What I’ve learned in Grad School
This will be my last post, and sadly, my last day of work in the Admissions Office. I am leaving this Sunday for Boston. I am really going to miss working here, taking classes, living in Denver, wallowing in self-pity with my fellow graduate students, etc. Things happen fast, and I’m not convinced that I’m entirely prepared for this major life change— but I guess I just have to roll with the punches! I am so excited to start my new job and move to a new and exciting city.
I won’t officially receive my MA until June. I still have two independent study courses to complete, for which I’ll be writing the final papers from Boston. It’s definitely going to be a busy couple of weeks. I’ll need to get settled into my new apartment, start a new job, familiarize myself with a new city, and finish my independent study coursework. Yes, it’s stressful, but it’s the type of stress that I’m thankful for!
We just had our annual Discover Korbel event for admitted students last week. It’s a great opportunity for them to see the campus and learn more about the program before they make such an important decision. At the wine and cheese event at the end of the day, one admitted student asked me a simple but extremely important question: “was it all worth it?” Without hesitation, I answered, “yes.” Not only was I able to secure a great job, but this was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had thus far! I have learned more than I ever thought possible and made some amazing and lifelong friends. I know that my fellow students will go on to pursue incredible careers and I will be able to network with them in the future. The staff gave me the individual attention I needed to ensure that I had the best experience here possible. The faculty have inspired me to challenge myself and step outside of my academic comfort zone, and to identify and develop my own passions and interests and work towards them. I could not be happier with the decision I made to attend the Josef Korbel School. In short, it was all well worth it.
I thought I’d just compile a short list of some things I’ve learned in graduate school (or wish I had known!).
1. Cancel Netflix. It only makes it easier to procrastinate, especially when every season of all Law and Orders are available.
2. Don’t assume that you know exactly what you are going to study here, or exactly what you are going to do after graduation. For many students (like myself), their plans completely change in the first few weeks of school!
3. Expand! Maybe you came into school determined to study Africa and nothing else. But trust me, when something historic happens (such as Mubarak’s resignation) and you know nothing about the region, you feel pretty dumb in class. I’m interested in Latin America, but I’ve written papers on child labor in Morocco, education in Cambodia, and health care policy in the EU. Don’t get too specialized!
4. If you have time, do more than just one internship. The experience definitely made a difference for me.
5. Make the most of your time here! Use work experience in whatever you are doing to learn a new skill that you could contribute to a potential employer. I work in the admissions office which has little to do with my career plans of working for an international NGO or nonprofit, but I learned valuable skills here, and I am confident my experience here helped me secure a job.
Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the best of luck in graduate school!
Joanna Miller
MA candidate, International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Countdown to the end!
So sorry I haven’t posted in quite a while, but I promise I have a really good reason for not doing so. Well, I guess the excuse is that I’ve been incredibly busy the last few weeks. Finals went well and I’m happy with my grades. Then I went home for the week of spring break. I was then flown to Boston for an interview right after spring break, so I didn’t even have time to unpack. The good news is that I have found a job! I’ll be working as Outreach Coordinator for the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. I have less than a month to find someone to sublet my apartment for the remainder of my lease, pack up my life and wrap up everything in Denver and move to Medford, MA. Am I freaking out? Yes. Can I do anything about this? No.
I don’t actually graduate until June, so you may be asking yourself how I am moving to Massachusetts to begin a new job in May. Well, that ‘s the beauty of independent study courses! I’ll be fulfilling my last nine credit hours through independent study courses. I can complete my degree even though I won’t be on campus. I am so happy that the incredibly stressful and time-consuming job hunt is over! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Of course, our office is busy making the final preparations from Discover Korbel next Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th. If you are an admitted student, I strongly recommend attending this event. I came when I was an admitted student and it was a tremendous help in making my final decision. It’s a great opportunity to meet the degree directors and other faculty, speak to current students and alumni, and see the campus.
As always, feel free to comment if you have any questions, or email us at korbeladm@du.edu.
Joanna Miller
MA candidate, International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Finals week!
I’m really going to get a lot better at posting on a weekly basis. Last week was insane and I feel like I didn’t really have time for anything! It’s now week ten and students are . . . well, tense may be an appropriate word to describe everyone right now. Stressed out, frustrated, angry and short-tempered are also probably appropriate. We all have papers, group projects (which, everyone knows, are by far the most stressful), presentations and tests. We haven’t even thought of looking at the syllabi for our spring quarter classes or purchased any books.
Last week was insane because I had a presentation and a paper due, but I also wanted to get everything done last week so I wouldn’t be quite to stressed out, tense, and short-tempered! I turned in my final paper today for Education and Development, so I am officially done with that class. For my Financial Management and Fundraising for Non-Profits class, I have a final paper due Thursday and a short group presentation. Professor Dorsey asks groups to come up with current event articles in the non-profit world. My group is presenting on the role of celebrities in philanthropy, specifically their involvement in HIV/AIDS causes. And finally, stats test number two. This is, to everyone’s surprise, a take-home exam. She gave us a data set and is asking us to run several models and type up our methods, results, and an executive summary. Not being the best test-taker, I was absolutely thrilled to have a take-home exam. Hopefully I will get everything done tomorrow.
A lot of Korbel students choose to stay in Denver for spring break. Some students have finals due that week, and many don’t want to deal with the stress of traveling. The other three admissions assistants (Cliff, Kiela, and Liz) will be in the office over break. I think I need a break from school and form Denver, so I’ll be driving to Albuquerque on Friday or Saturday (weather permitting) for the week. My plan is to apply for as many jobs as possible over the break.
Also on Friday I attended a day-long workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility, hosted by the MDP program. This was really interesting and useful, especially since my independent study class next quarter is on CSR. We went over the La Oroya, which is a city in Peru that is considered one of the most polluted places on earth due to mining. We discussed the responsibility of Doe Run, the company that purchased the 75-year old mine, in reversing decades of pollution. Another session featured Korbel Professor DeMartino and his book, The Economist’s Oath. the last session I attended was on the partnership between Starbucks and Conservation International, which was very interesting. I’m really excited to start my research for the CSR independent study class next quarter.
Joanna Miller, MA candidate in International Human Rights
Time to start freaking out
I suddenly realized that I only have twelve more weeks of graduate school left. Cue me completely freaking out about my future. There’s nothing quite as horrible as not knowing where you’ll be living and working in just a few short months. But I can’t worry about that now, I actually have stuff to do. Although, I have to say, this quarter has been far less stressful than previous quarters. Last winter, I’m pretty sure I still had three papers and a presentation due by the time week 8 rolled around. This year, I finished one paper two weeks early (which is weird), and I have my final test for Statistics II on the Saturday just before Spring break starts. All that’s left is a presentation on Monday and a final for my Financial Management and Fundraising class. This may sound like a lot, but this is extremely light compared to previous quarters.
The “big” project that’s still looming over me is my final project for Financial Management and Fundraising, but this should be pretty interesting. What I love about this class is that you can actually use the assignments in the real world. I wrote a fundraising letter/appeal for the Lambi Fund, and my final project is to develop a specific plan for a large special event or fundraising program, which will be useful to a selected nonprofit. Right now I am working on an art auction with the Human Trafficking Clinic and a benefit concert for the Lambi Fund, so I just have to decide which one to use for my final.
The worst part about winter quarter is you cannot wait for spring break. The very idea of having a week off fills me with glee. Except for the fact that it’s not really a week off. Most of us are still finishing our finals during that final week, or just getting prepared for spring classes: ordering books and getting ready for our schedules to completely change once again. Then a new quarter begins and you still feel like you’re catching up from the last quarter! It can be a very stressful time, and students are pretty burnt out by the last few weeks of the spring quarter– it feels like you’ve been going non-stop for twenty weeks! This is why I am glad I only have to take nine credits my last quarter. I will still be busy, but not as busy as I was last year when I took 18 hours for two straight quarters.
Anyway, I know many of you are eagerly awaiting your application decision. I can tell you that our Review Committee members are hard at work carefully reviewing applications. We hope to send out notifications by mid-March. I know this is a stressful time– I remember it well. Unfortunately, we will not be able to give you notifications any earlier. If you call our office, we are always happy to speak with you, but probably can’t take any bribes in exchange for early notification. 
In the meantime, if there are any issues you would like me to talk about, just let me know!
Joanna Miller
MA candidate, International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Three weeks and counting
It’s week seven– already. I wrote a post a few weeks ago promising that I would have my final paper for Education and Development done by this week. Well, I don’t, but I do have a great outline and a plan, which is about two weeks earlier than I have in previous quarters! I am really excited about this paper and find it very interesting. I’m writing about conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America, specifically three programs in Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua. A lot of research has found that in general, CCT programs have a positive effect on school enrollment rates. However, many question the ability of CCT programs to actually lower the incidence of child labor. This is essentially the bulk of my paper, examining which programs have actually limited child labor and if there are some essential characteristics that programs should adopt to be successful in this area. Am I just a huge nerd, or does that sound like an interesting topic? Well, I have continually sounded off on my love for statistics, so I guess I’m probably just a huge nerd.
I also just registered for my last quarter at Korbel! Next quarter should be relatively easy, and I planned my course load each quarter so that I would only need two classes my last quarter. I am taking Statistics III and an independent study course with Professor Josiah Hatch. I am very interested in corporate social responsibility and labor issues, so he has agreed to guide me through this. This is a topic I have come across in several classes but haven’t had the opportunity to really delve into the material. So I figured since it’s going to be my last quarter at Korbel and all of my required courses have been completed, I can take an independent study in whatever I want! Korbel students can take up to 15 independent study credits, and this is another reason this degree is so flexible.
I’ve said it before, but I am continually impressed by the support of the Korbel faculty. I have never had a class with Professor Hatch, but I heard from a fellow student (and my boss, Nicole Vilegi) that he is an excellent professor and the class he is teaching this quarter, Multinational Corporations, is really interesting. I contacted him somewhat apprehensively; since he doesn’t know who I am I assumed he wouldn’t be too keen on working with me. I was very wrong. He was really excited and very supportive of my research topics and ideas, and I think this will be a great opportunity for me to learn something new!
This schedule means that I will only have class once a week–on Saturday mornings. Grrreat. But it will give me more time to look for jobs, which has in itself become my full-time job! I’m also going to be volunteering for the Human Trafficking Clinic’s Human Trafficking Awareness week events, which I did last year as well and had a ton of fun, but it certainly kept me busy.
It’s also about 65 degrees and sunny outside right now, so I feel pretty ridiculous for all the complaining I did about Colorado weather in an earlier post. I had plans to lock myself up in the basement of the library today, but instead I think I’ll head to the park across the street from my house and study there. That’s another great thing about Denver which I forgot to mention– there are parks everywhere!
Joanna Miller, MA candidate in International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Mubarak resigns!
I’m sure you’ve all heard the news, but Hosni Mubarak has finally resigned! Korbel students are filling up the Cyber Cafe (we have a small TV in there) and watching the latest developments on the news. What an incredible day for Egypt!
Here are some stories on Mubarak’s resignation:
http://ismubarakstillpresident.com/ (Great link courtesy of fellow student and admissions assistant, Cliff Martin.)
Egypt has a special place in my heart– my first human rights paper as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico was about human rights violations in Egypt under Mubarak’s regime. I took the class, Human Rights and Political Violence, as an elective. It didn’t count towards either of my majors, but it was a Political Science class and sounded interesting– little did I know it would change everything! I loved researching and writing that paper, and it was a major reason that I decided to look into MA degrees in Human Rights. I’m glad I did!
Joanna Miller
MA Candidate, International Human Rights
You mean it snows in Colorado?
So . . . it turns out that Colorado is cold. Really cold. And snowy. I’ve lived here for over 18 months now, so I should be used to it, but I don’t think it was as bad last year! DU closed school on Monday and Tuesday last week, and it started snowing again last night and hasn’t stopped. I used to think I liked the snow when I lived in New Mexico. That’s because it would snow three inches and the entire city of Albuquerque would shut down, then we’d all go outside and play in the snow. Not anymore! It snows like crazy and everyone is expected to go about their daily lives! Oh well, the worst thing that happens is you slip and embarrass yourself on the way to school– I am so glad I only live two blocks away from Korbel.
Even though I despise the snow, I still enjoy Denver and highly recommend it. First of all, I’m an avid football fan and the Broncos have always been one of my favorite teams. Haven’t made it to a game yet, but it’s definitely on my Denver bucket list. I have gone to several Nuggets, Avalanche and Rockies games, which should be requirements for everyone in Colorado. There’s nothing quite like an $8 flat beer on a sunny Denver day at Coors Field.
When it’s not snowing like it’s the Apocalypse, there are some neighborhoods in Denver to enjoy a nice stroll and do some shopping. There’s of course 16th Street Mall, which has plenty of restaurants and stores. I also love Pearl Street and Gaylord Street, as well Southglenn. I highly recommend Red Rocks. I’ve seen a couple of shows there and I’ve gone hiking around the area with friends, and it’s an absolutely beautiful place and not too far from the city. Denver has amazing museums– the art museum is a must-see and has free admission on the first Saturday of each month. The Museum of Nature and Science has great student discounts, and the zoo is a lot of fun. My absolute favorite place to go is the Denver aquarium. When I was a little kid I wanted to be a marine biologist, until I got to high school and realized I wasn’t very good at biology. Boulder, Golden and Fort Collins are all under an hour away and are great towns with great breweries! And yeah, I guess if you’re really into skiing — although the idea of sliding down a mountain of ice face-first at dangerous speeds has never really appealed to me — Colorado is definitely the place for you. The Korbel website has a great page on things to do in Denver, which you can check out here.
My point in mentioning all this is that even though I hate the snow and the cold, I would still be happy settling down in Denver. It’s a great, vibrant city. One of these days I will actually buy some snow boots and maybe my daily walk to class and work won’t be so treacherous. Converse aren’t that reliable in the snow.
First thing’s first: for all you applicants out there: We receive several calls per day asking pretty much the exact same question: “Have you received my ____________ (insert application requirement)?” While we are always happy to check on your application status, please be patient with us. We see exactly what you see when you log in to check on the status of your application. If you sent your transcripts and they are not showing up as received on your application status, then again, please be patient. It takes approximately 5-7 days to process your documents. This is a busy time of year and Grad Studies (who processes ALL graduate school applications) is doing a wonderful job of processing documents as soon as they possibly can. We know that there is a processing delay so if you sent your documents before the priority deadline but are still not “complete,” you won’t be penalized for that.
I’ve been through two rounds of the application processes now, since this is my second year working in admissions. Keep in mind that every interaction you have with someone from admissions or from graduate studies is important. Be courteous, and please be patient.
Anyway, so what have I been up to this week? Well I turned in a proposal for my final project for Education and Development. I chose to write about the impact of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America. CCT programs have been more successful in some countries than in others, so I hope to compare the characteristics of the programs in two to three different countries, and determine if these programs have any effect on school attendance and child labor. This final paper isn’t due until week 10, but I am determined to finish it by week 7. That’s right, this quarter I will not procrastinate and wait until the last minute to finish everything. I also have a short assignment due on Monday for my Financial Management and Fundraising class.We are asked to evaluate a 501 (c) 3 using a rating from Charity Navigator and from the information presented on their website. We ask questions such as: is their governance structure sustainable? Are the Board of Directors active in the organization? Is the organization financially sustainable? Do they have diversified funding sources? Last week we went over the process of creating and implementing a budget, which was really interesting and useful. We also had a panel discussion with three executive directors from local non-profits.
It’s funny how my last post tried to explain what my normal week schedule looks like, since this last week has not resembled that schedule in any way! There have been several events sponsored by student groups. Check out some of the events that have been going on at the Josef Korbel School:
Students Mark Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Denver native Peter Andreas Speaks on the Siege of Sarajevo
Peace Corps Deputy Director advises Korbel students
Dean Hill sees hope in Iraq’s future
Discharged Army Linguist discusses “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Also, the Association of Students for Human Rights hosted a wonderful film festival called Struggle, Strength, Solidarity. Nine Inspiring Stories of Women around the World. Check out their website at http://studentsforhumanrights.org/ for more information on this student group.
Korbel students just received an email with information about the 100th Annual International Women’s Day in Denver. The events include a 5K run/walk, the proceeds of which go to support micro loans for women. I will definitely be taking part in this! More information on this here.
All that and it’s only week four! We have a really active and dedicated student body, and, I’ve probably said this before, but I encourage everyone to find a group and get involved. It’s a great way to meet people, and I think that extra-curricular activities and volunteering always looks good on a resume. I learned so much from volunteering with the HTC Task Force- especially in the areas of event planning and volunteer coordination. You can peruse a list of student organizations here.
Joanna Miller
MA candidate, International Human Rights
A week in the life of a graduate student
I met with a prospective student last week and he asked me a great question- what is the typical week like for a Korbel student? I thought this would be a good topic to write about- so here you go:
Mondays: I have my class in Education and Development from 9-12. Then I come to work at noon and we have our weekly admissions staff meeting. I work until 5:00 pm, then I head home and read, read, read.
Tuesdays: My day off! Well . . . sort of. I don’t have class or work in the admissions office. I pretty much devote Tuesdays to working for the Lambi Fund. I usually work for Lambi Fund 10-15 hours per week, so I try to get in 8-10 hours on Tuesdays and finish the rest on Fridays. Right now I’m doing a lot of online research, online fundraising, outreach to high schools and youth engagement, and starting to plan a benefit concert for the Lambi Fund that I plan on hosting in Albuquerque. I know a lot of musicians in Albuquerque and there is a great and active community interested in helping Haiti. I also do some work for my internship and, of course, read.
Wednesdays: I work in the admissions office from 9-5. I go home and (surprise!) read.
Thursdays: I have my Financial Management and Fundraising class from 9-12, then I work in admissions from 12-5.
Fridays: another day off! I do work for the Lambi Fund and for my internship, but I also try to get out of the city whenever I can. When the weather is nice I like to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park (I have a year-long pass) and go hiking with friends.
Saturdays: I have Statistics II from 12-3.
Sundays: Nothing. I watch football, read, and try to just prepare for the week.
That’s a “normal” week for me. Of course there are always special events, guest speakers and panel discussions that I try to attend, so there really is no normal week! Plus I do try to make some time for a social life.
So this quarter seems a little busier than other quarters. It’s only week two and I’ve already read three books and gave a group presentation this morning. Our group created discussion questions for the class for a book we read called The Child and the State in India, which is about child labor and compulsory education in India. We had a great discussion that lasted the entire class period! Most professors that I have had include class participation and discussion as a part of your final grade.
The quarter system doesnt’ really allow for any downtime. In undergrad the first day of class would last about 20 minutes because all the professor did was go over the syllabus. Not here- professors jump right into lecture on the first day. It’s not uncommon to have to come to the first day of class with a fair amount of reading already completed.
As always, if you have any questions or any particular topic that you would like me to write about, let me know!
Joanna Miller
MA candidate, International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Winter Quarter Begins!
It’s officially week one of winter quarter! My second-to-last quarter at Korbel. I’m actually glad that break is over. I know this probably won’t be the case in a few weeks when I’m drowning in papers and readings, but for now, I’m glad to be back. I was entirely too lazy over break and I need to feel like I am doing something productive with my life again.
Break was very relaxing, however. I went home to Albuquerque for almost two weeks and caught up on fun reading, watched movies, and, of course, searched for jobs. I also caught up on some work for the Lambi Fund of Haiti and actually did some reading in advance for this quarter — which is very rare.
This quarter I am taking Education and Development, Financial Management and Fund-raising for Nonprofits, and Statistics II. So far I have only had my Education and Development class (counts towards my development concentration), but I really enjoyed the first day. I’ve probably mentioned multiple times that I am very interested in child labor, and next week the topic of discussion is child labor and the issue of compulsory education in developing nations. I am leading a group discussion next week on our assigned readings, and I have really enjoyed everything I’ve read so far. I have Financial Management and Fundraising for nonprofits tomorrow morning and I have heard great reviews from my fellow students on this class. I actually have wanted to take this since my first quarter at Korbel but it never quite fit into my schedule. This is a really practical class, and since I want to work for a nonprofit, I think I’ll pick up some really useful skills.
Statistics II is held only on Saturdays, but at least this quarter I only have three hours of class on Saturday instead of six straight hours like I did last quarter, which was painful! I really enjoyed statistics last quarter and am looking forward to this class. I have never, ever been a math person. Algebra class have me anxiety attacks in high school and in college I took “Survey of Statistics” to fulfill my math requirement. This class involved learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics and writing a short biography on an influential mathematician– no joke. But I absolutely love stats. In the Spring I may even take Statistics III even though it’s not necessary since my methodology requirements are finished, but I just find statistics useful and even a little fun (sad, I know). Plus the professor is fantastic and has a lot of experience working with anti-math students like myself. So for any of you prospective students who are worried about the statistics requirement in some of the degrees- relax! You are not alone and you may even end up loving statistics!
