“I came here (because) it’s really convenient for me because I wouldn’t have the chance to meet with a lot of these people,” Pearson said.

The fair is one of multiple events hosted by MSU’s Career Services throughout the year to help students with continuing their education and finding employment.

Carol Stier, assistant director of Career Services at the Stadium, said MSU’s graduate programs usually are the most popular. She said the University of Michigan is usually the second-most popular, especially because there are areas MSU’s graduate programs do not cover, including dentistry.

About 140 recruiters attended the event to pitch their programs for a wide range of majors and fields.

Rhonda Sarmento, assistant director of Career Services for the professional masters programs in engineering at Duke University, said the event was a good way for students to give a face to the résumé.

“We want to be able to talk to them,” Sarmento said. “Coming to an event like this really gives us a chance to meet this student and see who they really are, as opposed to just reading about them on paper.”

Pearson said the fair also is a great way to learn about unexpected programs and universities.
“(Students can find) out about different schools that they didn’t know about and (meet) other people that are interested in the same schools,” Pearson said.

Sarmento said Duke visits MSU because it has continually found great candidates.

“We want students who are good at what they do and (don’t) just have a great GPA,” Sarmento said.
“It’s worth our time to come to Michigan (State).”