Grad School!

Hello everyone! So, I've decided to start keeping a blog to document what I'm doing for graduate school. I have been blessed to have so many people in my life who are interested in where I'm going and what I'm doing. Yet the curse of that is that I can't remember to update everyone consistently, especially since people are living in Oregon and Washington and Colorado and British Columbia and China and Mexico and the Ukraine and who knows where else! But, I am so thankful that you are all so interested in where I go, and I definitely appreciate your support!


Just to give you a small update for now, my biggest challenge at the moment is getting in touch with potential faculty advisors. Since I want to go into marine biology (of some sort), I need to have a faculty advisor agree to take me on as a graduate student before I am officially accepted to any university. I can go through the application process as much as I want, but if I don't have a faculty member who agrees to supervise and fund me, then I have no shot at going.


I've emailed professors at Oregon State, University of Hawaii, University of Maine, and University of Washington. I think I've emailed 6 profs total so far. I'm also looking at programs are Western Washington and (maybe) University of British Columbia. The exciting part is that I've heard back from one at OSU and I'm talking to him on the phone tomorrow! His focus is not marine biology per se, but on science education. If I were to work with him, I think my direction would be something in environmental tourism and how people learn through other avenues such as whale watching. If you're interested in looking him up, his name is Dr. Shawn Rowe at Oregon State University.


I actually got in touch with him through one of his current graduate students. This might be one of the most valuable things I have done yet, and I highly recommend to everyone looking to go to grad school. Find current graduate students of the professors you want to work with, and send them a friendly email asking for advice, information about the program, and information about the professor. The grad student I emailed, Michelle, has been SO helpful. She told Dr. Rowe that I would be sending him an email and she offered to let me come visit Corvallis in November. I can't even tell her how helpful she has been, but I think I'm going to try and send a thank you card. :)


I plan on making regular updates so that you guys can follow this epic quest, and hopefully glean some useful information if you are also looking to apply to graduate school. If you have advice, I am MORE than willing to accept it! Thanks for your support!