Opportunity Costs

Todays Luncheon Lecture speaker, James Oliver, discussed his journey navigating the contrasting worlds of academia and industry. A journey I will soon face as I prepare for graduate school next year. It is clear that the opportunity cost of completing a masters degree is worth it for my career goals. Yet, there is still so much to decide. My home university, University at Buffalo, offers a Human Factors (HF) graduate program in the Industrial and System Engineering department. Additionally, their collaboration with OSHA provides a Occupational Safety and Health Traineeship that covers tuition and a stipend. Right now I am trying to navigate my next steps, determining what schools I am interested in and the necessary steps to prepare for those applications.

Tomorrow I am virtually meeting with a graduate student completing the HF masters at UB with the OSHA traineeship. I intend to find clarity on the program and what it has to offer for me. Some of the questions I am going to ask include:

• Why did you choose the HF M.S. at UB?
• What was the application process? For both UB and the OSHA traineeship?
• What are some advantages of the OSHA traineeship? What are some disadvantages?
• How did your initial expectations of the program and traineeship align with your experience? How did they differ?
• What is something you wish you knew before applying that you know now?
• What are your next steps, and how did this program help you get to where you are now?

Thanks for reading my thoughts. My upcoming blogs will be filled with my consistent search for clarity and answers to the abundant questions within my mind. Have a great day!