Career Services Staff Helps Recent Grad Get to Grad School

Do you know exactly what you want to be after you graduate from college? Or do you have no idea? There’s no right or wrong answer. And whatever the case may be for you, PC’s liberal arts education can get you there.

Take Maggie Childress, for instance.

Maggie was all set on becoming a doctor when she came to PC four years ago. But she decided during her freshman year that becoming a doctor wasn’t what she wanted.

Maggie did know she wanted to find a career helping people like doctors do. She spoke with her friends and family about career options and heard about speech pathology. Maggie was eager to see if speech pathology was right for her and visited PC’s Office of Career Services and Student Success to learn more.

The staff members there recommended Maggie intern to see first-hand what speech pathologists do. They helped her every step of the way, including finding internships and contacting the appropriate personnel at the internship sites so Maggie could get started.

Maggie’s internships gave her real-world experience and reassured her that she was right: Becoming a speech pathologist was just what she was looking for.

“I looked into people’s faces when they finally said a word correctly or understood a concept,” she said. “I’ve held people’s hands or wiped away their tears when they became frustrated and needed the reassurance that I was with them every step of the way. My speech pathology internships were extremely fulfilling experiences.”

Maggie majored in psychology and minored in political science. She’ll begin earning her master’s degree in speech pathology this fall at the University of Tennessee.

It’s a competitive program, but Maggie is ready.

“Coming from PC, I feel very prepared to take on graduate school,” she said. “During my time at PC, I created very meaningful academic relationships with professors and learned so much due to the rigorous curriculum.

“The professors taught me a great deal, not only in the academic sense but also in regards to who I want to be and how I can achieve my goals.”