Psychology Graduate Student Nairn Ramirez-Esparza
This is the second time I participated in the Pre-Graduate School
Internship. I must say it has been a great experience and I am planning
to
do it next semester again. Isabel Eguez was my intern this semester.
She
is studying Social Work and she was debating whether to pursue a PhD
in
Social Work or apply to Law School. Another thing that was affecting
Isabel's decision was lack of funding. Thus, during the internship
Isabel
worked on first, trying to decide what to study in the future, and
second,
how she could overcome the problem about funding support.
During the semester she decided to apply to a Masters in Social Work and observe whether she would like to stay for the PhD or then, with a better CV, apply to Law School. Isabel did extensive research in order to decide what to do with her future. For example, she had interviews with professors and graduate students in Social Work program and in the Law School. She also did online research about the types of jobs she would engage in after graduating. She researched about how much she would be earning and where she would be living. Finally, she did a list of pros and cons, and she decided that after her masters she is going to Law School in the area of Public Interest.
Once Isabel made a decision she started researching about funding, and she was surprised to find out about all the types of fellowships she can apply in the future. She now has a excel file with all the fellowships listed and the application deadlines. During the internship we also worked on her research statement and CV to apply to the master's program in Social Work at UT-Austin. In sum, I can see how Isabel benefited from participating in the program, and needles to say, for me it was also extremely beneficial. Isabel helped me enormously in my dissertation study.
The aspect of the program that I value the most is that it encourages minorities and first generation students to work closely with a graduate student. I wasn't aware of how minorities or first generation students have a harder time pursuing their personal goals. It is clear for me now that if a graduate student serves as a guide or gives a push to the student, it might be possible that more minorities will go to graduate school. This will change many things. If more minorities have graduate education, they will change the future for their own good and the good of their country.