You will create a professional planning portfolio that contains a Core section—completed by all students—and either an Employment section or a Graduate School section, depending upon your post-baccalaureate plans. The final section of your portfolio will be a copy of your review paper, which has been corrected according to the feedback you received from your instructor.
The portfolio will be 7 to 10 pages, double-spaced, not including the expected title, reference pages and Career Review Paper. APA format is expected and you must reference yourself when quoting from past papers. Only academic/scholarly sources should be used. Please only include one title page for the reflection portion of the portfolio and one for the revised Career Review Paper.
The Core section will contain the following documents:
- Document 1 – A personal statement describing your immediate and long-term career and life goals, including an explanation of why these goals are appropriate and realistic in terms of your curricular, extracurricular, professional, and personal experiences
- Document 2- Students will write a paper reflecting upon their educational experiences within their psychology program journey, using the Program Goals as an organizational paradigm. That means you will organize your paper using the Goals. Sections of the body of the paper will correspond to the Goals. This paper should include thoughts regarding successes and challenges, new insights, and personal transformations. This should be at a deep level rather than a surface mention. You must address each of the Program Goals which are displayed below and discuss how you have specifically met that goal, referencing courses, papers and concepts. List the Program Goal verbatim (with proper citation) and then address each component to receive maximum points. You should organize Document 2 by the Program Goals and use headings per the APA Manual. APA Style is expected and you must reference yourself when quoting from past papers. Only academic/scholarly sources should be used. You should organize it by the Program Goals and use headings per the APA Manual.
UMUC Psychology Program Goals
- Apply major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology to prepare for graduate studies or careers in which psychological training is relevant.
- Apply basic knowledge of research methodology, statistics, measurement, guidelines, ethical standards, laws, and regulations in order to design, participate in and to evaluate research in a variety of contexts.
- Apply knowledge of human behavior to inform personal growth, communicate effectively, solve problems, make decisions and interact with individuals, communities, and organizations.
- Use critical and creative thinking, skeptical inquiry, and where possible appropriate technology and the scientific approach to solve problems related to current and emergent trends within the domains of psychology.
- Value diversity and different perspectives, tolerate ambiguity, and act ethically to communicate appropriately with various sociocultural and international populations.
- Document 3 – A current, accurate, and professional-appearing resume or curriculum vitae
- Document 4 – Choose one of either the employment section or graduate school section described below:
- The Employment section will contain the following documents:
- The results of a computerized job search that yielded at least three job possibilities and a brief report that explains why each of these positions is appropriate for you based on your immediate and long-term career and life goals as described in the first section of this portfolio.
- A professional-appearing cover letter that can be modified for specific job applications
- One Completed letter-of-recommendation request-form for graduate school. (I understand that the rubric instructs you to write 3). You will not need to write your professors for this assignment. Rather, this letter will be used as a template for such a letter if you need to ask for a recommendation later. Consider it a form letter. Please see the Letter of Recommendation Request Template Instructions located in the Content section of the classroom under “Week 7”.
- The Graduate School section will contain the following documents:
- Results of a search for appropriate graduate programs that yielded at least three possible programs and a brief report that explains why each of these programs is appropriate for you based on your immediate and long-term career and life goals as described in the first section of this portfolio.
- A professional appearing personal statement that can be modified for specific graduate programs
- One Completed letter-of-recommendation request-form for graduate school. (I understand that the rubric instructs you to write 3). You will not need to write your professors for this assignment. Rather, this letter will be used as a template for such a letter if you need to ask for a recommendation later. Consider it a form letter. Please see the Letter of Recommendation Request Template Instructions located in the Content section of the classroom under “Week 7”.
- Document 5 – A revised copy of your Career Review Paper from Week 3 of this course.
Please combine these documents into one file. There are multiple ways to combine the documents:-Copy and paste your information or use the following links
Information about your Letter of Recommendation
You do not need to write one of your professors for this assignment. Rather, this letter will be used as a template for such a letter if you need to ask for a recommendation later. Consider it a form letter.
In the letter you will be asking a professor if they would recommend you for graduate school, some professional training program or certification program, or for employment. You decide which kind of letter you need or that would be of most benefit to you right now.
-Choose a program or job from your search. You only need to complete one letter for this assignment (I understand that the rubric states 3).
-Provide your complete name (and nickname if the professor knows you by that), along with your email address, and complete mailing address.
-Be sure to include the name of the position or program (along with the school, etc) for which you are applying.
-And let the professor know the date the recommendation is due.
-You should let the professor know what classes you have taken with them, in what year and semester, your grade, and anything you did in the class that you would like to point out, i.e., maybe a paper, or you led a discussion on some topic of interest, or perhaps something you really enjoyed about the class.
-Let the professor know your area of interest and why you are interested in this, i.e., your goals, future plans, etc.
-Let your professor know your current status, and planned date of graduation.
Of course the specifics in the letter would change depending on the professor and class, and area of interest, and program or job for which you are applying, but you would have a good start on the letter, and you would know what kind of things to include.
If you have already done this, then you can borrow some of that information from an email you have written your professor. But as this is a graded assignment, make sure that you have the necessary information. You will not send this template to your professors.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Here is a website that you might find useful: http://www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=51979
