By Aliza Flug, Senior Layout Editor and Social Media Manager
With the fall semester in full swing, seniors are beginning to face the dreaded question: “What are you going to do next year?” Yeshiva University offers a wide variety of majors, allowing students to pursue a wide spectrum of careers. But while some are excited to be finishing their long journey of schooling, others still have years of graduate school ahead of them before they can step out into the “real world.” Whether it is medical school, semikha (rabbinic ordination) programs or architecture school, students must turn to YU for support in the long and laborious application process ahead.
Some departments, such as the biology department, start career guidance early on. From day one, YU has listservs for both pre-med students and students pursuing a career in an allied health field. These emails are geared specifically toward biology majors and allow them to be alerted of internship and volunteer opportunities, graduate school open houses and pre-med meetings. When the application process begins, students can speak with professors, biology department heads or the career center. Biology students told the YU Observer that, while the biology department is more helpful with class selection and finding relevant extracurricular activities, the Shevet Glaubach Center for Career Strategy and Professional Development (SGC) focuses on helping students write and edit their essays and resumes.
Naomi Kapp, Associate Director of Career Advising at the SGC, told the YU Observer about the services the SGC provides to students applying to graduate school.
“Our office partners with students very closely on helping them with their application process, their personal statements, preparing them for interviews, conducting mock interviews…” Kapp said. “The Shevet Glaubach Center does offer assistance to students applying to graduate schools in many different disciplines.”
As with many departments, students are also expected to reach out if they would like support, instead of relying on the school to keep tabs on each student. Bailey Feintuch (SCW ‘26) is pursuing a career as an optometrist. “The biggest help that I’ve gotten was from Dr. Loewy, but it’s only because I reached out to her on my own volition,” she told the YU Observer. Dr. Brenda Loewy is the Director of Pre-health Advisement and a biology professor at Stern College for Women. Students noted that while the department has plentiful pre-med opportunities, they don’t offer as much for students in other fields. Feintuch told the YU Observer that she was put in touch with alumni working in the field, but she didn’t receive any other help in finding an internship related to optometry.
Students applying to law school feel that the pre-law advisors have been helpful and supportive throughout their time in YU. Hayley Geiger (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer that the pre-law department of the SGC regularly runs pre-law events and hosts various graduate schools to present their law programs. The pre-law advisors that are part of the SGC also provide additional individualized support. “It’s such a small group of pre-law students and the advisors are really there to help us,” Geiger told the YU Observer.
This semester, the art department held an informational session for art majors interested in applying to graduate school. The art department has students pursuing a variety of degrees, with some applying to master’s programs for architecture, art therapy or graphic design. Leah Gurock (SCW ‘26) is applying to an M.Arch (Master of Architecture) program and feels very prepared thanks to the guidance of the art department. She told the YU Observer that she is grateful that her major is on the smaller side because that means she gets individualized attention from professors and department chairs who know her personally. “It makes it a little less scary, when you have someone who is heavily invested,” she said. For most art programs, applicants are required to submit a curated portfolio which displays their artistic abilities, interests and creative thought process. It is comforting for art students to know that they will be able to put together a portfolio under the guidance of professors who know their art styles, preferences and talents better than anyone else.
Leah Reichlin (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer that although she is grateful to the art department for helping her with the graduate school application process, she didn’t find the career center to be helpful for more niche career paths. Reichlin is applying to graduate programs for art therapy and felt that the career center wasn’t knowledgeable in that field. “I don’t find the career center is so helpful in fields that aren’t as popular or don’t involve graduate schools connected to YU,” she said.
Reichlin was not the only one who made note of how much her department assisted her with applications. Rivka Inger (SCW ‘25) felt that the English department supported her through every step of the graduate school application process. “I’m now studying for an M.A. in English Literature at Hunter College, and I know that I wouldn’t be here today without their generosity,” she told the YU Observer. “The English department was essential in helping me to apply to graduate school by aiding me in preparing my writing sample, personal statement, and writing letters of recommendation.”
Caleb Gitlitz (YC ‘25), a recent graduate who currently attends the RIETS (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary) Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Semikha Program, told the YU Observer that not only did he feel supported by all of his professors and rebbeim while applying to the program, he felt that they served as role models for what he wants his future to look like as a rabbi. “Studying under YU rosh yeshiva and rav of Ohr Saadya Rabbi [Daniel] Feldman was not only the best fit personally, but perhaps the best fit for anyone seeking to be a shul rav,” he said.
For select YU graduate programs, students can join YU’s Pathways program, where undergraduate students can start taking graduate classes that count for both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This allows them to finish their master’s degree faster and save money on tuition. Gitlitz joined the Pathways program in his junior year and is working for a B.A./M.A. in mental health counseling. He now attends YU’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. “The Ferkauf Pathways Program is helping me develop the skills to better assist others in a way I had only imagined before,” he said.
One thing that students across different majors told the YU Observer is that their professors and department heads guided them more throughout the actual application process, but the career center helped with any technical steps such as editing resumes and personal statements or essays. Students have also found talking to alumni either from their major or alumni who have attended their desired graduate schools after YU to be extremely helpful. Applying to graduate school is never going to be easy, but proper guidance can alleviate some of the stress that surrounds the process.
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University