The Student Alumni Association is hosting “Life After College,” a workshop-style event that will help students navigate through the complex waters of post-graduation opportunities.
Representatives from UCLA Law School, UC Davis Medical School, the Peace Corps, Teach for America, Justice Corps and other organizations are expected to appear to make presentations and field questions from a crowd of mostly fourth-years tonight, said Erika Drazen, Student Alumni Association public relations director.
Students will have the option of attending a variety of presentations featuring the graduate schools, volunteer organizations and workshops. Some workshops include topics such as handling money, preparing for internships and finding a job in this economy, she added.
Organizers said the event this year tried to branch out to graduate schools outside of UCLA to represent the variety of opportunities available to UCLA students.
For example, representatives from the UC Davis Medical School will make presentations tonight despite the closer proximity of UCLA’s medical school.
“We wanted to switch it up a bit,” Drazen said. “We had basic ideas for what we wanted. Through our alumni network we contacted the people, on the subjects that they were talking about,”
The workshop fulfills SAA’s purpose: to create events that connect alumni to the student population, said Lauren Hom, a second-year art student.
The Student Alumni Association hosts events such as Spring Sing, Blue and Gold Week and Interview with a Bruin, which allows students to have mock interviews with alumni who critique their interview and resume, Hom said.
These events are organized from a volunteer staff of 100 people who go through a selection process, Drazen said.
Hom said she joined because of the networking opportunities available through the Student Alumni Association.
Coming into college, she said the organization allowed her to think outside her goal of becoming a high school teacher.
“Each year students have an opportunity to pair up with a mentor that graduated from UCLA. My mentor was a freelance photographer,” Hom said.
She said she is now “more open to pursuing art outside my career.”
Drazen said the event will allow to plan ahead for her goals.
“I definitely want to go graduate school, but I want to take a couple of years off and explore the world a little bit.”