Fair looks to life, post-graduation

For many seniors, a looming graduation may remind them that they have to line up a job — or maybe apply to graduate school, or pursue a nonprofit organization. To guide them, representatives from these fields advised the students last night.

The Graduate Degree Fair for the Public Good, run by Idealist.org and which was held last night at the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Hall, let students speak with nearly 50 representatives from graduate schools, nonprofits and other businesses.

Idealist, a nonprofit project, serves to open communication between businesses and potential employees in the nonprofit and for-profit communities, according to its website.

The group provides students with information about internships, volunteer work and job opportunities during and after college, said Jung Fitzpatrick, graduate education communications coordinator for Idealist.

“We think that there are a lot of individuals who are interested in contributing to the social and global issues,” she said. “They may desire working for a nonprofit organization, which is not a traditional career path, and having this event is a good way to introduce prospective students to various graduate education options.”

Through online programs, Idealist allows students to create profiles according to interests, skills, age and location. The database matches these categories with either a nonprofit or a for-profit organization.

Last night’s fair was not well advertised around BU, some students said, which explained why most of the attendees came from other universities. The fair promoted Idealist but also allowed graduate schools across the United States to advertise their programs.

Schools including the City University of New York, Columbia University and Ohio University presented their programs to prospective graduate students.

Drexel University representative Stephanie Gusoff said the fair gave students the opportunity to “shop around” for post-undergraduate options.

Planning the fair took between nine months to a year for Idealist, which holds similar fairs in 20 other cities, Fitzpatrick said. The School of Management has worked with Idealist to promote similar types of fairs for three years, she said.

Plymouth State University graduate Heather Dowd said the decision to attend graduate school is a more serious one than choosing an undergraduate school, so she attended the fair to learn about job opportunities and graduate school options.

“When I was a senior in high school, I picked schools to apply based only on campus and how it looked,” she said. “However, I want to make the right choice for a graduate school, since it is more important and expensive.”