Media Advisory: What's Grad School Really Like? Students Play "Monopoly" to Find Out

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- More college students, especially those in the sciences, are realizing that they must attend graduate school in order to launch successful careers. But there's a lot more to grad school than just filling out applications and taking entrance exams, as 16 students participating in a University at Buffalo summer program are about to discover on July 21.

The students, from across the U.S., are all participants in CLIMB UP, a summer program sponsored by UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. They are spending their summer at UB studying biosciences, to learn from UB faculty and to benefit from mentoring programs at UB.

On July 21 at 1:15 p.m., they will be playing "Grad School Monopoly," a game designed to convey to them the realities about grad school and to dispel some of the myths. It takes place in Room 125 in the Biomedical Education Building on the UB South Campus.

Students will visit each of 15 "properties" representing different UB departments, mentoring programs and factors in choosing a graduate school. The students will each have a scorecard that will guide them to and from the different "properties." Faculty and graduate students from the UB medical school, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Roswell Park Cancer Institute will be at each station, to interact with students and answer questions.

Students will have chances to earn Monopoly money which will help them navigate the board. Prizes will be awarded based on how well the students move about the board.

Press arrangements: Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of University Communications at 645-4605 and 771-9255 onsite.