]But I also always recommend to students include your personal
[00:16:35.340]email address because you will eventually lose access
[00:16:38.240]to your UNL email after you graduate.
[00:16:40.980]So make sure -- you know, I made up a special email
[00:16:44.320]that was just like my name, so that way it wasn't, again,
[00:16:47.380]my funky one that was really funny.
[00:16:49.360]I made it when I was 11 years old.
[00:16:52.220]You're going to want to list your degree.
[00:16:54.560]Make sure you list your exact degree title, so that way,
[00:16:58.040]if they decide to go back and verify it,
[00:17:00.680]they can actually verify that information.
[00:17:02.740]So I see a lot of people make the mistake
[00:17:04.940]of saying I'm a wildlife major.
[00:17:07.540]No, you want to put down that I have a major
[00:17:09.380]in fisheries and wildlife.
[00:17:10.740]So that way, if they decide to go back and say, well,
[00:17:13.580]do they really -- is this actually a degree title,
[00:17:16.560]they can go back and find that on the SNR website or to
[00:17:19.060]make sure that it matches what your transcript says.
[00:17:22.460]Relevant experience, all of you have experience and
[00:17:25.240]skills that you can use, I promise you.
[00:17:27.800]So that's going to be things from your internship course
[00:17:30.180]that you've taken, that might be potential volunteer
[00:17:33.380]experiences that you have, that could be being a TA.
[00:17:37.280]I promise you, all of you have relevant skills that we
[00:17:39.840]can kind of help you narrow down if you need help going.
[00:17:42.420]I don't know how to make this all relevant.
[00:17:46.320]You want to be listing down honors and awards that you've
[00:17:48.760]received, so like if you've been on the dean's list,
[00:17:51.560]stuff like that, different certifications and trainings
[00:17:53.900]that you've had, which we're currently working on putting
[00:17:56.040]together a list so that way you can highlight all the different
[00:17:58.700]ones that SNR offers so that way you can decide whether or not
[00:18:01.580]you want to pursue those.
[00:18:03.740]Sometimes I have relevant coursework depending on what
[00:18:07.040]they're asking for.
[00:18:08.080]Some will ask for relevant coursework, some don't.
[00:18:11.080]So for me, at least, it's iffy whether or not I include it.
[00:18:14.480]And then if you have any sort of foreign language proficiency.
[00:18:17.820]If you need help,
[00:18:18.460]checking a resume, you all have my email because I email you every week.
[00:18:23.280]So you can always reach out to me and I can help you proofread.
[00:18:26.140]Kenneth or Brooke can also help you proofread as well, or help you just go.
[00:18:31.740]I don't even know where to start.
[00:18:33.060]We can kind of help you start that.
[00:18:36.240]CASNR also has resume labs that you can use.
[00:18:38.700]They're in Hardin Hall Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.
[00:18:42.500]You've seen them sitting out there in the student services area.
[00:18:45.000]So they're also another great resource.
[00:18:48.160]Preparing a personal statement.
[00:18:51.640]Give yourself enough time because if you're like me, I hated writing it because I didn't
[00:18:57.360]know what to put.
[00:18:58.400]So give yourself enough time.
[00:18:59.560]Do not wait until the last minute.
[00:19:01.280]Again, proofread it so that way you can make sure that it's all grammatically correct.
[00:19:06.060]So that way you can make sure that it's actually something relevant to what they're asking
[00:19:09.480]for.
[00:19:10.480]You want to highlight your background, some personal experiences that are going to relate
[00:19:14.480]to whatever program you're applying for.
[00:19:16.860]And then lastly, why you applied.
[00:19:17.860]Why you want to attend graduate school.
[00:19:20.020]They might have other requirements there.
[00:19:22.600]Like they might say, they might give you a page length.
[00:19:25.380]They might say what sort of font or what not to use to make it standardized.
[00:19:30.060]You want to give examples of different background experiences and personal experiences that
[00:19:34.800]you've had, especially if you have ones that relate to a specific program that you're applying
[00:19:38.880]for.
[00:19:40.060]And then proofread it.
[00:19:41.700]Please proofread it.
[00:19:45.060]Official transcripts.
[00:19:46.440]If you're applying within UNL.
[00:19:47.560]I know I didn't have to -- I think I just clicked like a button or something like that
[00:19:52.200]because UNL was able to pull my transcripts that they already had when I applied.
[00:19:57.400]But you want to make sure that you're using all of your transcripts, anything that's going
[00:20:01.340]to appear on your official transcript, you want to make sure that you're pulling that
[00:20:04.960]in.
[00:20:05.960]So like for UNL, sometimes if you've had community college, they might pull -- that might appear
[00:20:10.560]on your official transcript, so you want to make sure that you're pulling in all of those.
[00:20:14.240]A lot of times they'll start by asking for an unofficial transcript.
[00:20:17.260]And then you have to submit in eventually an official transcript.
[00:20:21.560]So also make sure that you know how to do that process.
[00:20:24.520]After you leave, you can go into MI-RED to pull an unofficial transcript.
[00:20:28.040]And then I actually don't know the process of pulling an official transcript from UNL.
[00:20:32.140]Yeah, so you'll find a request for an official transcript on MI-RED.
[00:20:37.240]Typically, if you're going to send an official transcript to another school, it may cost you a little bit.
[00:20:42.020]It's usually not too much, but that is like one thing to consider as a possible fee.
[00:20:46.960]I think mine was like eight to ten dollars for my undergrad to get it submitted to UNL.
[00:20:52.860]And then, yes, the last bullet point, make sure that you give it enough time in order to reach UNL or whatever university you're applying to.
[00:21:01.980]Not all schools require the GRE. UNL does not require the GRE.
[00:21:07.280]I've done, I'm working on a second degree and I've never taken it, so go me.
[00:21:11.980]Some schools may still require it, so make sure that you are giving
[00:21:16.660]yourself ample time to study for it, that you're giving yourself ample time
[00:21:19.860]to take it, potentially retake it if you know that you're not a strong test taker.
[00:21:24.000]So you want to make sure that you give yourself ample time.
[00:21:27.160]Brooke, do you have anything about the GRE?
[00:21:30.160]Because I don't, yeah. I didn't take it because it wasn't required.
[00:21:36.160]Recommendation letters, these are the people that you're going to be reaching out to to get recommendation letters.
[00:21:43.160]Or other bosses, your advisor if you've worked really closely
[00:21:46.360]with an advisor. Make sure up here Emma put three weeks.
[00:21:50.860]I would give them even four weeks. I would give them as much notice as you potentially can.
[00:21:56.760]And then don't be scared to remind them like, hey,
[00:21:59.760]are you going to have that recommendation letter ready for me in two weeks?
[00:22:03.260]Because we might forget things. So typically you want to provide some sort of description of where you're applying for,
[00:22:10.860]your interest in that position. Some might even ask you for you like a copy of your CV
[00:22:16.060]or your personal statement just to kind of make sure that you're all aligning everything together.
[00:22:21.600]And so those are great things to have on hand. I actually had a professor once who had a premade sheet where you just filled in like,
[00:22:28.300]this is what I'm doing, this is why I'm interested in blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[00:22:32.400]And of course, always remember to do a thank you note.
[00:22:35.320]I would recommend a handwritten thank you note if that's still a thing that people do.
[00:22:39.060]But that's what I did for my recommenders versus like an e-card or something like that.
[00:22:45.760]And when you do reach out, recommendation letters can take a little bit of time if people
[00:22:51.860]are busy.
[00:22:52.860]So it is really helpful sometimes like in that e-mail or talking to them, listing what
[00:22:56.720]position you're looking to go to, like what's the program, what are some things that you
[00:23:01.200]hope they'd highlight just because that helps them kind of narrow it down to what you're
[00:23:05.420]looking for.
[00:23:08.200]And one thing I forgot to mention that Brooke reminded me of.
[00:23:11.340]Also tell them when it's due and don't be scared to give them a due week -- due date
[00:23:15.460]that's a week earlier than when you actually need it.
[00:23:18.360]I've done that for a couple of people so that way when they go, "I haven't done it yet,"
[00:23:22.580]you're like, "Okay, you still have like three days."
[00:23:24.800]So Brooke kind of touched on this a little bit already, but there's different ways to
[00:23:30.140]fund your graduate program.
[00:23:32.180]So where's the slide?
[00:23:34.860]This is the slide that I'm looking for.
[00:23:36.720]So we typically have -- you can have a teaching assistantship, which is where you are contracted
[00:23:41.120]to teach certain classes as a TA.
[00:23:44.160]Um.
[00:23:45.160]You have research assistantships, where you are asked to do certain work on certain research
[00:23:50.160]projects.
[00:23:51.160]You have graduate assistantships, where typically you're somehow employed by your department
[00:23:55.680]or the university to fulfill certain roles.
[00:23:58.780]So like an example of that one is I was actually outreach coordinator for my assistantship,
[00:24:03.320]so I coordinated outreach for the entomology department, versus most of our other students
[00:24:09.400]were actually research assistantships.
[00:24:11.380]Um.
[00:24:12.380]They're -- typically these come with some sort of tuition waiver.
[00:24:14.860]So, Brooke kind of touched on this already and actually might pass it off to you to touch
[00:24:18.680]on it more.
[00:24:19.680]Um.
[00:24:20.680]And then there are sometimes fellowships, which is some sort of additional money that
[00:24:24.300]you could apply for.
[00:24:25.300]It looks nice on a resume or a CV, um, and that's just kind of extra money either to
[00:24:29.360]pay for your project or in your pocket.
[00:24:31.100]Did I forget anything?
[00:24:33.080]Okay.
[00:24:34.080]You touched on this a lot already, so I appreciate that.
[00:24:39.060]So, just to kind of summarize it all, finding a perfect program takes time.
[00:24:44.560]It takes resources.
[00:24:45.560]So, don't be scared to start that process early.
[00:24:48.680]Or if you're a senior, don't be scared if you haven't started that process yet.
[00:24:53.580]Graduate school is a huge time commitment.
[00:24:55.460]It's a huge financial commitment.
[00:24:56.840]So again, don't take it lightly on whether or not it is something that you want to pursue.
[00:25:03.040]That's all I got.
[00:25:04.040]That's all she wrote.
[00:25:05.040]Yeah.
[00:25:06.040]I guess the last thing I want to say is that when it does come to grad school, there is
[00:25:11.300]a lot of flexibility and time for you to kind of figure out what you are.
[00:25:14.260]Interested in and kind of making those things aligned for you.
[00:25:18.780]Like I was very interested in wildlife and conservation.
[00:25:22.100]I got very into ornithology.
[00:25:24.900]I have a bachelor's in fisheries and wildlife and also in classical studies because I really
[00:25:29.200]loved what I did there and did like a lot of event planning.
[00:25:31.960]So when I was lucky enough that with my contact Sarah Wynn had randomly sent and said, hey,
[00:25:38.520]this position might interest you as a mix between working with like natural resources
[00:25:43.060]and also a bit of like event planning.
[00:25:43.960]And that's how I found Mark, and it was kind of a good mix
[00:25:47.400]of different things I'm interested in.
[00:25:48.860]It was working with the water leaders, so more of a water aspect.
[00:25:52.520]That was something I never thought I would be interested in, and I ended up loving it.
[00:25:55.940]So just because you don't have like a full background maybe in one area doesn't keep you
[00:26:00.720]from being able to apply that to a master's or a Ph.D. I mean, I went from like wildlife
[00:26:07.300]and ornithology and water and all that, that my master's topic was curiosity
[00:26:12.100]and transformational leadership in women.
[00:26:13.660]There is sometimes a lot of room for what you want to do.
[00:26:18.380]And sometimes you do come into a project where they already have, hey, this is what you're
[00:26:22.920]going to be working on and sometimes like that's really easy and fun and you know what it is you're
[00:26:26.400]going into but sometimes you get to kind of build that project yourself with your advisor and what
[00:26:31.000]you're finding really interesting while going through grad school I forgot there's one more
[00:26:36.460]slide so these are two more slides so again to highlight so at SNR we have the masters of applied
[00:26:43.900]science the masters of science and natural resources and then a PhD program in natural
[00:26:48.100]resource sciences these are all the different specializations that Brooke kind of talked about
[00:26:53.100]and you can find them all on the website and then there's Brooke's information up there in case you
[00:26:57.540]haven't met her she's awesome and then we have all of our information so most of you know Sarah or
[00:27:04.240]Kenneth they're great contacts most of you know me already so if you don't have our contact
[00:27:09.300]information there it is with Brooke's information as well all right yeah and if you are looking for
[00:27:16.060]me I am up on the 9th
[00:27:18.080]floor in 9-11 I'm in person Monday through Thursday but also there is like a link in my
[00:27:23.660]email signature so you can set up a zoom or an in-person appointment with me whenever it works
[00:27:28.080]for you all right so can you all first start by just introducing yourselves like your name
[00:27:33.140]your research and then I guess what program you took part in for our two graduate students
[00:27:39.340]hi everyone my name is Katie Campbell I am a fourth year PhD student
[00:27:48.060]here in SNR I am studying different factors whether that's hormones social interaction
[00:27:56.740]diet body condition and how those relate to fertility in male elephants hi my name is
[00:28:05.520]Caitlin does there I actually just graduated as a master student from here in SNR in August so I'm
[00:28:11.820]about to go start my new job soon so I'm kind of giving you the perspective from a recently graduate
[00:28:18.040]grad student kind of what the master's program side of it was like and my program was a little
[00:28:22.920]bit different it was split between SNR and agronomy and Hort and so I looked at virtual
[00:28:27.920]fencing and how it affects beef cattle stress and then I also looked at it from a wildlife
[00:28:32.600]conservation perspective how we can use the new technology to manage for wildlife spaces
[00:28:37.500]on agricultural landscapes hello I'm Mark Burback faculty here in the school natural
[00:28:43.980]resources I'm an environmental social scientist I work in the area of
[00:28:48.020]human dimensions and natural resource management and so because of that I'm
[00:28:52.040]the contact for our human dimension specialization and as Brooke mentioned
[00:28:57.260]she was one of my graduate students one stellar student oh well my PhD I won't
[00:29:09.320]mention when my master when I did my bachelors well I've got all three of my
[00:29:13.160]degrees from UNL by the way so I've been here a long time I've experienced under
[00:29:18.000]grad masters and PhD work here so I'm well familiar with the system yeah and I
[00:29:26.820]guess one thing I want to add sometimes people come to SNR and stay in
[00:29:30.240]SNR I have been in and out for 10 years between my bachelor's masters and
[00:29:35.280]working here so I think that has a little bit to say about the kind of
[00:29:38.940]community and people we have around here too so I'm gonna open the floor who has
[00:29:45.720]questions
[00:29:47.980]if you don't then I have to ask a question oh no oh no this question is
[00:30:01.120]mainly for Katie because Katie did her masters at a different University and
[00:30:06.940]maybe she would like to just comment real quickly on comparing and
[00:30:10.960]contrasting her experience there for her masters and then coming here for a PhD
[00:30:17.960]yeah so I did my masters at UNO in their biology department a couple differences
[00:30:28.020]with that was it was a much smaller department they didn't have a PhD
[00:30:32.520]program smaller amount of grad students faculty all that less classes to choose
[00:30:42.960]from that's definitely something that I noticed I actually took a few classes
[00:30:47.940]UNL during my masters as well which was nice that I had that opportunity the one
[00:30:54.420]thing that I did appreciate about the biology department was they had quite a
[00:30:59.520]few opportunities for teaching for the T for graduate students most students
[00:31:06.180]had a teaching assistantship teaching biology lab sections and so that was
[00:31:11.980]really nice because we got that experience to teach we got our tuition
[00:31:16.480]waived that way and then we also
[00:31:17.920]received a stipend that way but then coming here much larger department more
[00:31:24.940]opportunities more people I've really appreciated SNR I love the faculty and
[00:31:31.960]staff and all the students here it's been a great department very welcoming
[00:31:36.460]so yeah that was definitely a big difference there I went to University of
[00:31:41.140]Illinois for my undergrad so that's pretty comparable to UNL large
[00:31:45.580]department
[00:31:47.900]and so yeah I definitely appreciate going to a school for my PhD where
[00:31:52.560]there's a larger school more opportunities more classes to choose from
[00:31:59.000]and then also more classes in different schools like animal science and stuff to
[00:32:04.620]choose from too so as I kind of talked about my sort of like journey kind of
[00:32:14.860]figuring out what I want to do kind of like went back and forth a lot
[00:32:17.880]so I guess to the panel what kind of inspired you to want to go to grad
[00:32:22.700]school and kind of how did that look of kind of finding your interest in
[00:32:26.760]getting to where you are now
[00:32:28.000]yeah so I started my undergrad I thought I was going to go to vet school I was an
[00:32:38.100]animal science major that was kind of my plan all along
[00:32:41.360]and then it was a couple different experiences that transitioned me to a
[00:32:47.860]grad school route instead the first was I studied abroad in Botswana one summer
[00:32:54.160]very similar study abroad program that John takes his students to South Africa
[00:32:59.520]so it's very similar to that we were doing wildlife research camping in the
[00:33:04.360]bush it was incredible but it was really my first experience doing like
[00:33:09.520]hands-on research and I found that I really enjoyed that and so then when I
[00:33:15.060]returned to campus I knew okay I kind of
[00:33:17.840]want to feel out different things and get some more research experience and so
[00:33:23.340]at that point I was just trying everything I worked on a cow farm for a
[00:33:29.120]semester turns out I did not love that I worked in a research lab for three years
[00:33:35.000]where we were studying fertility and mice and I really enjoyed that aspect
[00:33:40.180]and the lab work and everything I worked at an animal shelter for a while and so
[00:33:45.600]I really just kind of tried different
[00:33:47.820]opportunities that were available to us to see if you know it's vet school
[00:33:52.600]really where I want to end up or is this something I want to pursue and so
[00:33:56.540]together with the lab experience and then the study abroad experience
[00:34:00.040]I knew that I wanted to do something with research something with wildlife
[00:34:04.260]conservation and that's what eventually led me on
[00:34:08.840]the path here yeah I guess so I did my undergrad here
[00:34:14.580]in SNR so I was a fisheries and wildlife major and I
[00:34:17.800]originally wanted to go out after graduation and do the tech jobs and
[00:34:23.000]travel all over the country and that was kind of
[00:34:25.080]the gold plan like coming into things and then the more
[00:34:28.440]I got into the research side of things and kind of got into some of those upper
[00:34:32.720]level classes the wildlife research side really
[00:34:35.480]started to kind of pique my interest and so I participated in the UCARE
[00:34:39.860]program under Dr. Little here in the School of Natural Resources
[00:34:43.080]and I loved every single second of tracking deer movements and
[00:34:47.780]hunter pressure and all that kind of stuff and that
[00:34:50.800]really kind of laid the foundation where okay
[00:34:52.800]I could see myself going into research and so that's where I kind of started
[00:34:58.000]looking at the graduate school side of things
[00:34:59.800]I did not think I wanted to stay with SNR for grad school I talked to Andy and
[00:35:04.300]he gave me names of people all over the country to
[00:35:06.840]reach out to and this was right after COVID so I got a lot of
[00:35:09.880]you're great but we don't have money right now you're great COVID just
[00:35:13.240]happened and so I started looking here at the School of
[00:35:17.760]Natural Resources and talking to more people and my undergrad
[00:35:21.020]my minor was actually in grassland ecology and like conservation
[00:35:25.140]or grassland ecology and management and so I started talking to some professors
[00:35:29.760]over there and they introduced me to my now I guess
[00:35:33.160]former current advisor Mitch Stevenson and he goes well it's not necessarily
[00:35:37.820]wildlife based but I have this cattle project and I
[00:35:41.320]grew up on an ag setting and I was like you know what this actually could be
[00:35:44.720]something I could get really interested in
[00:35:47.740]and I started the project I had one summer under my belt and I was like
[00:35:51.600]okay I like this but I'm missing a wildlife aspect like there was something
[00:35:55.540]about it that still felt like it was missing
[00:35:57.240]and so then I reached out to Andy and we came up with the second half of my
[00:36:01.840]projects which was the game camera monitoring
[00:36:04.060]on the ranch and looking at how virtual fencing could also help wildlife
[00:36:07.200]and so I'm kind of one of those examples of where I started a project
[00:36:11.880]and then I got to kind of morph it as I went through it and
[00:36:15.520]it became it's like your child
[00:36:17.720]by the time you graduate with it like a little toddler that you've like nursed
[00:36:21.260]up into this big thing and I loved every single second of it and yeah I wouldn't
[00:36:29.060]recommend grad school to anybody but it is a big time commitment so well my path
[00:36:37.180]was untraditional about everything about it and I was a first-gen undergrad and I
[00:36:44.360]thought getting my bachelor's degree was the culmination everything they
[00:36:47.700]there's no more reason to go on after that no one else my family had ever even
[00:36:51.320]got a bachelor's degree so that was it and so I never did what you're doing
[00:36:55.520]here reached out and investigated going to graduate school I graduated my
[00:36:59.360]bachelor's degree got a full-time job working for a professor helping his
[00:37:03.900]graduate students with their field work and shortly after doing that I realized
[00:37:07.640]God you know I could do this they're not particularly any brighter than I am or
[00:37:13.320]they're not elite or they're not these people that I thought go on to graduate
[00:37:17.680]school they're like me so I asked my professor that I was working for how do
[00:37:22.120]I do this I'm interested in going on to get a graduate degree and we had been
[00:37:26.240]working with the South Platte Natural Resource District in Sydney on some work
[00:37:31.420]out there and I had a connection to them and I was interested in getting a
[00:37:34.660]master's degree in planning and he said well ask them if they would
[00:37:41.680]fund your assistantship write them a proposal to if I do my thesis is their
[00:37:47.660]groundwater quality management plan would they fund my assistantship and
[00:37:52.080]they said yes so they paid for my assistantship and my thesis was their
[00:37:55.820]groundwater quality management plan so that's how I got started and then there
[00:37:59.720]was a gap of about 12 years where I worked for the Nebraska Water Center
[00:38:02.960]again after getting my master's up this is it that's the culmination no one's
[00:38:06.860]ever gone any farther than this I've gone two steps farther than anyone my
[00:38:10.180]family has ever gone but then after a while I realized that working in
[00:38:14.840]agriculture and water quality issues that
[00:38:17.640]it was a people problem and that I needed to understand people better to
[00:38:22.320]find a solution to our problems so I went back and got a PhD in leadership
[00:38:25.620]and here I am
[00:38:29.300]so I'm currently an undergrad student I'm currently a junior and I'm thinking
[00:38:47.620]about doing a direct to PhD program because I'm pretty sure I want to get a
[00:38:51.680]PhD and I've had some people strongly recommend it and some people who are
[00:38:55.660]strongly against it so I would like to know if any of you guys or any of the
[00:39:00.320]professors have any advice or words of wisdom about doing a direct to PhD or
[00:39:05.700]maybe going for a master's first and then doing a PhD
[00:39:09.300]so I remember I was kind of in your same boat and I said
[00:39:17.600]I really want to do my PhD because I knew down the line I wanted to either be
[00:39:24.640]a professor or work in a zoo research lab and conduct my own research and for
[00:39:30.100]the career I was hoping for I needed to get my PhD to do that it was also
[00:39:37.060]strongly recommended that I start with my master's and part of that was the
[00:39:43.760]co-advisor I work with now she's based in
[00:39:47.580]Omaha and so UNO only had a master's program available and so that's what I
[00:39:53.220]started with but I knew right away that PhD was what I was going to end up
[00:39:58.560]transitioning into I don't regret doing my master's first I think it was
[00:40:04.060]extremely helpful especially if it's something that you can build off of for
[00:40:09.540]your PhD like my master's project has helped me with my PhD research so it's
[00:40:15.300]not like I'm doing something completely different now
[00:40:17.560]and so it was nice to start with that kind of get the basics down of grad
[00:40:24.540]school and there are a lot of programs too where you know here at SNR I don't
[00:40:29.940]think it would be too difficult to transition from a master's to a PhD like
[00:40:34.680]during your your time if you start off with a master's and the classes pretty
[00:40:40.340]much transfer over and everything but if it's something that you're super
[00:40:44.580]passionate about and you know like this is what I want to do this is
[00:40:47.540]what I want to study this is where I want to end up and a PhD is going to get
[00:40:50.760]me there I would recommend just going in with that but you will find a lot of
[00:40:58.480]people don't agree with that but yeah as long as it's something that you're
[00:41:04.860]passionate about and you have a strong interest in then I don't think there's a
[00:41:09.500]problem with that I was gonna say I was like I used my master's program also like
[00:41:14.440]if you would have told me I was gonna go to a master's on cows I would have laughed at
[00:41:17.520]you because I wanted to do some sort of big wildlife game project something like that
[00:41:21.680]and so my master's project allowed me to kind of find I guess my spot in the field I realized I
[00:41:27.840]might not be solely ag or solely agriculture I kind of want to be in this gap in the middle
[00:41:31.920]and so that's what these last two years have allowed me to learn about myself and just about
[00:41:36.320]like the research process in general because grad school is a completely different ball game from
[00:41:40.740]undergrad is definitely like something I learned coming out of the gate so I agree with Katie if
[00:41:46.980]you know
[00:41:47.500]it's what you want to do and you like and you're confident in your abilities and your adaptability
[00:41:51.580]and stuff like that I say go for it there's also someone here in the School of Natural Resources
[00:41:56.620]that's currently doing that right now in Andy's research lab she graduated from undergrad and
[00:42:01.660]went straight to her PhD program and Andy's in the back of the room so he could get you
[00:42:05.260]her contact information I bet she'd be happy to talk to you about it
[00:42:08.980]first of all going from bachelors to PhD without doing the masters is rare now
[00:42:17.480]many do that and not many professors are open to that it does happen in some
[00:42:25.580]particularly in some fields and so like I said it's rare and my own thoughts are
[00:42:33.260]generally if I have a if I have some funding or looking for a PhD PhD with
[00:42:39.900]the Masters I'm more likely to be able to evaluate them better than some of the
[00:42:43.820]bachelor's degree so there's
[00:42:47.460]there's a lot of advantages of getting the Masters first even if you're certain
[00:42:51.780]that you want to go on to get a PhD that route because and also thinking a PhD is
[00:42:56.640]90 credit hours regardless of you have the Masters not if you have a Masters
[00:43:00.980]usually 30 hours of those are accepted towards your 90 so if you're getting a
[00:43:06.420]PhD you're essentially doing a Masters anyway you've got to still do those 30
[00:43:10.680]credit hours that you would get for a Master's degree you're just not in
[00:43:13.520]getting the degree in between the bachelor's and a PhD
[00:43:17.440]so so you really to convince me that you're gonna make the leap from a
[00:43:22.620]bachelor's to a PhD is a little much bigger hurdle than if you already got
[00:43:28.680]the Master's degree. Dennis has got a want to add to that okay perfect I'll go
[00:43:37.120]back there and yeah one thing I do want to say with SNR if you are going into a
[00:43:40.680]PhD you can apply the courses from your master's degree from other university
[00:43:44.700]towards your credits so that's a little less work you have to do if
[00:43:47.420]you take that kind of transition we can talk a lot more about that but I'll
[00:43:54.920]share a story kind of building on what Mac said a little bit I was put on a
[00:44:00.440]search committee recently we had to talk candidates right one did work what you
[00:44:07.460]thought you're talking about right now from a bachelor's to a doctorate one
[00:44:11.600]went through everything bachelor's degree master's degree in a PhD
[00:44:17.400]and we had to choose one right at the other day we chose the one who had the
[00:44:23.280]masters they were out there like at power more or less I think there's also
[00:44:28.740]an opportunity to actually get your degree your master's degree whilst
[00:44:33.720]pursuing the doctorate I may be wrong I had a lot made at the University of
[00:44:38.960]Washington who did the same thing in year two he was able to do some kind of
[00:44:46.320]a long essay or something
[00:44:47.380]like that turn it in and he actually got a diploma so he had a master's degree so
[00:44:52.240]you want to look into that right well as you're going on with your plan you could
[00:44:57.560]still get a master's degree I don't know how UNL or SNR is gonna be flexible to
[00:45:04.500]do that but yeah just look into that I think it's worth having that diploma in
[00:45:09.460]hand that you've completed a master's degree it helps you
[00:45:17.360]yeah that's really good points that were mentioned and I would concur with Mark I
[00:45:23.660]think the you know it's pretty rare that you have somebody go directly into PhD
[00:45:28.580]as Kayla mentioned I do have a student Grace Schuster who did that she was an
[00:45:32.840]undergrad here and then eventually went on a PhD with me but a very rare
[00:45:37.520]circumstances that arise and to Mark's point too I think you're already credit
[00:45:41.920]wise it's it's you're already gonna have to work towards that you have all these
[00:45:45.620]credits ninety credits you have to get to
[00:45:47.340]you doing that masters I think it really helps to learn about the science
[00:45:51.780]you know in that process you know and so master really helped with that process
[00:45:55.100]first and it's more a little more hands-on you know from your advisor
[00:45:58.460]standpoint first when you're a PhD it's kind of like hey you're you can kind of
[00:46:03.220]run this project and we'll give you a little more freedom and kind of figuring
[00:46:06.540]out what you want to do and so I think it's me bottom line is everybody's
[00:46:10.420]different and we kind of all have kind of and so I think it's good to sit down
[00:46:13.620]with a you know some advisors that you have here an individual
[00:46:17.320]and just kind of talk through like does this make sense or not
[00:46:20.680]for me and kind of my career aspirations where you want to go on to
[00:46:24.380]so perfect and since we are running a little bit short on time I think the
[00:46:29.940]last thing I'll ask of the panel is maybe like in
[00:46:32.160]30 seconds or less maybe what's like one piece of advice or one like key
[00:46:36.680]thing you might say to someone looking towards going to graduate school
[00:46:39.720]jump jump in excuse me as you've seen in Bridget's presentation
[00:46:47.300]applying graduate school it's a lot like applying for a job it's a lot of
[00:46:50.580]similar steps and you've heard the saying that it's not what you know but
[00:46:55.200]who you know graduate school it's a very similar
[00:46:58.360]analogy is make a connection talk to people reach out
[00:47:02.960]introduce yourself instead of that's you get a leg up than just a cold call or
[00:47:08.360]an application that I've from somebody I've never heard of
[00:47:10.900]before from someplace I've never heard of before
[00:47:13.220]as opposed to oh yeah I remember this meeting this person at a conference
[00:47:17.280]or I know their advisor and they've mentioned this person before something
[00:47:21.660]like that so those things matter well Mark took what I basically the exact
[00:47:29.160]same thing I think it's a lot of and maybe not necessarily who you know but
[00:47:32.840]like the professors you form connections with here at SNR when I was emailing
[00:47:36.900]people all over the country I think I named dropped Andy in about every single
[00:47:39.900]one of my emails just because it was the list he gave me and even just that
[00:47:44.600]little foot in the door they were like okay I know where the students coming
[00:47:47.260]from obviously if they say they're a reputable student then they might look
[00:47:52.260]at you a little bit closer than what they would someone yeah kind of randomly
[00:47:55.900]out there and don't give up it's a hard process I got told no a lot of times and
[00:48:01.760]I ended up finding the perfect project here and I got to stay in SNR and be
[00:48:06.360]around all of my friends and the faculty that I was around for the first four
[00:48:09.500]years and I loved it so the project is out there it just might take a couple
[00:48:13.980]years to find coming out of the gate
[00:48:17.240]yeah I think the biggest thing that I always tell people and kind of going off
[00:48:22.180]of what Caitlin said is don't be afraid to wait for something you're passionate
[00:48:28.080]about because I mean grad school is long it's hard it's difficult I'm going on
[00:48:34.600]like six years of it and it doesn't feel that awful to me because I absolutely
[00:48:40.420]love what I do and I couldn't imagine doing something that I wasn't really
[00:48:46.480]passionate about
[00:48:47.220]for this long because then it can be a terrible experience and so yeah don't be
[00:48:52.820]afraid to wait for a project that comes along that you're really interested in
[00:48:57.240]because it will happen and it takes time and knowing people but yeah I think
[00:49:03.680]that's the best advice I could give well thank you so much to our panel for
[00:49:08.800]coming can we give them a quick little round of applause if you guys want to
[00:49:17.200]now to finish up a few of our current grad students are quickly going to if
[00:49:23.760]you guys want to come up Kiani Sarah Catherine Ethan if you're still around
[00:49:27.020]we'll have them talk really quickly about who they are what program they're
[00:49:31.900]in and what their research is that they're currently doing they will be
[00:49:36.500]staying afterwards for a little bit if you have questions about them if you're
[00:49:39.700]kind of interested in that as well so you can use them as a resource but we
[00:49:43.180]also will be offering a lab tour with
[00:49:47.180]Andy little who Caitlin was talking about to go take a check I'll look at
[00:49:50.960]the awesome lab want to go down the line and just quickly introduce yourself
[00:49:59.780]your program and like what your research is okay hi I'm Katherine I'm in my fifth
[00:50:10.040]year of my PhD here in school natural resources my research focuses on using
[00:50:15.860]remote sensing data
[00:50:17.160]airborne to try to estimate characteristics about biodiversity and
[00:50:22.620]grasslands my study sites at barter brothers ranch in the Sandhills and my
[00:50:27.720]advisors are doctors John Gammon and Daniel Uden hello I am Sarah Brock
[00:50:35.760]Contreras I'm a third year PhD student my research focus is looking at impacts
[00:50:41.580]of citizen science on stakeholder decision-making and behaviors and
[00:50:47.140]my advisor is Dr. Dan Snow with the water sciences lab but my research is
[00:50:52.680]interdisciplinary and so I look at water quality as well as some of the
[00:50:56.160]human dimensions aspect hi my name is Keani David I am a second year master's
[00:51:02.320]student I'm currently researching the regeneration dynamics of fever trees in
[00:51:07.340]South Africa Kruger or Kruger National Park South Africa my advisor is Lord he
[00:51:13.240]was here earlier but he left and
[00:51:17.120]I'm Ethan Dittmer second-year PhD student here at UNL I guess I described
[00:51:26.660]my research is a mallard ecology projects it's based in southeast Kansas
[00:51:31.340]so I'm deploying GPS transmitters on mallards during the fall and winter down
[00:51:35.180]there and we're looking at a variety of their I guess ecological choices so how
[00:51:40.860]they select habitat movements in regards to hunting pressures and stuff like that
[00:51:46.160]my advisor here is
[00:51:47.100]Mark Patiska thank you guys so much and like I said they'll hang out for a
[00:51:54.820]little bit if you want to talk them a little bit about maybe if they have any
[00:51:57.840]advice for you if you're interested in their research or anything like that you
[00:52:01.680]can meet with Andy right in the back here to go on that lab tour I mean it's
[00:52:06.120]a fun to get a kind of check out some of those private spaces that students
[00:52:08.980]always don't get to see and I guess I just want to say that thank you guys so
[00:52:13.560]much for being here if you're interested in grad school
[00:52:17.080]definitely talk to us I think you can definitely do it I know we have some
[00:52:21.280]really bright people here in SNR so if you have questions use us as resources
[00:52:25.300]come and talk to us and don't give up I'm sure you'll find something that
[00:52:28.780]you're really interested in okay well I think that's kind of the end of this so
[00:52:34.480]yeah stay and talk or go follow Andy up there and thank you guys so much for
[00:52:37.960]coming today
[00:52:40.380]you
[00:52:42.440]Thank you.

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So You Want to Go to Graduate School

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