Department welcomes future graduate students in Open House

By Sergio Diaz-Silverio

Ever wondered how the English department keeps its graduate program at such a high caliber of performance?

This is in no small part due to the recruitment process the department provides for prospective graduate students. The annual Open House, which was just hosted from February 28 to March 1 is an important contributor to the recruitment process of the program.

It is great opportunity for those interested in what the program provides to come take a look around campus, get to know faculty, and even get a sense of what day to day activities might look like if they decide to come to Florida State University.

English Professor Mark Winegardner and FSU English graduate student Carley Roberston are the two organizers of this event. Winegardner is the director of the graduate program, and Robertson is committee coordinator for GESO, which stands for the Graduate English Student Organization.

I think we have really stepped up our recruiting efforts in the recent past, we had a record number of applicants last year, and even more this year,” Winegardner explains. “We were able to dramatically improve both the quality and the quantity of the applicant pool during Covid.

— Mark Winegardner

Despite the setbacks the pandemic presented to the event, Roberston and Winegardner, along with their entire graduate program team, have been able to put together Open House events the past 3 years that have exceeded expectations and have resulted in a record-breaking number of applicants.

“I think we have really stepped up our recruiting efforts in the recent past, we had a record number of applicants last year, and even more this year,” Winegardner explains. “We were able to dramatically improve both the quality and the quantity of the applicant pool during Covid. When a lot of programs have gone down in the number of applicants, we are on the upswing”.

This year's Open House marks the first in-person event since the pandemic began, with certain portions, such as the Q&A segment, being held in hybrid fashion, in person and on Zoom. The committee behind the Open House has had to adapt to the ever-changing situations that have risen in the past few years.

Taking many of the lessons learned during the pandemic in order to apply them moving forward to not only make the event more accessible, but to also allow for a more personal experience with those prospective graduates.

“Last year some of the challenges were trying to figure out how to do something comparable on Zoom. I think we all just had such Zoom fatigue that it was a bit harder on the volunteer end, it is different when you can go around campus and get the word out,” Roberston says. “That is one thing that GESO has helped with, especially in recent years, making sure we have real graduate volunteers that give a different perspective and allow the students interested in the program to get a real honest hands-on opinion.”

The success of recent years with the Open House is not just due to their commitment to quality despite the setbacks within the past few years. But is also driven, in big part, by the faculty and staff’s commitment to provide information and outlets towards students considering joining.

Both Robertson and Winegardner stressed that the committee and all faculty in the graduate program is committed to delivering the best service possible, treating all applicants as if they were the top candidate.

“We try to make sure people hear first from the program director, we want to interact with the students in a personal way,” Winegardner says. “I think while our numbers have been going up, each of the last three years. I also think that part of that is the students recognizing that being active and in reach is what we are about as a program”.

The Open House is just another example of how the English Department faculty and staff take the extra step in connecting with their students in order to ensure a quality learning environment. By creating the most immersive and realistic day-by-day opportunities these soon-to-be graduate students get to see what the department is like, even many times getting to sit in on class in order to see some courses they will be taking and teaching.

Sergio Diaz-Silverio is an English major, on the editing writing and media track.

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