1. Before we start, could you please introduce yourself briefly?
Hello everyone. I'm Selena, and I graduated from Vanderbilt University in May 2021. I am majoring in HOD and MHS.
2. What's your most memorable experience in Vanderbilt? How did you find and maximize the usage of resources in Vanderbilt?
One of the most memorable memories I had at Vanderbilt was my research experience. It was part of the honors research program I had during my senior year. In fact, I wasn't very clear about which area I would like to dive into. I was just interested in that research topic. It was ab
out the education policy of inclusive education in Shanghai, China. Inclusive education means that children who were previously excluded from the education system will have the same access to the classroom as other children. This concept is widespread and well developed in the United States and many European countries. However, we still have minimal room for innovation and experience in inclusive education for China. That's why I did this research, and I truly enjoyed this experience.
3. So, how did you apply to that program? Or how did you get this chance?
Vanderbilt ha
s lots o
f research opportunities for students in different majors. My honor research program is part of the research program of HOD major. I highly recommend students who want to research to pay more attention to the official website of their major department. Many res
earch opportunities are posted to it.
For the application process, I think it starts after your junior year. Also, you can contact different professors to talk about your research plan. Professors could recommend research opportunities or help you in the future based on your interests.
4. Has COVID-19 impacted your life, work, or school? How do you feel about these effects?
I think COVID is a hard time for everyone. COVID started during my junior spring. So I stayed at Vanderbilt from my junior's break till my graduation
time. And to be honest, at the very beginning, I felt very lonely. I thought I only had myself. But as time passed by, everything seemed to go on track again. University developed different policies toward COVID-19; Students came back to campus; I finally did things I was planning to do.
Another impact COVID-19 has on me was when I was in the US, I heard one of my family members was sick. Sorry, I couldn't tell the name directly. I felt terrib
le every day, and I was anxious. I wanted to go back to China to take care of them. But, I was also making my graduate application. So it was a hard choice for me. Eventually, I chose to stay in the United States. This is part of the reason why I am now taking my gap year—COVID makes me realize how important my family means to me. I want to be there for them when they need me.
5. Why did you choose to gap, and how did you feel about it?
I didn't think about taking a gap year until graduation around April or May. Part of the reason for choosing gapping is that when I received the offer from UChi, the administration officer asked me whether I wanted to defer m
y offer to the following year. This gave me a chance to think about a gap year. And also, that's the period when I thought about what is the meaning of life. And the answer to me was not an internship, nor work and salary. It's not all these things, but it's more abo
ut connections. It's about the relationship between my family and me and those people around me. Thus I decided to gap to take care of the people I love.
I think the gap year is precious for the second question. I recommend that everybody do it. I know many people, myself included, have anxiety and uncertainty about the future - feeling like time is short. If they don't do an internship or research, they'll fall behind others. But in reality, life is short. So I think we all need time to reflect on what we want. There's no need to rush.
6. When did you start preparing for graduate school? Did you encounter any difficulties during this process of preparing for graduate school？
My graduate school application started in November of my senior year and ended around February. But if you want to prepare for graduate school, you can do many
things in advance. You can contact professors at Vanderbilt or even at many other schools to join in some research. You can also participate in more internship programs to strengthen your resume. One thing I want to make clear about this is that different majors or different types of programs have different requirements. For example, my program at the University of Chicago was a Master of Public Policy or MPP. When I applied to that program, my streng
ths were more about the experience in NGOs, particularly with social research in the social sector. But many other programs, especially in business schools, actually require a lot of years of working experience. So it's challenging for a graduate to get into an outstanding business school. That's why I think it's essential for students to know which program or which major they want to explore in the future.
Also, during your ju
nior to senior break, you can use the school's official website to find out what type of student they want. Each graduate program requires a different GRE score. You can list this information in Exc
el and make some side-by-side comparisons. One last thing you can do over the summer is to start thinking about which professors you want to write letters of recommendation for you. And since professors are busy, you'd better give them a month to prepare for your recommendation letters. So definitely think about it ahead of time. Around October, I've actually started sending out emails asking for letters of recommendation during my senior year of college. But if you want to start earlier, it is definitely great.
7. So, do you think GPA or GRE plays a vital role when you're applying to graduate school?
I think it's still the same as what I just talked about before - different programs have different requirements. But of course, a higher GPA or GRE will also show that you have the actual academic ability in your major. If you want to apply to some pre-med, law, CS, your GPA will be a little bit more important. For the GRE, different programs may look at other GRE section scores. For example, when I applied to
MPP, even though all schools have this MPP program, each school has a different focus. For example, Harvard's MPP program is challenging to get into. It just tells you that they want people to have at least three to five years of work experience, and they also put a lot of emphasis on GRE scores. But for other schools, lik
e the University of Chicago, we just want to see how high your GRE math course is. Because the GRE math score can show the applicant's math skills or coding skills, so you can see that different schools want to look at different things when they look at your GRE scores. Maybe some schools or schools only want to look at the total score, but for others, they may only want to look at a specific score.
8. Any suggestions for us？
I think the students in Vandy now must be facing or about to face a lot of pressure. But I would like to tell everyone to just relax. Because when I look
back on my four years at Vandy, I realize that the most important things for me are the great memories I have with the surrounding people, the friends, etc. If you are still struggling with your GPA or your internship, the best solution is to relax because everything will be fine in the future. Also, I would recommend that students consider a gap year. I never thought it before my senior year
, but now I feel like a gap year is one of the best choices I have made in my life. I know people who chose to take a break from school before the start of their junior year and others who decided to relax during the COVID period. I think every choice is a good choice. So don't be afraid to decide because everything will be fine in the future.
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