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have grown to be more than just my friends, they are Courtney Wood GPB membership vice president Ann Smith Renee Greer | Rambler Staff Wesleyan’s Gamma Phi Beta Vice President Courtney Wood and President Ashley Spencer Renee Greer | Rambler Staff David Slick juggles clubs during the Presidents Picnic Aug. 25. He is a world-class juggler and holds two Guinness Book of World Records in juggling. 3PR recruitment and activities specialist T he R ambleR | www.therambler.org Jonathan Resendez
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College Life4 | September 2, 2009 The RambleR | www.therambler.org
Jonathan [email protected]
With the flailing economy increasing the competitive-ness and difficulty of graduate school admissions, students are flocking by the dozens to Wes-leyan’s 3PR Program.
Dating back almost 30 years, the M.D. Anderson Pre-Pro-fessional Program offers stu-dents the preparation needed for admission into, and success within, graduate school. The program helps students who wish to study and professionally make a career in medicine, law or ministry.
Ann Smith, 3PR recruitment and activities specialist, said enrollment in the junior level course has increased 100-fold from last year.
The program is divided into four parts, one for each year of undergraduate study. During each year, students in the pro-gram focus on certain aspects of successful graduate school admission.
The junior-level course fo-cuses on the interview, personal statement, admissions test and application process.
“I like to think of us as invest-ment bankers. We help keep the reality check from bouncing,” Smith said.
Dr. Miriam Espinoza, 3PR Di-rector, teaches the junior level
course with Dr. Kathy Prater, as-sistant director. Espinoza helps the pre-law students while Prater assists the pre-med students.
“For me, nowhere else with a pre-law or pre-med program do they have something like our class for juniors,” Prater said. “No other university offers as much personal detail to the whole ap-plication process as we do.”
Prater said mock interview preparation is more critical for medical school students than law school students. Joe Brown, 32-year dean of freshmen and speech professor, helps students refine specific details before and after the interview.
Amanda Molten, sophomore history major, said the program keeps her focused by constantly reminding her of the looming challenges of graduate school. Interacting with other students who are heading in the same direction is also motivating, she said.
“Some of the instructors are really blatant about things,” Molten said. “Because schools
operate on a tier system, it has motivated me to take [Univer-sity of Texas at] Austin classes at home over the summer.”
A member of the bioethics team, Molten hopes to serve as an international civil rights and criminal defense attorney.
Having worked for Texas Wesleyan for 41 years, Dr. Ibra-him Salih, political science pro-fessor and pre-law adviser, has supported the program since its inception.
“We provide the opportunity for every worthy student to be accepted into law school,” he said. “The program has broad-ened its offerings. But the com-petition has enlarged too.”
The program only accepts en-rolled Texas Wesleyan students with a minimum 3.0 GPA. En-tering freshmen wanting to par-ticipate must have an SAT score of 1,000 or an ACT score of 22. Interested applicants should talk to their academic adviser about enrolling. For more information, contact the 3PR office at (817) 531-4484 or [email protected].
Renee [email protected]
Rush Week is quickly ap-proaching and the ladies of Gamma Phi Beta are on the move.
This sorority is offering more than involvement in a group of its peers, they’re offering what some call the highest level of womanhood.
The Delta Epsilon Chapter at Texas Wesleyan Univer-sity will start its recruitment process at 6 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Student Union Building. This process will include an information night, a craft night, a game night and a Preference Bruch Bid.
To be considered for this organization, students must have and maintain a 2.5 grade point average to be a member and a 3.0 in order to be an officer.
GPB has been an official sorority on Texas Wesleyan’s campus since 1974, and it’s one of the 10 oldest women’s organizations here in North America with more than 159,000 members.
The organization raised $82,742 for Campfire USA between 2007 and 2008, ac-cording to GPB officials. The word “sorority” was first coined for Gamma Phi Beta, making them the first wom-en’s society to be known by that name.
GPB touts a number of benefits for its members, such as; a leadership program, tu-toring and scholarship op-portunities. In 2008, 147 stu-dents received scholarships, fellowships and grants-in-aid to help pay for school.
The ladies of Gamma Phi Beta pride themselves on the love, loyalty and leadership they express to one anoth-er. President of GPB Ashly Spencer said she was having a hard time finding her place at the University until she joined.
“Once I became a member of Gamma Phi Beta, I grew as a person and most of all I discovered my individuality,” Spencer said.
She explained that while
she would encourage people to join the organization that is best for them, she believes that GPB offers not just a sense of being a part of a group, but “the highest level of womanhood.”
Courtney Wood, mem-bership vice president, still wearing the scars of a recent car accident; explained that during one of the darkest times of her life, she was em-braced by her sisters of GPB.
“Once the members of Gamma Phi Beta were in-formed of my accident, they were immediately at my side offering their condolences,” Wood said. “The ladies of GPB have grown to be more than just my friends, they are truly my sisters.”
Students solicit 3PR help for grad school
Renee Greer | Rambler StaffDavid Slick juggles clubs during the Presidents Picnic Aug. 25. He is a world-class juggler and holds two Guinness Book of World Records in juggling.
“I like to think of us as investment bank-ers. We help keep the reality check from bouncing.”
Ann Smith3PR recruitment and activities specialist
Gamma Phi Beta offers women involvement, starts recruitment
Renee Greer | Rambler StaffWesleyan’s Gamma Phi Beta Vice President Courtney Wood and President Ashley Spencer
Renee Greer | Rambler StaffMembers of Gamma Phi Beta smile for the camera. The recruitment process starts at 6 p.m. Sept. 9 and includes activities such as an information night, crafts and a game night.
“The ladies of GPB have grown to be more than just my friends, they are truly my sisters.”
Courtney WoodGPB membership vice
president
Bank experts encourage smart student spendingKatie Forstner The Northern Light/UWire
College is something young people are geared toward since first setting Velcro-clad foot in an elementary school. The pressure of doing well and knowing strengths and weaknesses in a learning community is as consistent as the lunch bell. But, while graduating from college is heavily stressed, the reality of the cost of this expectation is rarely mentioned.
“I knew college would be expensive, but how quickly things add up caught me off guard,” U. Alaska-Anchorage student Jillian Lozanoff said. She attends the university on a UA Scholars academic scholarship, an award pre-sented to Alaska high school students graduating in the top 10 percent of their class.
It’s no secret that with ris-ing tuition costs, more and more college students are facing astronomical amounts of debt after graduation. Sam Ricketts, an outdoor recre-ation major from Salt Lake City, Utah, said his rising debt is out of control.
“I’m on WUE [Western Undergraduate Exchange], and it blows my mind on how much I have to pay back when I graduate,” Ricketts said. “I try to save ten percent of my paycheck but it’s really tough to do.”
The average cost of a four-year degree in the United States is more than $132,000, according to The College Board.
In contrast to the cost of the initial degree, simplyhi-red.com claims the average annual salary of a college graduate is only $46,000.
Tuition and housing costs aside, college students spend a good chunk of their financ-es on food and fun.
“The biggest thing I see students not doing is put-ting money away in a savings account,” UAA student and Wells Fargo Bank teller Evan Mulcahy said. “A lot of peo-ple run pretty high balances on their credit cards.”
Focusing on the here and now, and not the long-term picture, seems to trap young
students into large college and credit card debts.
Wells Fargo is in close con-nection with universities and colleges across the country. The bank, like several others, helps students manage their aid packages, acquire low-in-terest student loans and also offers account counseling for those without financial expe-rience.
Hands on Banking, a Wells Fargo financial organization program for college students, presents students with a plan on how to limit frivolous spending. The plan instructs students to keep a calendar record of repaid and received aid. It also encourages stu-dents to keep applying for fi-nancial aid, grants and schol-arships at the end of every school year.
In addition to planning college spending, Hands on Banking offers money tips for cash outside college ex-penses. The program stresses creating a strict spending plan for rent, food, transpor-tation and savings. Students are urged to cut back on small luxuries, such as movie tickets and dining, and put the money towards a big-ger purchase such as a plane ticket or car.
Wells Fargo advises being cautious with credit cards and recommends applying for part time jobs on and around campus. Also, Hands on Banking suggests explor-ing tax deductions on student loans. According to the bank, students can receive up to $2500.00 on their tax returns.
To keep from owing more than a student can possibly earn, it’s critical to cut the credit cards, be careful with checking accounts and invest in a separate savings account. Financial advisers are readily available at the financial aid office in the Student Union, as well as at banks like Wells Fargo, sometimes for free. Both institutions work close-ly with students to help them maximize their use of student loans and income.
With careful planning and a little discipline, it’s possible to achieve success in college and escape without an insur-mountable pile of debt.
It’s a toss up
