Discussion topics
Below are some suggestions for topics to discuss during your advisor/advisee meetings. Of course, there is no need to discuss all of these; feel free to talk about whatever you think is important, although many of these topics will come up naturally anyway. But in the event that you are looking for things to discuss, this list should be helpful.
Academic topics:
- 1. Courses planned for the present semester (a natural topic for the pre-study-card meeting at the beginning of the semester).
- 2. Any changes in academic goals or plan of study since last meeting.
- 3. Recent or present research projects (summer, or Phys90r).
- 4. Plans for future research (summer, or Phys90r).
- 5. Summer plans in general (if not included in #4 above).
- 6. Future plans after college (grad school, med school, law shool, teaching, industry, consulting, etc.) How do these plans correlate with the responses to topics 1-5 above?
- 7. Any issues concerning grad school applications, GRE's, etc.
- 8. Any extra help/tutoring needed. Is the student taking full advantage of his/her TF's?
- 9. Mid-semester meetings: Pre-registration forms are due mid/late semester, so this provides a good opportunity to talk about future courses.
General student-life topics:
- 9. Interaction with other students (in particular, working on problem sets in groups is generally encouraged). Is the student attempting to do everything alone?
- 10. Taking advantage of various departmental resources/events, for example:
- a) Monday lunch with colloquium speaker
b) Monday Colloquia and tea
c) Wednesday evening Physics 95 talks
d) Wednesday study-night at Leverett House
e) Thursday evening SPS dinners
- 11. Things that the student particularly likes or dislikes about certain classes. Or about the department in general.
- 12. Extracurricular activities.
- 13. The physics "buddy" system, if the student is a buddy to a freshman.
- 14. Any issues concerning being a woman or minority in the department.
- 15. A somewhat silly but very useful question - is there a nickname the student likes to use?