The William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration’s focus on recruiting students right out of the UR undergraduate program is an important step in improving the undergraduate connection to graduate programs.
One of the reasons students apply to The College is in hopes of gaining easier admission to UR’s prestigious graduate schools like the School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education, in addition to the Simon School.
This link between the undergraduate and graduate programs should be stronger because it is mutually beneficial. The programs encourage application to undergraduate programs from goal oriented high school students, potentially improving the candidate pool to The College. In addition, UR’s graduate schools benefit because they are able to have a deeper understanding of their applicants’ background and can more accurately gauge their potential contributions as graduate students.
The Simon School has led the way in attracting undergraduates with the Summer Business Institute and an online business competition, which the education and dental graduate programs should duplicate.
Increasing opportunities for undergraduates to connect with graduate programs can significantly improve undergraduate education and encourage more students to apply to graduate programs. While many graduate classes are open to undergraduates, students rarely know how to pursue those options and therefore do not consider them a viable option. Instead, students should be encouraged to take advantage of such courses, similar to when high school students are encouraged to take AP courses to prepare them for college.
The closeness to so many graudate schools is an opportunity that sets UR apart from many of our peer institutions, and this uniqueness should be highlighted.
