Presenting at NCUR and What's Next

April 27th, 2023

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Graduate School Acceptance Letters

Beginning in January of 2023, I received my first acceptance letter for the doctoral entry-level program at St. Catherines University based in St. Paul, MN. I applied to both their master's and doctoral programs so it was relieving to know I was accepted into one of them. In the middle of February, I received a rejection letter from UW- Madison for their doctoral program. This was upsetting because it was on my birthday but it was also my second-choice school. I knew this was the most competitive program I had applied to so I didn't think too deeply about the declined offer to their program. Toward the end of February, I received an acceptance letter for the doctoral entry-level program at the University of Minnesota. Here I was accepted into the Rochester campus program which was my top choice school. Toward the end of March, I received a letter from UW-Miluakee that I was not yet accepted to their master's program, but put on their waiting list. This wasn't too upsetting for me as I honestly didn't want to go to this school, it was more my "safety net" school I had applied for as another option for me. I ended up accepting my position at the University of Minnesota - Rochester as this was a program that was highly ranked but in a city, I felt comfortable in. I also knew other students in previous cohorts so this was a program I was most familiar with and was able to hear first-hand experiences. I will move to Rochester and begin classes this fall to obtain my Doctorate in Occupational Therapy.

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National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Experience

On April 13th-15th, the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire held the first in-person NCUR conference since COVID-19. Here along with 3,200 other undergraduate students I was able to present the research project I have been working on with McNair. I presented my poster, Feasibility of Virtual Exercise Intervention on Occupational Fatigue, Perceived Burnout, and Daily Sleep Time among Family Medicine Residents during the hour-long poster presentation along with other students in a large ballroom. The atmosphere of this presentation was quite overwhelming because over 100 other students are all presenting at the same time and the ballroom room temperature became very heated. I wasn't as nervous because I already had experience presenting at the McNair Symposium this past winter. Although it was a national conference, I was less nervous to present here because it was an "open house" type of environment where viewers came and left and no more than three viewers at a time. This helped me build confidence in my presentation skills as I was able to have a more one-on-one type of conversation when presenting and not worry about multiple people looking at me at the same time. Throughout the hour, I was able to meet other kinesiology students and we talked about potential research ideas or any limitations to my study. This conference presentation was a great experience for me as I'll be attending graduate school in the future and am sure I will be doing more research presentations in the future. Presenting at NCUR was one of the last events to end my McNair journey and something I'm thankful to be a part of!

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