Ewha held the 16th Graduate Student Fair at ECC Multipurpose Hall on April 10. The fair is held every semester to guide undergraduates interested in pursuing a research field in their areas of interests after graduation. Professors from 85 different majors of graduate schools at Ewha took part in the fair, operating different booths to explain the qualities of the education system, entrance process, scholarships, and their career options with a Ph.D. “Although the fair was open just for a day, it was a great opportunity for students to catch the usually busy professors in ease and ask about the field of their interest,” said Jang Hanup, the dean of the French Department. “Unlike what many think, today was not exclusive to senior students. I’ve met plenty of sophomores and juniors – even first years – who visited the booths to not necessarily discuss only grad school but general interests regarding their studies.” Professor Jang added, however, about his concern for the aspiring graduate students in the French Department. “My department invariably requires students already fluent in French which is why we don’t normally get a diverse pool of students interested in pursuing deeper research in this field,” he said. “These eligible applicants are few in number, and I’m trying to get students to see the silver lining in this field.” T h e A d m i s s i o n O ff i c e a n d Scholarship Welfare Team had also installed booths to provide students with practical information, customized for students’ different individual circumstances.
“Many of the undergraduate students are quite shocked when we sit them down and explain about different scholarships in grad schools,” said Ryu Hui-jung, a staff from Scholarship Welfare Team. “It’s especially because most people don’t expect the scholarship system in grad school to be so different from what they’re used to in their undergraduate years. For example, grad school’s scholarships are not given based on your family income, and GPAs don’t matter as much because they aren’t as competitive to achieve in grad school.”
Thousands of students participated in the fair and received advice on their research-related career paths. It was a chance for Ewha students to deeply understand the prospective future paths in each unique field and realize their possible career options.
“I considered pursuing grad school because my field of interest, digital forensics, requires extensive studying,” said Lee Jae-yong, a sophomore majoring in Cyber Security. “The professor from the booth explained that grad school for Cyber Security is unavailable in Ewha, as it was newly made in the school only last year for even undergraduates. Yet, with what I’ve been told today, grad school no longer feels like a distant heavy future.”