Julio Isaac López Soza

I believe that what has made my graduate program so meaningful is that professors are usually at the top of their fields and hold a networking relationship with potential employers. Hence, they create and teach their courses with learning material that is well-grounded and effective to shape our skills, so we are better prepared for the professional careers we want to pursue. For instance, one of my professors always figures out a way for us to participate in a yearly professional conference for healthcare interpreters. This opens new opportunities for us to network with senior professionals and start to make ourselves known in the industry. 

I am a member of the English Graduate Student Association (EGSA) and the Sigma Tau Delta English Society. My experience in both communities has been rich in both networking and professional development. For instance, we do bimonthly events where we make connections with other graduate students and promote our field with various activities. In the EGSA, we also do a yearly symposium where we present our research to fellow students and faculty. It is indeed a great opportunity to share our work and get meaningful feedback so we can be ready to present at academic and professional conferences.

As I was doing my research on schools to attend, I realized that UNC Charlotte was the place where I could become the professional I wanted to be. As an aspiring linguist, I was amazed to read that UNC Charlotte had an excellent linguistics program with scholar leading the field, which in turn was one of the reasons UNC Charlotte was one of the fastest growing institutions in the southeast of the U.S. Also, I noticed it was one of the few institutions that offered study opportunities on translation and interpreting taught by experts on the field, so that also influenced my decision to come to Charlotte.

Always ask questions! And this is applicable not only in the classroom but everywhere. Asking about opportunities or whether I could do this or that has allowed me to shape my graduate school path in the way I wanted, and it has opened some doors that before I thought impossible.