The Graduate School Exploration Program concluded its preplanned run, but ACM plans to share lessons learned to extend its positive impact.
Inside the galleries of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, a St. Paul landmark dedicated to art created in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, assistant curator and public historian Kylie Linh Hoang recently reflected on her journey to a position she called rewarding and enjoyable. The 2020 graduate of Knox College noted that an advanced degree is often required for curatorial jobs like hers, but she added that when she was an undergraduate, she found it daunting to imagine pursuing a master’s at a major research university.
“I wasn’t sure how I could find success without the individualized support I received at Knox,” Hoang recalled. “Participating in GRADx introduced me to brilliant, inspiring people, and it was the first time I felt like I might actually be able to achieve success in graduate school.”
GRADx, short for Graduate School Exploration Program, was the result of a partnership between the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The program gave undergrads a firsthand glimpse at the life of a graduate student, provided advice on applying to and financing grad school, and showcased what career paths are possible with a graduate degree in the arts, humanities, and humanistic social sciences. In the fall of 2019, Hoang’s GRADx cohort toured Michigan State University.
“I don’t think I would have even considered a Big Ten school without having had the campus visit at Michigan State,” Hoang said. “Being able to hear directly from graduate students about their experiences and their access to pivotal resources at their Big Ten school directly led to me to apply at the University of Minnesota.”
Building on her bachelor’s degree in history from Knox, Hoang earned a master’s in heritage studies and public history from the University of Minnesota (UMN) in 2022. As part of her graduate work, Hoang completed a year-long fellowship at the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Now a full-time member of “The M’s” curatorial team, Hoang researches American identity and believes communities’ futures are brighter when they are connected with their past.
“My work is deeply influenced by my educational journey, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to my advisors Cate Denial at Knox and Kevin Murphy at UMN for believing in me,” Hoang said.
ACM is celebrating Hoang’s success story as one example of the power of GRADx, now that the program has served its final cohort. In April 2025, the program ended with an on-campus forum at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). ACM extended its warm gratitude to UIUC for hosting what participant Kris Pandey described as a “really, really helpful” event.
Pandey, a Knox senior majoring in creative writing and English literature, will soon begin a prestigious Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in poetry at the University of Iowa. He said conversations at the GRADx forum with UIUC graduate students helped him better understand how teaching assistantships work. Previously, a fall 2024 GRADx event at Indiana University provided Pandey with information on researching programs, crafting a personal statement, and leveling up his graduate school applications, he added.
“It wasn’t as real until GRADx came along,” Pandey said of his pursuit of an MFA. “Being in a room with people who are working toward the same goal made it much more concrete for me.”
ACM and the Big Ten Academic Alliance introduced GRADx in 2019, with a goal to provide encouragement and support to top-level talent from a range of backgrounds—including first-generation students like Hoang. The program resumed in 2022 after a pause forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. GRADx was funded through a Mellon Foundation grant, which covered the full costs for undergraduates to travel to Big Ten campuses for discussions, tours, networking sessions, and more.
ACM President Lisa Jasinski said while GRADx has concluded its predetermined number of offerings, she and her team are currently considering ways to extend its positive impacts.
“The priority of GRADx was simply to demystify graduate school for interested ACM students,” Jasinski noted. “But we also gained valuable new insights into knowledge gaps many students have about grad school and ways we could improve their preparedness.”
Jasinski went on to say that ACM plans to distill lessons learned through GRADx and use that information to develop resource guides for its 14 member colleges. These toolkits should help individual ACM campuses answer common questions about grad school and connect students with additional assistance provided by the Big Ten Academic Alliance and other universities.
“ACM students possess so many talents and have so much to contribute to the world,” Jasinski said. “For those who seek a graduate degree, the lasting legacy of GRADx will be the way it made exploring options accessible, informative, and fun—values ACM will remember as we start writing the next chapter for the program.”
According to GRADx organizers, roughly one-third of participants have applied to master’s or PhD programs. They expect that number to rise following gap years and as sophomore and junior participants approach their graduations.
Back at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Kylie Linh Hoang thanked ACM, the Big Ten Academic Alliance, and GRADx for supporting her as she navigated her path to the master’s degree that unlocked an exciting career that adds to the vibrancy of the St. Paul community.
“I think I likely would have applied to graduate school without GRADx, but I don’t think I would have been nearly as confident in my applications,” Hoang said. “The guidance on how to manage the application process, how to ask for help, and how to plan for life as a graduate student was imperative for my success.”
