Academic Planning & Statement Workshop I

Week 6 Wed. Nov. 1

  • Our Week 6 Math Lab session is devoted exclusively to our first Academic Planning & Statement Workshop.It follows up and extends on an extensive Pre-Writing Assignment that you were to have completed in lieu of a Week 5 Math Lab and Week 5 Math Problem Set. If you did not complete the Pre-Writing Assignment, complete on your own, after this session.

A brief reminder of related activities to this point or in the immediate future:

  • You completed a summer Student Survey, which included questions on why you chose Matter and Motion and your educational goals and any long term career goals.
  • In week 1 Mon. Sep. 25, (the first day of the program), we were visited by recent graduate Emily Lubar (Evergreen ’17), currently a Research Technologist with Penn State'sDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics & Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, who spoke on her academic trajectory at Evergreen and how it led to her current position (15 minutes).
  • In week 4 Mon. Oct. 16, we hosted a cross-program lunch mixer with students from the upper division program Mathematical Systems, where you had the opportunity to talk with them and each other about your academic plans and opportunities (75 minutes)
  • In week 6 Mon. Oct. 30, we hosted a panel of current Evergreen students who participated in summer Research Experience for Undergraduate programs (60 minutes).
  • In anticipation of our first formal Academic Planning & Statement Workshop, you completed a substantial Pre-Workshop Writing Assignment.
  • In week 6 Wed. Nov. 1 (that’s right now!), we have our first formal Academic Planning & Statement Workshop (90 minutes).
  • (optional) In week 6 Fri. Nov. 3, we are invited to attend a potluck lunch with an Evergreen Alumni panel (90 minutes) and to attend the alumni panel’s presentations and a discussion with them (150 minutes).

The first Expectation of an Evergreen Graduate is to “Assume and articulate responsibility for your own work”. The freedom associated with student choice at Evergreen is tempered by responsibility and risk. To graduate with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Liberal Arts degree from Evergreen, one needs to accumulate 180 credits (for a Bachelor’s of Science degree, 72 of those credits must be in science, and 48 of those science credits must be categorized as upper division; for the dual Bachelor’s of Arts/Bachelor’s of Science degree, it is a total of 225 credits) and write an Academic Statement. As indicated by that first Expectation (and the other five Expectations), it is the student’s responsibility to choose and design programs, courses, contracts, and internships that result in a rich, interdisciplinary, liberal arts education. It is the institution’s responsibility to set up circumstances that support student success in creating that education.

One primary goal of your Academic Statement is to make sense of your academic trajectory.This might involve framing your past work (highlighting certain elements, minimizing others) to impose sense on (or reveal the sense of) that work. For most of you, it should also involve making thoughtful and informed choices about what makes sense to do next, and how best to prepare for that.This workshop is designed to help youlook back on your academic work, take stock of your current work, andlook ahead to your future work.

  • Pre-Workshop Writing Assignment Part A: Looking Back and Part B: Looking Around should have been completed pre-Workshop. If not, complete on your own time outside of class.
  • Part C: Looking Ahead. Complete now, in class. Please check in with faculty about any questions you have about the activity.

Assignment: Skim over all the categories on the next page, and follow along for whichever category fits you best. It’s quite likely that you identify with several categories; in that case, work first on that category which is most immediately in front of you, and then as time permits, work on other categories. If no category resonates particularly with you, choose your own task that you judge follows with the spirit of the activity. Indicate your chosen or created categories, assemble your responses, and add to anew document you create and save titled “Academic Planning - Looking Ahead”.

On completion, assemble Looking Behind, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead into a single document, with each section clearly labeled. Make sure your name is at the top of the first page. Save the document as a Word document (.docx format) with the file name MnMAPASW01YourlastnameYourfirstname (e.g. Mary Golda Ross (who’s that?) would save their file as MnMAPASW01RossMaryGolda) to your Cubbie.

Planning to stay at Evergreen and focus in math or computer science, and/or chemistry, and/or physics, and/or another natural or physical science? Look at the Evergreen Course Catalog for this year (2017-18) and next year (2018-19); you should be able to find both online. The reason to look in both years is that many math and science programs are offered on a two-year cycle, such that something that is offered this year may not be offered next year but would be the year after that. Identify programs and courses that offer more introductory, intermediate, or advanced work in math/cs and/or chemistry and/or physics and/or other natural or physical sciences. Some natural follow-up programs to M&M are Environmental Analysis, Molecule to Organism, and Physical Systems & Applied Mathematics (look in next year’s catalog), Atoms, Molecules, & Reactions and Mathematical Systems (look in this year’s catalog), along with any number of field science programs with an environmental science focus. Read the descriptions, and pay particular attention to any implicit or explicit information about pre-requisites and/or how to prepare for that program. Are you, or are you in process of becoming, prepared for those later programs?

Planning to stay at Evergreen, focus in math or science, and already have your academic plans laid out? Review the Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate. Which of those capacities can be developed through math or science study? Which seem harder to achieve through math or science study? Look at the Evergreen Course Catalog for this year (2017-18) and next year (2018-19); you should be able to find both online. Identify areas of the curriculum where you might be able to develop the capacities in the Expectations that you won’t be able to in your math and science study, and see where there is room for that work in your academic plan.

Planning to stay at Evergreen and not focus in math or science? Look at the Evergreen Course Catalog for this year (2017-18) and next year (2018-19), which you should be able to find online. Identify programs and courses that are in subjects you find intriguing or do plan to focus in. Read the descriptions, and pay particular attention to any implicit or explicit information about pre-requisites and/or how to prepare for that program. Are you, or are you in process of becoming, prepared for those later programs? In what particular ways will your work in Matter & Motion help prepare you for non-math or non-science work?

Planning to go to graduate or professional school? If you haven’t already, identify one or two top graduate/professional programs in your chosen area. Look at the graduate admissions requirements and, see how well you meet those requirements based on your past and current work, and identify any gaps and figure out how to fill those gaps meaningfully. If you already have a fully laid out graduate school plan (good for you!), investigate why that program has made the subject areas covered in M&M an admissions requirement – what does your graduate program claim that study in calculus, chemistry, or physics will do for your focused advanced study in their field? In almost all cases, your statement of purpose (letter of intent, etc.) is key for graduate school admission – An Academic Statement should serve well in crafting your statement of purpose.

Planning to participate in undergraduate research?

  • In the Evergreen online catalog, look at Undergraduate Research in Scientific Inquiry or Advanced Research in Environmental Studies. Also do a web search for “Evergreen SURF” (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship”).See if any faculty are doing work here that interests you. See what background they ask of students hoping to join their research group. Figure out if you have that background or how to get it or write down questions about how to get its equivalent.
  • Go to one or more of the following REU lists and explore. In particular, look at what these programs require of students, figure out if you have that background or how to get it or write down questions about how to get it.

(that’s reu_search); ;

□Go to a relevant professional society web-site and find their job listings. Examples of professional societies are listed below. Find interesting jobs. Look at required skills and background. Figure out if you have these skills or background or how to get them or write down questions about how to get their equivalents.

Examples of professional societies are: the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), the American Physical Society (APS), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), etc. (huh – I typed “American” a lot…). There are many other job listing sites, so you can choose your favorite.

Planning to leave Matter & Motion at the end of fall quarter and stay at Evergreen? Or: Planning to take a leave of absences? Or: Planning to transfer from Evergreen to another undergraduate institution?*Please check in with faculty if you identify with any of these categories.* Please print out the Academic Statement and Planning Workshop 1 addendum exeunt document which you can find in the Handouts folder, and follow those prompts.

Already have a nearly final version of your Academic Statement that you are just polishing? Make it shine!