The UCSB Department of Geography held its graduate student recruitment open house on March 1-2, 2013 and had a record turnout. Fourteen of the 24 new grads recommended for admission were able to attend, including two international students. The Graduate Division helped by allotting us $2,500, used primarily to offset attendee’s travel expenses, and Geography faculty chipped in to finance a barbecue for prospective students.
Friday, March 1 was devoted to a departmental tour, Geography grad student presentations (by Lumari Pardo, Grant McKenzie, and Forest Cannon), a campus tour (led by grad students Yingjie Hu and Song Gao), lunch at the UCen, open door meetings with faculty, and happy hour at the Mercury Lounge in Goleta. On Saturday, prospective grads had the option of a morning hike to Inspiration Point in the Rattlesnake Canyon Wilderness Area (led by grads Ann Tan and Forest Cannon) or a tour of downtown Santa Barbara, led by grads Marcia Zilli and Bonnie Bounds, and the afternoon was devoted to a barbecue held at West Campus Faculty Housing.
In terms of demographics, 5 of the 24 applicants offered admission are international (1 from South Korea and 4 from P.R. China), 12 are male and 12 female, and 2 have been admitted to the MA program, 15 to the MA/PhD program, and 7 to the PhD program. The acceptance rate by Geography recruits is normally about 65%, which is considered relatively high compared to other departments.
Our high rate of acceptance reflects the academic quality of our Geography program in general, but recruitment open house serves to give prospective grads a glimpse of the social side of our close-knit Department as well. Saturday’s barbecue was a major hit. It took place at Faculty Housing (West Campus), and was hosted by Professor David Lopez-Carr; Professor Dan Montello was the master chef, and he also collected donations from the faculty to buy the tri-tip, charcoal, and other supplies, as well as to pay for prospective student lunches on Friday. The prospective students were hosted by current grad students during their stay here. Acting as hosts were (I hope I’m not missing anyone): Danqing Xiao, Marcia Zilli, Grant McKenzie (he took 2 guests), Ann Tan, Yang Lin, Olaf Menzer, Tim and Matt Niblett, Heather Frazier, Antonio Medrano, Shane Grigsby, and Sara Baguskas.
Editor’s note: Many thanks to Student Programs Manager Jose Saleta for supplying details about the demographics and open house and to graduate student Song Gao for taking the photos.
