On Wednesday, October 30, representatives from all five of Pace’s colleges gathered into Gottesman to show prospective graduate students what Pace could offer them, at the Fall 2019 graduate open house.

The event started around 5:30 p.m. and lasted until 7 p.m., and had in between 70 to 100 prospective graduate students in attendance. Since it was a graduate open house, it had a much more hands-on and personal approach to it than the undergraduate one that was held on campus just over a week earlier. There was a casual approach to the event; there were not any keynote speakers, tours of any campus facilities, or a formal start and finish.

However, it did offer something very beneficial to attendees that the undergraduate open house did not; every attendee who signed in was automatically waived from paying the $70 application fee. Because of this, at least thirty attendees started their application at the event.

In addition to the application waiver, attendees got a short glimpse of every single graduate program that is currently offered on the Pleasantville campus. These programs range from the MS in Information Systems to the MA in Environmental Policy to the MS in Occupational Therapy. Occupational Therapy is one of three programs that will be introduced to campus in the spring semester, along with the MS in Dietetics and the MS in Arts and Entertainment Management. Representatives from Pace Career Services and Financial Aid were also present at the event.

The program that sparked the most interest from attendees is also the most popular graduate program currently offered on campus, the Accelerated Nursing program, which is designed for students who do not have undergraduate degrees in nursing to quickly jump into the field. This program’s popularity led to Leinhard’s table being crowded throughout the entire event. Other programs which caught attendees’ interests were the MA in Media and Communication Arts program, and the Physician’s Assistant program, the most competitive graduate program currently offered on the Pleasantville campus.

Administrative Evaluator of Graduate Admissions and Pace alumnus, Max Onofre, was pleased with the event’s turnout.

“[The organizers] were a little concerned; the weather can always be a factor that hinders people from coming, but we had a very good turnout,” Onofre said. “We had a registration of about 160 students, and I think that the majority of them came out tonight.”

According to Onofre, the goal of this event was to connect prospective students with the departments and faculty that they are interested in working with, and the hands-on approach of the event reflects how most of the graduate programs are taught; less lecture-heavy and more hands-on.

“If students are admitted, [they] want to know who they’re going to be working with,” he said. “The goal is to turn to a program that’s the best fit for them.”

Students who are interested in Pace’s graduate programs but missed the open house should not worry. Graduate admissions are hosting several information sessions, both on-campus and virtually, about all the programs that are offered. The next on the Pleasantville campus is scheduled for Friday, November 8 at 4 p.m., and will be about the PhD in Nursing.

*Updates have been made to this article since it was originally published:

It was originally stated in the article that the three newest graduate programs were introduced to campus at the beginning of this semester. The three newest programs will actually be introduced to the campus next semester, Spring 2020.