Summers are normally spent on campus doing research. Students on assistantship must enroll every session while pursuing a degree. Students, whether on assistantship or not, are expected to devote half-time to departmental projects. These are supervised by the advisor and include research leading to the degree. All students assist in teaching courses and have opportunity to gain experience commensurate with career goals.
Experience participating in extension programs is encouraged.
Every graduate student is supplied a desk and given access to supplies and facilities needed to perform official duties. Our objective is to facilitate learning and to integrate students as colleagues in the department. All recipients of M.S. and Ph.D. degrees have had a choice of jobs prior to graduation. For M.S. students these choices have been most frequent for extension positions and dairy related businesses, both commercial and cooperative. Farm management and further graduate study are possibilities also.