Using Your Coursework to Develop Academic Relationships (Veteran Voices)
Using Your Coursework to Develop Academic Relationships (Veteran Voices)
Transcript
For references for undergrad, really the only good experience I had up at that point was my military experience. So I used two military references for undergrad. I used my OSE and my CO. Whereas with grad school, now that I had been in school for longer, I had more choice, so to speak. So I wanted, the references I was looking for, I wanted a reference from a class I did really well in from a professor. I wanted a reference from someone that I'd been working with like in the present. I wanted a reference, again, I wanted another military reference, I wanted to use that again.
And lastly, for me specifically going to med school, I wanted a reference from someone in the health care industry. So I would say when you're thinking about references for grad school, I mean, every school's probably different what they want, but again, I wanted a reference from a professor in a class I did really well in, someone I worked with in the past, someone I'm working with now, and someone in the field that I'm going into.
For the most part, assign advisors. Seek them out. Because sometimes maybe they won't seek you out as much. I would encourage veterans to do the work to seek them out. Get to know them. Because it's just a wonderful resource and they can help you with anything really I feel like. And maybe if you do get to know them and they're not the best fit, I would look into finding the right fit. Because it's important I think, having the right advisor or mentor.
So fortunately for me, I felt comfortable asking them for these references, because psychology for me, is something that I'm very interested in. So I always had lots of questions during the class period, during office hours, advising me on research products. I mean projects, I'm sorry. And so we had multiple conversations before we got to the point where I asked for a reference letter.
Again, because they were at one point, a grad student, I did have a lot of questions for them about their experience in grad school. How did they choose a PsyD versus a PhD? And why did they opt for this school versus that school? And so they already knew that I had an interest. And so through all those conversations, it was very kind of easy for me to ask for the references.
And lastly, for me specifically going to med school, I wanted a reference from someone in the health care industry. So I would say when you're thinking about references for grad school, I mean, every school's probably different what they want, but again, I wanted a reference from a professor in a class I did really well in, someone I worked with in the past, someone I'm working with now, and someone in the field that I'm going into.
For the most part, assign advisors. Seek them out. Because sometimes maybe they won't seek you out as much. I would encourage veterans to do the work to seek them out. Get to know them. Because it's just a wonderful resource and they can help you with anything really I feel like. And maybe if you do get to know them and they're not the best fit, I would look into finding the right fit. Because it's important I think, having the right advisor or mentor.
So fortunately for me, I felt comfortable asking them for these references, because psychology for me, is something that I'm very interested in. So I always had lots of questions during the class period, during office hours, advising me on research products. I mean projects, I'm sorry. And so we had multiple conversations before we got to the point where I asked for a reference letter.
Again, because they were at one point, a grad student, I did have a lot of questions for them about their experience in grad school. How did they choose a PsyD versus a PhD? And why did they opt for this school versus that school? And so they already knew that I had an interest. And so through all those conversations, it was very kind of easy for me to ask for the references.