Resources NPB Advising E-mail List: To subscribe, E-mail [Listproc@ucdavis.edu] with the subject as npbadvising and your first and last name in the body of your message. Contact NPB Club Officers: go to the [Officers] page. Health and Biological Sciences E-mailing list: go to [http://hbs.ucdavis.edu] Advising Services info and handouts: go to [http://advisingservices.ucdavis.edu] NPB peer advisor, Laura Romback, and the NPB academic advisor, wonderful Debbie Abbott, are located at Briggs 188 for any questions you may have regarding your NPB classes or the major. Links [Facebook Group] [NPB Deptartment] [Internship & Career Center: Health and Biological Sciences] [Neuroscience Graduate Group] [Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Graduate Group] [Animal Behavior Graduate Group] Dr. Goldberg's Strategies For Obtaining Letters of Recommendation Students applying for jobs or postgraduate programs need references and letters of recommendation from faculty members. It is your responsibility to interact with faculty and employers for letters of recommendation and job references. Most faculty will not write a letter of recommendation or be a reference for you unless you have participated in a 99 or 199 in their laboratory, or they have had enough interaction with you for them to remember you. A letter just stating that you earned an A in their class does not provide any additional information about you other than what is on your transcript. The assessment that is needed focuses on your problem solving skills, your communication skills, and your ability to use what you know in trying to understand new concepts and relationships. This assessment requires a dialogue between you and the professor. It is not achieved through scores on examinations alone or papers graded by TAs. How can you establish a dialogue with professors so that they can assess skills and attributes that are needed for a postgraduate program or a job? There are a number of ways that you can interact with your professors so that they can effectively address these qualities. The first is doing independent study (99/199s) or internships in the discipline that you wish to pursue. A 99/199 generally requires at least a two quarter commitment. You learn what the laboratory is doing, you learn techniques, and ideally you become an active member of the research team, collecting , analyzing and discussing data. This environment certainly provides the professor with the opportunity to evaluate your commitment, sense of responsibility, your problem solving, analytical, and communication skills. Vocationally related internships provide you with experiences needed for that vocation. Your supervisor in the internship can readily assess those qualities looked for by employers in that discipline. Employers are interested in your sense of responsibility, your ability to work as a member of a team, and your ability to use what you know. Just as importantly, employers look for your willingness to get help when something is not clear or when you do not have the expertise to perform a task. Employers are not generally interested in your GPA. You can also interact with professors during office hours. Students go to class office hours to get questions answered relationships. There are less effective and more effective ways of asking questions. The lease effective way is the "I don't understand" question or "Could you explain this" approach. With this approach you get the restatement of what the professor presented in class. You didn't understand it then, and it is unlikely that you will understand it now. You might get your question answered, but the professor does not have any insight in how you think and reason with what you know. The more effective approach is putting your question in the context of what you do understand about the subject. You explain what you think you understand about the relationship or concept and lead up to what is confusing to you. With this approach you are asking the professor for verification, or correction, of what you do understand and at the same time directing the professor to answer your question using the conceptual framework that works for you. The power of this approach is that you are building on a conceptual model that makes sense to you. Just as importantly, you are showing the professor how you think and reason with what you do understand. You are providing the professor with information about your personal qualities that he/she can use for a letter of recommendation or a job reference. Even if you understand the concepts and relationships presented in class, it is still appropriate for you to go to office hours to get verification or validation of your understanding. These questioning strategies provide the opportunity for the professor to assess the qualities needed for postgraduate programs and jobs. Finally, it is critical that you introduce yourself, first and last name, whenever you go to office hours. It puts a name to the face and questions, and it enhances the professor's memory of you.