Slide appears, with the text (read by Elizabeth Rotolo): How do you find or connect with a faculty mentor?
Transition into Elinor Eggers speaking, a banner with her name and Class of 2023 appears.
“I would say, um, to find or connect with a faculty mentor you should take classes that you’re interested with, or interested in.”
Transition into Cooper Gottfried speaking, a banner with her name and Class of 2025 appears.
“Send a lot of emails. I sent a lot of emails, and the way that I was able to get my research position was, with uh, I really pestered a professor over email. Granted, I was encouraged to by the same professor, but the fact that I reached out to him a few times and that I kept reaching out to him is, I think, why I was able to get the position with the research I have now. So I would say, the advice that I have is really being persistent. Not to the point of bugging someone where they don’t even want to talk to you, but to the point of where you might be able to get what you want.”
Transition into Alex Stanley speaking, a banner with her name and Class of 2025 appears.
“Just talk with your professors and find common interests. Again, don’t force a connection because you want it to be there. It should come naturally and they are there to help you at the end of the day.”
Transition into MJ Ibrahim speaking, a banner with his name and Class of 2023 appears.
“So, this is a lesson I learned from the Fellowships department, is book office hours with any professor. It could be a professor that you’ve never had before. The moment you, like, Google--let’s say you’re interested in sociology--sociology professors, oh, this professor has an expertise in xyz. I’m interested in that! So, email them: hey, I’m xyz, can I talk with you a bit about this research thing that you’re interested in. And yeah, so, office hours really are the way to go, whether it’s a professor you’ve been having all four years or somebody you’ve never heard of until that moment, that’s what it is.”
Cut to slide reading: Academic Fellowships Office, fellowships@brandeis.edu, @brandeisfellowships, Kutz Hall 122 with the Brandeis Academic Fellowships logo underneath. Fade to black.