The Graduate Program Open House
by Robert Lawless
The Graduate English Student Association held an open house on March 31 for admitted students. A committee of graduate students, chaired by Liz Bredlau, organized the event to give prospective colleagues a glimpse of grad-student life here. Class visits, campus tours, and personal meetings with faculty were parts of the event, and the day culminated with a faculty roundtable discussion at which many professors joined with current and potential graduate students to discuss Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a fun and casual way to demonstrate the kinds of literary discussions that take place within the program.
This yearly event is one of the friendly conclusions to the recruitment process, which begins in the winter when more than 350 undergraduates from around the world apply for fewer than twenty spots. After a long period of reading applications, the department accepts a group of candidates and invites them to the open house. At this point, the current graduate students get involved by helping visitors plan their transportation and schedules, taking them to meetings and classes with professors while giving them their own perspectives on the program, and even having them stay a few nights in their own homes. “Prospective students often cite the open house as a deciding factor in their decision to come to Rutgers,” according to Ms. Bredlau, “and current graduate students always want to get involved, to support our sense of the program as a community.
Related Links
The Rutgers Graduate Program of Literatures in English |