Advancement to Graduate Education (AGE) Conference
Date: October 24, 2026
Time: 9:00 am-2:30 pm
Location: USU, Northridge Center
Register Today
Thinking about pursing a master's or doctoral degree?
The AGE conference is an all-day event where CSUN students learn about graduate school—both master’s and doctoral degrees. The conference begins with our distinguished keynote speaker, followed by a variety of workshops to assist students with applying to graduate school.
If you would like to view the featured workshops, please select the tabs within the accordion below.
Zoom links will be sent to attendees before the event.
9:00 AM Welcome Remarks
9:05 AM Keynote Address
10:00 AM
- Applying to Graduate School: Choosing Schools, Creating a Strategy, and Identifying your Brand
11:00 AM (select one of the following workshops below)
- Statement of Purpose and Diversity/Personal Statement: Business & Economics, Health & Human Development, and Social & Behavioral Sciences,
- Statement of Purpose and Diversity/Personal Statement: Engineering & Computer Science and Science & Mathematics
- Statement of Purpose and Diversity/Personal Statement: Arts, Media, & Communication, Education, Humanities, and University Library
12:00 PM LUNCH
12:30 PM Workshops (select one of the following workshops below)
- Financing a Graduate Education
- Application Components: Letters of Recommendation, Transcripts, Resume, GRE, Writing Sample, Interviews
1:30 PM
- Panel: Grad Health and Wellbeing During the Application Process and Beyond
2:30 PM
- Closing Remarks and Resources for Additional Support
Pauline Serrano, M.A., M.Ed.
Doctoral Candidate, School Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Jean Pauline Serrano is a doctoral candidate in the APA-accredited School Psychology program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is completing her predoctoral internship at the Santa Barbara Psychology Internship Consortium. She also serves as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Northridge, and the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton. Pauline earned her B.A. in Honors Psychology and her M.A. in Psychological Science from CSUN, followed by an M.Ed. in School Psychology from UCSB.
With nine years of teaching experience, Pauline’s teaching has focused on research methods, statistics, cultural competence, and psychological assessment at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her clinical training spans psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessment, parent-child interaction therapy, counseling, and school-based social-emotional learning, including work in elementary, middle, and alternative education settings. Pauline’s scholarship and program evaluation work focus on how family, school, community, and cultural contexts shape youth mental health, development, and educational experiences, particularly for youth navigating adversity and students from historically marginalized communities. As a program evaluation manager, she has led community-engaged evaluations with schools, nonprofit organizations, and county behavioral health agencies. Her dissertation develops the Cultural Ecological Coherence framework, which examines how support systems, interventions, and assessments align with youth's lived experiences. She has published peer-reviewed research and presented at national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association and the National Association of School Psychologists.
Pauline serves as president of Student Affiliates in School Psychology, a national organization with more than 50 chapters serving school psychology graduate students, and as Student Development Committee Mentorship Chair for the Society of Clinical, Child, and Adolescent Psychology in Division 53 of the American Psychological Association. She also founded the Jhoanna Serrano Psychology Scholarship at CSUN. Pauline has been selected as a Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program Fellow, UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellow, CSU Pre-Professor Program Fellow, and Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar. Pauline’s career goal is to become a tenure-track professor who integrates teaching, scholarship, mentorship, and service to expand access to graduate education and advance equity in higher education.
Interested in Graduate School, visit the pages below.
- Learn more about the Exploring website
- Learn more about the Preparing website
- Learn more about the Applying website
- Learn more about the Transitioning website
Applying to a graduate program and interested in being paired with a faculty mentor?
- Visit GRAD Center Faculty Mentoring Program or email us at GradServices@csun.edu .
Interested in attending CSUN for Graduate School?
- Use our interactive program finder to explore CSUN’s graduate programs.
- We have a vibrant campus, to take a tour, please visit our Campus Tour website.
- Prospective domestic students can contact our Domestic Graduate Admissions team to inquiry an about their application status for graduate school.
- International students should visit the International Admissions website.
Interested in pursuing a PhD?
- Visit The California Pre-Doctoral Program or email us at GradServices@csun.edu .
- Must be enrolled at CSUN next year.
- This program supports CSU students from disadvantaged backgrounds in pursuing doctoral degrees, aiming to expand the future CSU faculty pool. Sally Casanova Scholars receive mentorship and financial support for PhD applications, campus visits, and related activities.
- Program outreach is done during the fall semester.