Josh Borger graduated from the Communication, M.S. program in 2023. He currently works within the GVSU Athletic Department as the Marketing and Fan Development Director. We sat down with Josh to talk about his time in the program and how it has helped him in his career.
Max: Thanks for sitting down with me today, Josh. I know you attended GVSU for your undergrad degree, so what made you choose communication as a Master’s program?
Josh: I did look at all of the grad programs that Grand Valley has, you know, like the MBA program. As a sport manager working in sports its really communications or the MBA program. And I honestly, I thought communications was going to benefit me more in what I do in marketing, and just get a better understanding of what communications is. And it helped me more than I thought, learning about the different mediums of communication and how communication, you know, evolves and works was very beneficial to me.
Max: What classes or ideas that you learned about did you find really helpful to you and your career?
Josh: My favorite class and the most valuable one was the emerging tech class with Dr. Anton, he was absolutely great in that class, I loved it. And we did a deep dive really into AI and all of that the semester. It was really weird chat GPT had just taken off and there’s a bunch of other stuff. And Anton was working on his coffee table book during that semester, as well. So I think that one was because as we’re, you know, in marketing and everything, and people are starting to use Chet GPT and these AI features that are in all of our, like social media, software’s and everything it was really, that one was very nice to have the deep dive into it and learn about like the background and the pros and cons to using artificial intelligence.
Max: How was the jump going from undergraduate to graduate? Was the standard difference difficult at first?
Josh: It definitely was a lot. There was a lot more expected of you in terms of just doing work on your own. In the undergrad, it was easier to kind of get by with just here’s, you know, here’s a study guide, memorize what’s on the study guide, and then reiterate that back to me. Going through the grad program, there weren’t many exams, which I liked, it was a lot more of reflecting on what you’ve actually learned. You had to do your own reading or your own research on things and apply it into your walk of life. And like one thing I appreciated about our classes was, me and athletic marketing, I have a completely different experience than some of my classmates who, you know, worked for the government or own their own food trucks and stuff like that, where I got to see how they interpreted the same message. And they got to see how I interpreted that the readings and stuff like that as well.
Max: What is one piece of advice you would give to a future student in the Master’s program?
Josh: I would say work ahead. Don’t let everything sit till the last minute. Do the readings, participate. You really get out what you put in to it. So if you want I mean, if you want to coast by and not do anything, go for it. But it’s a lot easier and more valuable if you try and get engaged and also, talk to your classmates, meet your classmates. They are a tremendous help in getting through everything.
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