More than 1,000 students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will walk across the stage on Sunday, May 13 as they graduate from West Virginia University, ready to take on the world.
As
Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect
on their time at WVU and their plans for the future.
San Francisco, California, native Zoe Dobler distinctly remembers filling out her application for WVU. As she was prompted to choose her prospective major, Dobler selected biology without much of a second thought.
“Life sciences has been such an intrinsic part of my life and how I see the world, so it made sense for me to pursue it for my bachelor’s degree,” Dobler said. “It has been a constant in my life and I reasoned that anything that remains an interest so consistently from childhood all the way through adolescence must be significant to me and a promising path to pursue.”
Dobler enjoys that her major focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying life and all living things while allowing students to explore the world through large scale contexts, from ecosystems to molecules.
Her advice to incoming students? Start networking early.
“Many students are often under the impression that in freshman year, it’s too early to be able to successfully obtain positions in labs or snag other important opportunities, but this is not the case,” Dobler said. “Communicate with your professors; ask for help or connections. There are many more opportunities for involvement in those first years than you think.”
Dobler also studies the French and German languages and has enjoyed her brief time with the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. She encourages incoming students to be involved with the WVU Amnesty International and Model UN student organizations.
For the 2018-2019 year, Dobler will conduct neuroscience research in Austria as one of 10 Fulbright Scholars recipients at WVU, a record-setting number. Following her year in Austria, Dobler plans to enter graduate school to obtain a Ph.D. in neuroscience.
“When I applied for graduate schools, the people within this department were my support system, willing to provide me with advice based on their own experiences, writing letters of recommendation for me and helping me make connections,” Dobler said. “My department has had a primary role in my scientific and professional development, and it is the reason that the department is the best thing I’ve experience at WVU.”
