Graduate school representatives from around the world lined up to speak with prospective graduate students Tuesday for the 2019 Graduate School Fair. 

The annual fair was hosted by UT’s Graduate Coordinator Network in front of Gregory Gym and recorded a turnout of 119 schools. Representatives spoke about how their graduate program’s offerings could interact with students’ long-term career endeavors.

Graduate program administrator Philip Guerrero said the fair’s mission is to support students pursuing graduate education. He said the fair is a resource for informing students of their post-graduation options since many are uncertain as to how graduate school fits into their futures. 

Guerrero said the fair has grown from 40 representatives during its pilot year to more than 100 this year. 

Cristina Salazar, academic program manager for John Hopkins School of Public Health, said in her experience as a recruiter, she has encountered applicants who are both intent on pursuing public health and who are unsure of what to do with their undergraduate degree. 

“Students have these amazing skills of analyzing, but they don’t know how to apply it to public health,” Salazar said. “So a lot of what I do is to educate them of what their possibilities are.” 

Abbey Godley, assistant dean for student programs at Rice University, said students benefit from graduate fairs most when they learn about the programs in attendance before the event. Godley said she regularly recruits students from UT because of the quality of their undergraduate education.

“A lot of the Texas undergraduate curriculum includes things like research and extracurriculars, which we feel makes them very attractive and well-qualified for coming to graduate school at Rice,” Godley said. “They are able to convey a long-term vision for what they want to do with a graduate degree.” 

Art history junior Josephine Blossfeld said she came to the fair with her heart set on Texas graduate schools because of their affordability but was also curious about out-of-state schools and programs unrelated to her current major. 

“There seems to be a lot of flexibility in what department you apply to,” Blossfeld said. “I’ve spoken to a lot of business schools, and they seem ready to accept applicants from different areas, but there is this trepidation in terms of ‘Could I offer their program something that’s worthwhile?’”

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Blossfeld on second reference. The Texan regrets this error.