December 2nd, 2022
Introduction:
Earlier this week, I was interviewed for a "graduate feature story" after receiving a suggestion from the director of the McNair Program here at UW - Eau Claire. I was hesitant at first, I do not think of myself as a person who is great at speaking about myself. When I told Dr. Wonder this, she said that is exactly why I should participate in one of these feature stories. Talking about myself and the experiences I've had while in my undergraduate program made me realize that I have valuable knowledge to share with anyone following a path similar to mine.
This blog post will share some of the different experiences I've had that I am most particularly fond of, and give some insight into how I got a hold of those opportunities.
Coursework Experiences:
To preface, I am a psychology major with a neuroscience minor, finishing up my last semester in Eau Claire. I finished a semester early because of what I believe to be a pretty detailed planning of my course progression. One tool I've used all throughout my college career is the degree planning option in UWEC's campS. One suggestion I have is to pay close attention to the requirements that a class fulfills. Often, one elective course can cover multiple requirements, meaning fewer classes to take in the future! Another tip is to take prerequisite classes as early as you can. Figure out what your upper division classes require and take them your first or second year if you can. In summary, even though it can be stressful, look ahead.
Being able to get all my general education classes out of the way early made it possible for me to take cross-listed upper-division classes (typically made up of 8-10 graduate students and 2-4 undergraduate students). The classes I took were Advanced Developmental Psychopathology of Childhood and Adolescence and Advanced Statistics II, which gave me a unique experience where the workload was quite heavy with readings, and assignments were large-project based. These professors expected much more of students than I had experienced in any undergraduate class, but led engaging and discussion-filled class sessions.
Internship and Work Experiences:
Beginning my freshman year, I have been involved with various internships and outside work that have ended up supplementing my graduate school applications. As a psychology major, one easy place to look for internship experiences is with the Academic Intervention Clinic and the Human Development Center on campus. All three of my internships came from faculty in these programs, and those faculty also ended up being people who were more than willing to write recommendation letters for me. A suggestion from me is to get involved right away! If an opportunity doesn't turn out to be the right fit for you, you don't have to stick with it. And you never know, maybe it will end up helping you figure out what you don't want to do in your future.
Another helpful thing for me was choosing jobs that fit the field of work I knew I wanted to go into. From my sophomore to senior year, I worked with Wisconsin Early Autism Project, which gave me clinical experience in the field of behavior analysis along with additional people who would end up writing me letters of recommendation. As tricky as it is to find work in your desired field that you are qualified to do, taking those steps clears a pathway to jump straight into your career or graduate school afterward.
Image from: https://clipart.me/free-vector/building-path