UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

How to Make the Most out of a Referral to a Departmental Representative

Before your visit

Reflect:

•  Take time to think about how your interest in the academic discipline developed.

•  What do you know about the academic discipline/careers/research?

•  What questions do you have?

 

Prepare:

•  Search the department website for degree information, faculty profiles, and on-going research.

•  Review any degree, major, minor requirements in your Handbook for Undergraduate Students.

•  Look at course descriptions for courses offered in the department ( Searchable Schedule of Classes and/or the University Bulletin on the Registrar's website)

•  “Google” the faculty member with whom you will be meeting to learn about his/her area of research.

•  Write down some specific questions that you would like to have answered.

•  E-mail and/or call the faculty member well in advance of any deadlines so as to identify a time that works for both parties.

 

Some sample questions:

•  How did you get into this field? How did you end up as a professor? What factors influenced your decisions?

•  How would you recommend that I explore and/or test my interest in this field/career/academic discipline? (e.g. shadowing, research, academic student organizations, specific courses, etc.)

•  Are there certain careers that are correlated with this major/minor? Does this academic discipline prepare students especially well for any specific career(s)?

•  What type(s) of graduate and/or professional school opportunities might exist after the undergraduate level and what kind of education/experience would they provide?

•  Are there majors, minors, skills, or experiences that might complement study in this academic discipline? (e.g. Psychology might be complementary to an interest in management, sociology, anthropology, pre-medicine, biology, etc.)