Ross to attend Grad School at MSU
By Kelsie Hoitomt
GLENWOOD CITY – Glenwood City’s own Rachel Ross recently headed down south to attend Graduate School at the Mississippi State University.
Ross graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish with minors in Psychology and Chemistry from UW-LaCrosse this past May and will now start her next journey this fall.
She is taking on a new adventure from what she earned her BA in as she has enrolled in the Counselor Education program with a Student Affairs emphasis.
Her desire to take this route was fueled by the fact that she spent her last two years at UW-LaCrosse working as a Resident Assistant in an all-freshmen hall.
“There I advised 36 girls as they made their transition to college from high school. Seeing their growth and development throughout a single year really made me interested in the field and after a little more research, you could say I fell in love with Student Affairs,” said Ross.
Ross’ hard work and dedication as an RA paid off as she was offered an assistantship to be a Graduate Residence Director, where she will manage a building of 350-400 students throughout her time at MSU.
Since accepting the responsibility of this 24-hour a day position, she will be required to live in the specific building with the students in a fully-furnished apartment, which is paid for by the school. The school is also providing a waiver on her out-of-state tuition, which would have cost Ross roughly $8,430 a semester.
Ross had to maintain a 3.0 grade point average throughout undergraduate school as well as have experience in housing and residence life in order to be accepted into the program and be eligible for the assistantship.
“I wanted a completely different experience from my undergraduate career and that is what started my search for a grad school outside of the midwest. I wanted to challenge myself and learn to interact with people who have different values, beliefs and interests as me. So once I found MSU, I fell in love. I loved the program, the location, the whole bit. And once I got on campus, I knew I would be able to call this place my home away from home,” expressed Ross.