The 9th Annual Graduate and Professional School Fair, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), took place on July 14th at the Bethesda, Maryland campus. The all-day event included plenary sessions about a variety of graduate degrees and careers including biotechnology, psychology, medicine, and public health. A range of admissions workshops, socials, and information sessions filled the day with a wide range of opportunities. In addition to the organized sessions, well over 100 graduate programs from diverse universities were present with booths, information, and representatives. In between plenary sessions, the representatives of each program and university offered program specific information, as well as a point of contact for interested students to engage in more in depth conversations while making key decisions about which programs to apply. Although the fair was held specifically for interns with NIH, any interested student was welcome to attend. Both of us: Victoria Mason, an undergraduate intern from George Mason, and Megan McIntosh, a graduate intern from UC Berkeley attended the fair. Below we offer each of our perspectives on how the graduate and professional fair benefited us below.
From Victoria Mason:
On Thursday July 14th, I attended the 9th Annual NIH Graduate and Professional School Fair in Bethesda, Maryland. This fair afforded me the opportunity to interact and network with public health school representatives regarding next steps after college. I am planning to attend graduate school to obtain a Master’s degree, in either Public Health or Health Care Management, so that I can become a hospital administrator. I found the fair helpful because it exposed me to the different options and pathways from which I can choose. One particular session that I found insightful was entitled “Public Health: From Admissions to Career Opportunities.” There was a group of panelists made up of professors and admissions representatives from public health schools across the nation, including Rutgers University, Columbia University, University of Utah, and The Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University. From this session, I received advice on applying to graduate school, preparing for graduate school, as well as the plethora of job opportunities in the public health field.
One recurring theme that I picked up from the session was the diversity of graduate programs in public health, including the background of the students within the program. Someone’s undergraduate degree does not have to be restricted to science or health focused majors in order to be admitted to graduate programs in public health. Although my major is Health Administration, and is in the College of Health at my university, I found it interesting that many experiences are accepted and welcomed. Having an understanding that my colleagues are all going to have different perspectives, frameworks and ideas and that we will all collaborate and gain a better understanding of each other and the field is great to keep in mind. Everyone brings something to the table. This is something that has been emphasized in my undergraduate studies and I am excited that this is valued in graduate studies as well. The transition into graduate school will require hard work and diligence. It will also take dedication to research the program(s) which will best fit my future path. Attending this session helped me get a more clear idea of exactly what I want to study in order to meet my desired career goal. For example, the admissions representative from Columbia University stated that if you have an interest in health care administration, it may be wise to work towards an MHA (Masters of Health Administration)because it is more focused on the business of healthcare and graduates will be prepared to manage health systems. Although I already had an idea of how to get where I want to go in the near future, it was helpful to hear from these public health representatives about the graduate programs available in my field of interest. Attending the NIH Graduate & Professional Fair was an insightful experience from which I greatly benefited from.
From Megan McIntosh:
Personally, the most helpful session of the 2016 NIH Graduate and Professional School Fair was a plenary talk entitled, “It’s your life: Design it wisely” by Dr. Sharon Milgram of the NIH. Dr. Milgram shared her career path and how she transitioned from being a physical therapist, to being a professor, and then to working as a director with NIH. What was most powerful about Dr. Milgram’s talk was her genuine and meaningful advice on how to cultivate our own career paths.
Dr. Milgram touched on many pieces of strong advice such as learning how to explore career options, taking advantage of educational opportunities, and the importance of successfully building a network. Reminders of this information is always an asset, however the pieces of advice that I found to be most profound were her “universal truths.”
First, Dr. Milgram spoke about the degrees to which we all internalize messages about STEM careers and struggle to live up to expectations set by those around us. She followed up on this by sharing one of the most powerful messages of the day: “The only person who needs to be happy with your career decision is you; others get to weigh in, but you get to decide.”
As a graduate student, I am constantly aware that there are important decisions to be made in the very near future. What kind of career do I want to pursue after I finish my degree? Will I need a doctoral degree to get there? What skills do I need to focus on learning now in order to best set me up for the future? Although I have been lucky to be surrounded with a network of supportive peers, mentors, and family, each person has an opinion about how I can best navigate these upcoming decisions.
It is not always easy to make decisions that may come with some level of perceived disappointment. It is even harder to walk into these decisions with the notion that the decisions I make now will not limit my ability to change my path later. In many ways, the pressure of these decisions is artificially created, and embracing the opportunity to gain experience that will eventually lead me to the right career should be a positive part of the process.
Dr. Milgram’s last universal truth was to explore the power of resiliency, and to remind us that building our own resiliency requires time, effort, and practice. In a world of rejection letters, this advice really stood out as a reminder to give myself the gift of building resiliency, so that I may navigate my future without being overwhelmed by false starts, missed opportunities, or rejection. All in all, Dr. Milgram’s plenary set the stage for the rest of the day, and reset my frame of mind allowing me to take advantage of the wealth of resources at the graduate fair. This experience reinvigorated my excitement for discovering the next step in my public health career and gave me a wealth of knowledge to absorb as I begin to plan my next steps.
Overall, the 2016 NIH Graduate and Professional School Fair was an invaluable experience that further equipped us for our futures in the field of public health. It was an opportunity that provided helpful advice and broadened both of our perspectives looking ahead. We are grateful that the Forum has encouraged interns to attend events in the DC area like this that allow us to grow and develop both academically and professionally.
