REAL LIFE RESEARCH
by Elsa Larsen
I want to start off by expressing thanks to the Northern Boundary Section for supporting my attendance at the USITT National Conference in Salt Lake City this March. I have attended the conference two times before and every year my experience gets better and better. The first year I attended, my focus for the conference was learning more about USITT and taking in the conference experience for the first time. Last year, I wanted to concentrate on picking great sessions, knowing the topics covered were going to be unique educational opportunities that I would not have the chance to learn at school. Now in my junior year of undergraduate education, I focused this conference experience on research, specifically graduate school programs.
Prior to attending the conference, I had conversations with my advisor and my other professors about what to look for in graduate school programs. These conversations armed me with dozens of questions to ask professors and students, questions like “What has been your favorite experience with this program?” and “What does an average season look like?” I also researched each of the ten programs I am interested in before talking with representatives on the expo floor.
To help me in my search, I attended “Picking the Right Graduate Training for You” on Wednesday. This session gave me new points of view on post-undergraduate options, be it graduate school, entering the industry, or doing apprenticeships and internships. Several of the points made were reiterating what my professors had told me to consider, but there was one point that stood out to me. I hadn't made the connection until I was sitting in that session that choosing to go to graduate school builds your network in the geographical area around the school. I had been told about the awesome networking opportunities that come with graduate school and how important the location of your school can be, but I hadn’t put the two together until the speakers phrased it that way.
With all the knowledge passed to me from my professors and all the questions I needed answered, I entered the 2016 Stage Expo with excitement and confidence. I talked to schools with programs focusing in either Costume Technology or Costume Design and Technology, as my goal is to be a cutter/draper or shop manager and eventually a professor. Through all this graduate school research, being able to talk in person to the students and professors that will one day be my close colleagues was by far the most beneficial aspect of both my search and the conference. This real life research opportunity allowed me to not only have my questions answered and begin interactions with the people in my chosen programs, but to have the face to face interactions and networking that our industry depends upon. While walking the Expo floor, I also found some international programs that I had not heard of and now I am very interested in what they have to offer. I received answers to my many questions and left the 2016 USITT National Conference feeling several steps closer on my path to graduate school.
For those who are looking for graduate school programs presently or will be searching soon, here are the top five questions that I asked every program:
- To professors, “What are your favorite classes to teach?”
- To professors, “What skills do you look for in prospective students?”
- To students, “Why did you choose this program?”
- To students, “What would you improve about the program?”
- To professors and students, “What does an average season look like?” [ ]
Elsa Larsen received one of two USITT NBS Student Scholarships to support attendance at the National Conference.