Georganne Jadhon, Staff Writer

Graduate school for most students is the next step in fulfilling their career. Many seniors have chosen Utica College as their number one choice to attend graduate school.

Director of Graduate Admissions John Rowe has strict criteria for students’ applications from Utica College, or other schools transferring in, with the help of his colleague Lynn Cope.

“We go through about 20 to 25 applications a day at most,” Rowe said. “Sometimes even more depending on the time of year. We go through a lot more during peak time, but it all depends. There’s a different criteria for each application, and each program chosen.”

Before students attend graduate school, they have to take the graduate record exam, also known as the GRE, but at UC, that is not the case.

“Students applying at UC have to take a MAT, also known as the Miller Analogies test,” Rowe said. “This is only given to education programs, but they can take it at any given time they wish.”

After finishing up her Bachelor’s Degree at SUNY Oswego, Marina Ruffalo decided she wanted to extend her education and better her future by committing to UC for graduate school.

“I decided I wanted to pursue occupational therapy at a well-developed, established grad school that offered the professional entry-level Master’s program,” Ruffalo said. “I thought UC fit that pursuit quite well. What also caught my interest was the length of the program. Utica only requires two years of attending, and I can end up paying less in tuition.”

Ruffalo chose UC since it was a good fit for her, and it worked out better financially as well.

“I went to Bryant and Stratton College for one semester and did not feel that it was a good fit for me,” Ruffalo said. “Utica College can fit my requirements better and seems to be overall more accommodating for myself and my future. I am glad to be attending graduate school here.”

Senior Jacqueline O’Brien plans to attend UC for graduate school.

O’Brien’s major is English, with a minor in childhood special ed. She did not originally plan to finish her education at UC but is very glad she made the decision to stick around.

“Since I was new to this campus last spring, I immediately knew that this was the right school to help me pursue my dreams,” O’Brien said. “I’ve always wanted to become a special education teacher, and UC is the perfect school to help me do that.”

O’Brien went on to say how the education department at the college does an excellent job of preparing its students for the real world.

“The education department and staff are so hands on with everything and are always willing to do everything in their power to help those succeed,” O’Brien said. “When it came to deciding where to go for graduate school, Utica was at the top of my list. I definitely look forward to continuing my education here and I can’t wait for the fresh start.”

Even though O’Brien is from the Albany area, she has enjoyed her time at UC and is very happy to continue on with graduate school after she finishes up her senior year.

“It’s just such a great school, so I can already tell graduate school here is going to be awesome,” O’Brien said.