The Career Development Center will hold its annual Graduate School Fair from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20 in the Mandela Room of the Old University Union.

A variety of universities, including Columbia, Cornell, Duke and New York University, will attend the event.

“Any student considering graduate school is welcome and encouraged to attend,” said Holly Horn, coordinator for the Graduate Fair and assistant director for career development.

Horn emphasized that it is crucial to get an early start on networking with admissions advisers, as graduate school admissions are very competitive.

“Last year at this event a medical school representative shared a story of a young man whom she met at a fair,” Horn said. “They had a wonderful conversation and she was very impressed with him. She had him fill out a contact card and went back to her home institution and told the admissions panel that they needed to interview this student. They removed his application from the ‘no’ pile and interviewed him. He now attends that institution.”

The CDC is offering several programs to aid students in gaining acceptance to graduate schools. The CDC will host a seminar on the graduate school admissions process from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m today in New University Union room 324. An additional program, titled “Choosing the Best Graduate School for YOU,” will be offered from 1:10 to 2:10 p.m. Oct. 14 in the same room. The event will focus on graduate school selection and the application process.

Alysia Siegel, a senior majoring in psychology, said she hopes to go on to graduate studies in psychology, and will attend the Graduate Fair next week.

“I started looking into grad schools over the summer for a Psy.D [Doctorate of Psychology] in clinical psychology,” Siegel said. “My main reason for going [to the Grad Fair] is to further this … you can’t get a long-term sustainable job with just a BA in psychology.”

Horn advises all students who are planning to attend the Grad School Fair to prepare by reviewing the list of schools and programs that will be in attendance so that they can obtain a better idea of which ones they want to speak with. The full list is available at the CDC homepage, www.cdc.binghamton.edu/.

Horn also advised attending students to bring pre-printed labels with their addresses on them.

“Nearly every school asks you to complete a contact card … and having that pre-printed label will help you be more efficient,” she said.

Emily Elias, a senior majoring in integrated neuroscience, said she hopes graduate school will help prepare her for a career in nursing.

“I’m hoping that by speaking to these admissions counselors I’ll get a feel of the program they’re offering and if it’s right for me,” Elias said. “Or if I’m right for the program.”