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to Student Advice Transitioning between professional world and graduate school
by Lynn Vecsernyes ( evecsern@umich.edu ), Literacy, Language & Culture - 1/20/2004
"I was teaching before I came to graduate school. I had been teaching for 20 years and it was difficult to come to college because there was a transition in the level of performance that was expected of you as a graduate student. Not that I didn't always want to give my best in the classroom, but I didn't always have someone critiquing me or looking over my shoulder. I felt like I was totally immersed into something new and initially I felt awkward in class. I would have liked to take a class to prepare me for my coursework especially for the writing that I would be asked to do."
"One thing I have learned and I constantly am reminding myself of, this is that you really have to believe in yourself and your abilities. You really wouldn't be here if you didn't have what it takes to succeed."
Transitioning between professional world and graduate school
by Penny Pasque ( pasque@umich.edu ), CSHPE - 1/20/2004
"It was a big transition going from being the director of a program to being a graduate research assistant and first year student where, in a sense, there is nice anonymity, but you're not looked to, you're not asked for information in the same way as when you are a working professional. I have found working at the National Forum, that I am being looked to more and more and asked to do things with the caveat that people realize I'm a student and I have classes and other things to give my time to. Overall, things have worked out really well."
