Part pep talk, part primer on graduate life, orientation day also serves to instill a spirit of self-actualization in the students. Positive results at the graduate level demand a proactive approach, the students were told. 

“Have one-on-one interactions with your professors,” said Dave Bhandari, a cybersecurity master’s student from India and one of four current graduate students who shared their wisdom during a panel discussion. “Asking for help from professors is no shame. You can gain more knowledge, and professors can lead you to more opportunities. They are very helpful.” 

Those allies shouldn’t be limited to the student’s immediate circle, said LaRuth McAfee, senior assistant dean of the Graduate College. 

“You don’t want just one mentor. It’s important to have multiple mentors, because they do different things for you,” McAfee said. “Some of them may be on campus, some of them will be people you’ll meet at conferences or in grad student organizations you get involved in. Look at how you can build up a constellation of mentors.” 

There will also be plenty of joyous moments ahead, the students heard — along with inevitable hardships. For some, rough times will be soothed with the support of fellow students. For others, it will be the presence of a higher power, or UD’s extensive wellness resources, or just a phone call to their families back home.  

“A graduate degree is like climbing a ladder where your peers and mentors and family form a support system,” said Max Bobbin of Joppa, Maryland, president of the Graduate Student Government and a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering. 

“There will be times you’re going to fall down this ladder — and you may fall a lot, and it may hurt, and all you’ll want to do is lie where you landed,” Bobbin added. “But as you lie there, you’ll witness the greatest sense of community as the people who care for you will be there to help push you up that ladder. And you’ll come out stronger and a better graduate student because of it.” 

By choosing UD, the students also have ensured that extraordinary challenges are always accompanied by unique opportunities. The University is ideally situated in the mid-Atlantic corridor, rich with professional potential and stress-easing activities. 

“I like to describe our University and this place as a crossroads of the region,” Rossi told them. “They say like a quarter or a third of the population of the United States lives within a 200-mile radius of us. It’s a pretty amazing place, all with a small-town feel.”

It’s also a place where people and ideas can come together, fertilize and grow, Rossi said, pointing to Delaware’s deep connections to high-tech changemakers like the DuPont Co. and W. L. Gore & Associates.

"So it’s not surprising that we’re a Carnegie R1 institution,” a rating given only to universities with very high research activity, Rossi said. “We are research intensive, and that means our research expertise and our output puts us in the top 3% of research institutions in the country. That's a pretty amazing thing about this place.” 

One of those students seeking amazing things here is Jonathan Wilson of Potomac, Maryland, who came to UD’s Center for Composite Materials for his mechanical engineering doctoral degree. 

“I was working in industry for four and a half years, so this is my return to academia,” he said. “I’m excited.” 

So was Snehal Kalke, who jetted to Newark from her home in Mumbai, India, because she heard the master’s degree in business analytics and information management was the best in the country. 

“I’ve never stepped out of Mumbai until now,” the 27-year-old said. “It was snowing on the day I arrived in Newark. It’s 30 degrees [86 Fahrenheit] in Mumbai right now. So I went shopping for a coat — in Mumbai I never even needed a sweater.”