Briana Cobos (Neuroscience)
"This past semester, I had the opportunity to partake in the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Pre-Graduate School Mentorship program with the McNair program at Saint Edward's University. As a McNair scholar, this program was beneficial by providing guidance on the graduate school application process and demonstrating what graduate school is like. During my experience, I had the opportunity to receive advice and assistance from a graduate student within the behavioral neuroscience program at the University of Texas at Austin.
At our meetings, we also discussed what graduate school consists of and what is expected out of the students. My mentor mentioned that the characteristics of successful graduate students include: the ability to work hard, stress management, ability to get along with your lab group, enhanced writing ability, time management and the ability to have a social life at the same time.
Furthermore, my preparation for graduate school was also enhanced by the IE program providing a graduate panel for the McNair scholars. This panel was helpful because I was able to obtain a different perspective of graduate school from three other students. At the panel we were able to ask questions regarding the application process, the lifestyle of a graduate student, where each graduate student was from, and about their journey into graduate school. From the panel, I learned that some undergraduate students first attend a master's program before pursuing a doctoral degree while other go straight into pursuing a doctoral degree. With this information, I also learned the pros and cons to each path. I also had the opportunity to learn that it is common to change research topics when pursuing a doctoral degree. This made me feel a bit better about obtaining my doctoral degree, my dissertation topic and the ability to change throughout my graduate degree journey."