GradPSYCH - March 2012 - (Page 34)
program, seek out more experienced students for advice and calendar, over several meetings,” Semenza says. A visual map of reassurance. “If second- and third-year students invest in the first coursework can be immensely helpful during the first years of years and make their transition easy, then the new students will pay graduate study, for example, while research and writing deadlines it forward for the next group of students,” Upchurch says. give students structure at later stages. • Consider a switch. Kyle,* a first-year counseling psychology Once you have a calendar, stick to it. “The simple fact is that student, applied to his program to work with a particular most of us will work a lot harder for the students we believe are psychologist. Unfortunately, that researcher proved to be a working their hardest,” Semenza says. “I get very frustrated by lackluster adviser — missing meetings and, at one point, advising advisees promising that ‘from now on’ they will check in regularly Kyle to sign up for a course reserved for third-year students. or stick to deadlines and then don’t.” Whether, like Kyle, you’re only a year into your graduate • Don’t take absences personally. Linda, an experimental education, or you find that your needs are shifting as you move psychology student, found that her previously responsive adviser into the dissertation or seemed to evaporate as internship phase, there’s she neared her dissertation little downside to changing defense and began looking advisers, particularly early ahead to internships and on, says Norcross. “There postdoctoral applications. are many reasons to switch But after briefly entertaining advisers: personality conflicts, the idea of changing advisers, inconsistent research projects, Linda consulted with his better funding for a different other advisees and found that project,” he says. “You need they were all having the same to keep your best interests in problem. Drawing on other mind.” students’ successful strategies, That includes times when Linda began reminding him you just can’t get a response of their upcoming meetings a from an adviser. “A professor week in advance. “I was very who doesn’t offer feedback reassured when I realized it … in a reasonable amount wasn’t personal — it’s just of time, who isn’t in his how he is.” office when he says he will • Broaden your support gRegoRY Colón Semenza be, needs to be confronted,” network. Your department University of Connecticut Semenza says. While this administrators, other faculty can be difficult, start by and fellow students can referring back to your earlier be an invaluable source of conversations about advisee/ information if your adviser adviser expectations, says Norcross, and be respectful but assertive becomes hard to reach, says Norcross. “Departments will about your needs. sometimes offer group advising or general information seminars Switching may be harder at the dissertation or internship on getting through the university, prepping for internships, how stage, but you still need to keep your goals in sight. You may want to get teaching experience, and so on,” he says. Attending those to choose another member of your dissertation committee as an can help take some pressure off both you and your adviser, says informal adviser, rather than formally changing advisers, to ensure Norcross. that your work doesn’t suffer. Reaching out to other graduate students can also make a big The important thing is to put your academic career first difference, says Daniel Upchurch, a school-counseling psychology and take action if your adviser is standing in your way. “If the student at Tennessee State University. “When I arrived my first professor continually neglects his responsibilities, especially after year, I had all these questions that went beyond what I felt a conversation has been held, then the student should probably comfortable asking my adviser,” such as whether it was OK to move on,” says Semenza. “People change their advisers all the schedule meetings outside of office hours, and advice about the time and, as long as the professor has been given fair warning, he more general aspects of graduate student life, he says. or she has no right to be grumpy about being dropped due to his To help other students navigate those issues, Upchurch started or her own negligence.” n a peer-mentoring group with a fellow student and his adviser. They *Student last names have been omitted to protect their privacy. provide incoming first-years with upper-level peer mentors who arrange initial meetings between advisers and students and help get Emily Wojcik is a writer in Northampton, Mass. paperwork under way. If your department doesn’t offer a similar
“The simple fact is that most of us will work a lot harder for the students we believe are working their hardest.”
34 • gradPSYCH • March 2012
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GradPSYCH - March 2012
GradPSYCH - March 2012
Contents
Psychology practicums reflect the field’s growth
How evidencebased is your trauma treatment?
Media Picks
Chair’s Corner
Odd Jobs
Research Roundup
Chart your own adventure
Matters to a Degree
Killer apps
The oil spill’s reverberations
A student of synchrony
Literature reviews made easy
Absentee advisers
What’s behind the internship match crisis?
Potential solutions
Steps to the match
Bulletin Board
Jobs, internships, postdocs and other opportunities
The Back Page
GradPSYCH - March 2012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/gradpsych_201203
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/gradpsych_201201
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/gradpsych_201111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/gradpsych_201109
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