As the Class of 2015 seniors prepare to walk for graduation, some students are preparing to study abroad, including Anne Cormia and Mira Mason-Reader.
Cormia and Mason-Reader will be participating in one-year graduate school programs at the University of York in England and the University College of Cork (UCC) in Ireland, respectively.
Initially, neither of the two knew that they wanted to go abroad for graduate school. As they began to look into programs in preparation for their life after commencement, they each found schools that suited their academic goals perfectly. With their families’ full support, both women are counting down the days before they leave for Europe.
Cormia, a double major for research psychology and women, gender and sexuality studies, had originally wanted to study abroad to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland for her undergraduate years.
During her time at Mills, Cormia was able to study abroad at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland during fall 2013. There she found that the United Kingdom school system worked better for her than the US system.
Mason-Reader, an English creative writing major and dance minor, was one of only 12 students to be accepted into the Master of Arts in the creative writing program at UCC.
“I didn’t know I wanted to go abroad,” Mason-Reader said. “I also didn’t know I wanted to go to grad school. I didn’t have that goal in mind up until last year.”
Similar to Cormia, Mason-Reader decided to study abroad because the program was well-fitted with the creative writing field she wants to emerge herself into.
“Ireland is an amazing place for writers,” Mason-Reader said. “It’s one of the only places that you can be a poet and be appreciated and respected for it.”
Cormia and Mason-Reader have some general ideas of what they might want to do when their programs finish; Cormia hopes to continue to live abroad, while Mason- Reader thinks she may return to the United States and possibly become a professor.
Before graduating from Mills this spring, Cormia offers advice to seniors who are interested in going abroad.
“Don’t be afraid to look abroad because sometimes the perfect program for you might not be in the United States,” Cormia said. “Sometimes a faster or more interesting track to your end goals will be something that isn’t offered here.”
Both women thank their professors, their department faculty, friends and family for their help and support in their future.
*This article has been updated from the print edition.
