SSS pushes students to consider graduate school

By: By Michael Stewart

Posted: 10/24/07

Members of Langston University's Student Support Services (SSS) program visited Oklahoma City University last Tuesday to learn about the school's graduate program. The visit was a way to motivate current Langston University students to go to graduate school after they receive their bachelor's degree.

Tesha Johnson, an SSS retention specialist, stressed the need for more students to get their master's degree.

"A bachelor's degree is almost an equivalent to a high school diploma, but a master's degree will allow the leverage needed to be competitive in today's job market," Johnson said.

This is the second year students in SSS have visited a state university for information about graduate school. Students in the program visited the University of Oklahoma last year. Johnson says that undergraduate students, especially those in their sophomore and junior years, need to start looking at graduate schools now, so they'll be ready to apply their senior year.

The visit to OCU was coordinated by Johnson and Janey Wheeler, who works for OCU's Visitor's Center, and Leslie McKenzie, graduate school director for OCU

LU students toured the law school and the Meinders' School of Business. It is here where they asked questions about admission requirements for the GMAT graduate exam, which is needed for business school, and the LSAT, which is needed for law school.

According to Johnson, both facilities that they visited were state-of-the-art. Oklahoma City University is a private university, which receives much of its funding through endowments or donations. For example, the Meinders' School of Business was built with more than $33 million in private donations.

One aspect of OCU's graduate school program that impressed Johnson was the investment club offered through the MBA program, which is given $66,000 per year to invest for actual risks or losses. Many investment clubs are given an imaginary amount, and just follow market trends, but OCU's allows the students to assess actual risk.

As the meeting was considered a success, SSS is already preparing for next year's trip.