Career Services held its yearly Graduate Fair on Monday in the ballroom of the Shepherd Union Building.

The fair is an opportunity for anyone who is considering graduate school to learn about the different programs that schools are offering. It is also a chance for students to network and make contacts that may be beneficial later when they are applying to graduate school.

Approximately 100 graduate schools come to the event every year. The fair is the result of months of planning by Career Services and the Utah Association of Colleges and Employers Consortium.

The UACE Consortium includes Weber State University, Utah State University, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University, Westminster, Dixie State University, Southern Utah University and the University of Utah. The consortium allows for those schools to invite graduate schools to visit their campuses as part of a package deal.

This is a big draw for most graduate schools and creates the possibility for some of the smaller Utah universities to get visits from prestigious graduate schools.

“If we were to invite MIT to Weber State, they would never come. But they will come to visit for the potential of the 200,000 students at all these universities,” said Winn Stanger, the director of Career Services.

Michael Goodrich, a senior studying accounting, attended the fair in order to get a good look at his options for law school. Goodrich noticed that meeting the representatives from the schools was very beneficial.

“I got a lot more information than I thought I was going to,” Goodrich said. “Coming to the fair was very helpful.”

One of the recruiters he spoke with even arranged to waive the application fees if he signs up for their school.

Another recruiter was former Wildcat Brittny Budge, who now lives with California with her husband. Budge graduated from Weber in 2010 with a degree in health promotion.

Budge now works for Life Chiropractic College West from California. As one of the recruiters, her job is to provide students with information about how to apply for the school and what to expect from their time there after enrollment. She agrees that the fair is an incredible opportunity for students to get informed about graduate school.

“If students are uncertain about what they want to do or where they want to go, the Graduate Fair is a good place to start,” Budge said.