Senior sociology major Stacie Hill lugged three TCU purple tote bags through Andrew’s Ballroom Thursday afternoon for the Graduate and Professional Fair.

“I heard about it two hours before it started,” Hill said. “I know I want to go to graduate school, so I had to get all the information about it this year.”

Career Services hosted its annual Graduate and Professional Fair in the Nick and Lou Martin University Center. The event featured university representatives from schools in and around Texas who talked about their master’s and doctoral programs.

“So far it’s [the fair] really good,” Hill said. “It’s been a little stressful because I’m collecting the bags for two other people and I feel like an odd duck, but other than that it’s really good.”

Hill said students should come because they’ll probably find new information on graduate school.

“I found out a few other areas that I might be interested in,” Hill said. “I’m trying not to limit myself, so I came with an open mind. A few other schools that I didn’t initially consider are here, so I think there’s good in that.”

Associate Director of Career Services Michael Gatton said students should come because they may find out new requirements for their career path, better degree programs, or a whole new career opportunity.

“Students should come because they don’t know what they don’t know,” Gatton said. “It’s good to have more information.”

Gatton said that is why Career Services makes sure to reach out to the Texas Swing, university recruiters that travel around Texas, when they’re in the DFW Metroplex.

“We try to make sure to provide opportunities to our undergraduates, so that they have access to appropriate programs for what they’re looking for,” Gatton said.

In just two tables, senior exercise major Eric Johnson found the information he was looking for about local physical therapy programs and contact information for them.

“I would definitely recommend this [fair] to people, so they can get some information and maybe they [the recruiters] can connect you to somebody in the neighboring area,” Johnson said. “I’d definitely recommend it.”

Students also don’t need to be seniors to benefit from the information, said freshman biology major Estrella France. France plans on going into graduate school for the medical field.

“I ended up learning about schools I didn’t know about and learning more about them,” France said.

She said she’d also recommend the fair to other students.

“There’s a lot of different fields here and different information you can use to determine what you want to do,” France said.

Overall, Hill said there isn’t a drawback in attending the fair.

“It’s almost like you have to have a graduate degree now,” Hill said. “It’s 30 more hours, what can it hurt to look into it?”