Kuhlin Career Hub helps BGSU student achieve 100% acceptance rate to graduate schools

Psychology major Anna Bryan said connecting with a career design coach was pivotal in her success

As her deadlines approached, Anna Bryan watched the blinking cursor in her word processor, stuck on what to say next.

A diligent student who will graduate from Bowling Green State University at age 20, Bryan knew she had to apply to graduate school to achieve her career goal of becoming a school psychologist.

But when it came to detail her many undergraduate accomplishments in a personal statement, Bryan hit a roadblock.

“Talking about yourself in the manner you’re asked to do in a personal statement is really hard to put on paper,” Bryan said. “I can write an essay perfectly fine, and reading a research article is pretty simple for me, but when it was time to write about myself, I was sitting there like, ‘I don’t know what to say.’”

At the recommendation of a co-worker, Bryan sought help at the Michael and Sara Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections, which is an integral part of the University's Life Design ecosystem aimed at helping students align their interests with future career opportunities.

Students can engage with career design coaches, who provide resources and support to explore career opportunities purposefully.

The Kuhlin Career Hub’s unique and comprehensive approach to connecting students to its robust network of industry professionals is one of the many examples of the University’s commitment to supporting student success and outcomes and a driving factor in its reputation for excellence as the No. 1 public university in Ohio for student experience and career opportunities.

Bryan met with Allie Dane ’24, a career design coach at the Kuhlin Career Hub, to work through the application process, which initially felt like a riddle to Bryan. Unlike education majors, preservice school psychologists don’t receive school placements as undergraduates – leaving Bryan feeling as if she had no experience.

When the pair detailed Bryan’s undergraduate career, however, the exercise showed a highly involved student who had maximized her time at BGSU.

“I think it was just getting the reassurance that she was on the right path and making the right choices, even if it took asking for a little help,” Dane said. “I think it can help to have a third party, like a career design coach, to take an outside look at students’ involvement and experiences.

“When we have to articulate things in an interview or put them down on paper, it can be really hard for us to see all the value that we have.”

Bryan, a member of the Undergraduate Psychology Association as well as Psi Chi, a national honor society in psychology, also had attended relevant panels near her hometown of Fayetteville, Ohio, connected with school psychologists in the field and even mentored other students as an undergraduate.

After meeting with Dane, Bryan said the prospect of completing applications suddenly didn’t feel as daunting.

“I felt defeated at first, but after that first meeting was over, it was like a weight came off my back,” Bryan said. “It was such a relief after it was finished because I knew I had done the application to the best of my ability, it had everything it needed and I had taken all the steps at BGSU to be successful in my next step.”

Graduate schools agreed: Bryan was accepted to every graduate school to which she applied and will have her choice of programs next year.

While the process of applying to graduate school was tricky at first, Bryan said she remains grateful she utilized the Kuhlin Hub.

“It was really helpful for me to the point where I’ve been telling all my friends, ‘Please go to the Kuhlin Hub and refine your resume,’” Bryan said. “For the past two months, I think I’ve been their biggest promoter.”

Dane said the Kuhlin Hub’s job is to help students navigate life after BGSU, which sometimes can be as simple as a student seeing themselves in a different light.

Completing a resume or writing a personal statement can be challenging, Dane said, but the Kuhlin Hub is there to help.

“I was able to open the door for her own experiences – showing her she had done all these incredible things and we just needed to know how to talk about them – but she really did all the work,” Dane said. “She had the experiences that were necessary, she just needed to know how to showcase them.

“She worked really hard to hone and enhance her statement and her resume, and I’m just so proud of her.”