American Graduate Students and Museums

Who are graduate students and how are they different from undergrads?

Although there are significantly less graduate students in the United States compared to the undergraduate population, graduate students are still a fairly numerous group of people. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 3.1 million people enrolled in graduate school at the start of the 2017-18 academic year. This is a 39% increase since 2000, when 2.2 million people were enrolled in the 2000-01 academic year. Of that 3.1 million students, 1.7 million were enrolled as full-time students and 1.3 were part-time. The average age of the American graduate student is 33 years old. With this information, one can conclude that most graduate students have had at least a few years life experience since their undergraduate career. Thus, the students are more likely to have other responsibilities beyond their academic career, such as caring for family members and having a job that requires a significant amount of time as well.

How do graduate students learn?

Since graduate students are older than undergraduate students, graduate students are inclined to learn in different formats as well. Unlike undergraduate classes, graduate classes are more focused on facilitating a two-way conversation between the instructor and the students. According to Access Masters, an independent media agency established in 2004 that specializes in Higher Education, there are seven key teaching methods for Master’s Degree students that should be utilized. In addition, these methods can also be applied to the core courses required for PhD candidates. The article lists the following seven methods:

1- Discussions

2- Laboratory and Practical Learning

3- Field Trips

4- Problem-Based Learning

5- Projects

6- E-Learning (Utilizing electronic technologies for education including any/all online components)

7- Co-curricular Activities

How do museums fit in with these methods? Simply by visiting a museum for class can incorporate several of these methods including practical learning, problem-based learning and of course- the “visiting” aspect counts as a field trip.

What do graduate students do during their “free time”?

With the last teaching method, one might question the kind of co-curricular activities graduate students engage in since they have so little extra time beyond academics. According to the same article, co-curricular activities include “student, career and professional clubs, internships, voluntary activities, work projects, diversity and multicultural events and academic competitions.” The article then explained that a survey in 2015 reported that 61% of Master’s Degree students participate in internships, 40% in diversity/multicultural events, 36% in study-abroad programs and 30% participate in student career and professional clubs. Thus, even though time is precious for graduate students, research has shown that many are still making the time for activities beyond academia.

Graduate school. Many phrases are associated with this concept. For example, “higher degree,” “lots of stress,” “more school,” etc. Graduate students are known to have very little free time outside of their academic responsibilities and few would indicate that they would spend that scarce “free time” visiting a museum. When I gave a presentation on this topic to my fellow cohorts, a group of museum education graduate students, I was interested to hear their thoughts on graduate school. When I asked what stress factors my cohorts were currently experiencing, the most common responses were “lack of financial stability” and having an extremely “busy schedule”. Then, I asked what they do to help relieve their stress. Some of the responses included “exercise”, “enjoying food and drinks” and “spending time with animals”. Yet, none of the responses indicated that they, a group of MUSEUM EDUCATION students, would want to go visit a MUSEUM during their free time. How shocking! Thus, it is safe to say that visiting museums can easily be one of the last things a graduate student would want to do in their spare time, even for those studying to enter the museum field! However, as the presentation progressed, I hoped to show my cohorts how museums can be relevant to all graduate students and that the institutions can be utilized as valuable resources.

Museums as Resources for Graduate Students

Even though museums may not be the first thing graduate students turn to when it comes to their leisure time, museums can be an excellent resource in a variety of ways. These resources can also help address/accommodate the stress factors graduate students face that were previously mentioned. Museums can be useful due to…

1- A strong and user-friendly website (This allows students to have an online resource for research that does not require them to physically visit a museum. This is a huge time saver!)

2- Discounted or free ticket rates (Students, especially  graduate students, LOVE cheap/free activities.)

3- Being a place of recreation and enjoyment for themselves and family. (Remember- the average graduate student is 33 years old, and it’s likely that they have close family members who would also enjoy visiting a museum to spend time together.)

4- Special events, such as lectures and curatorial talks, just for graduate students (These events do REALLY well if there’s free food too!)

Lastly, museums can serve as a source of income for graduate students. Many museums offer part-time employment opportunities for students. For example, the Harvard Art Museums in Massachusetts offer multiple job positions specifically for graduate students including paid-internships and student-teaching positions for local schools.

I myself am currently employed at the National Building Museum (NBM) as a Birthday Party Host. The position works well for my schedule because it only has hours on the weekend, which is really the only time I have to commit to another activity beyond my academic responsibilities. One could argue that since I am a museum education student, it seems obvious that I would want to work part-time in a museum. However, such positions like mine at the NBM are not limited to graduate students who want to pursue a career in the museum field. For example, one of my co-workers is also a graduate student, but she is studying to get her MSHS in Clinical Operations and Healthcare Management. My degree and her degree are very different fields and yet we both found a museum to help financially support ourselves through part-time work.

In conclusion, although museums will not solve all problems graduate students face, it is clear that they can alleviate some of grad students’ problems, even if it’s only temporary! Hang in there grad students!

Sources (In order of appearance)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ahmedaliakbar/greatest-grad-school-memes-on-the-internet

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_chb.asp

https://www.accessmasterstour.com/articles/view/7-key-teaching-methods-in-masters-education

https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/teaching-and-research/education-departments/student-opportunities