The Tailored Story
Grasshoppers! :o) At last! My semester is finished... I survived in one piece (hip, hip, hooray) and now I'm already getting a move on my classes for next semester. So far I have been given two syllabi as well as readings for one class that need to be completed before our first lecture/discussion on the first day of classes which is January 4. Whew! Well, while I process this state of limbo, let me give you a nice little holiday narrative about being "Tailored" ...
Ok, so I've gotten lots of questions in the past couple of months about what life is like as a Tailored student at SI. The first thing you should know, if you're checking out the program, is that you don't have to come in with a specialization declared and have it set in stone. Never fear, little grasshopper! SI is a very flexible place and you get to change your mind if you need to. The most important thing when it comes to specializations is this: by the time you graduate, you should have the correct specialization declared on your transcript with the University and you have completed the proper requirements for that specialization. Hmph. That was too easy. Well, it is that easy! Cool. :o)
So, the requirements for the Tailored specialization can be found on the SI website here: http://www.si.umich.edu/msi/tailor-reqs.htm. Now, bear in mind that these requirements are going to be tweaked just a little because the foundation requirements have been revamped starting with Fall 2007. But you still have to take foundation courses and then beyond those, you pick and choose according to what you need to take for 36 credits. 12 foundation credits + 36 other credits = 48 total credit hours. Each semester (or more often if you feel like it, although most of us get lost in the time warp known as 12 full-time credits) you must submit what is known as a Tailored Statement. The statement is of your own making but generally consists of elements such as your interests, your academic goals, your professional goals, and courses you have taken as well as courses you plan on taking. This statement changes as frequently and drastically as Michigan weather. That's ok and it's supposed to be that way. Basically, SI needs to know that you have a grip on your free-flowing tailored-ness and if it looks like you need some help they can step in and offer a life raft. I haven't known anyone to need a life raft that’s tailored--in fact, all of the tailored folks I know seem to be among the most driven and forward-thinking individuals at SI, which is pretty cool when you think about it.
3 credits are for an outside cognate class. What's a cognate, you ask? A cognate is a course taken in a department other than SI. Example: my cognate will be in the Screen Arts and Cultures department next semester in a graduate film history and theory seminar. My advisor approved it because I am not only interested in film studies, but my dream job happens to be as a digital librarian or archivist for a feature film company (preferably animated, such as Pixar or Dreamworks) and I need to pick up more of the vernacular that is used in the film community. It's not difficult to get cognates approved and since most of us don't elect to attempt Underwater Basket Weaving, it's usually a thumbs up. :o)
6 credits hours must count towards internship or other practical experience. You can pick some of these credits up through classes which involve a client project, but most people do a full-time internship in the summer between the first and second year (if they're full time).
After the 12 foundations credits and the 3 cognate credits, I choose from SI courses. How do I do this, you ask? Well, with as much planning as possible, I check out my options with advice from my faculty advisor and from discussing interests with other students and faculty. I learned a valuable lesson my first semester when I read through a job posting for a Digital Archivist at Pixar Animation Studios--I examined their list of qualifications and requirements and asked myself, "What do I have and what do I need?" For whatever I needed, I have selected most (but not all) courses so that I pick up the skill sets that I think will be most valuable. I say that I select mostly courses that pertain to work of that nature because there are some classes that I have wanted to take out of general curiosity and other classes that have felt like they are good courses to make me well-rounded.
This is the part that confuses most people and generally freaks a lot of students out--too many choices! This part, grasshopper, is where you take the reins on your academic and professional life. If you choose to be tailored, you are not restricted by specialization requirements. It's easy to get lost if you don't know where you're headed--thankfully, that's why we are able to check in every so often with different opinions, such as with a faculty advisor. However, even your faculty advisor cannot make the final decision for you, nor do they want to--they are here to advise us. Pure and simple. My goal has been to pick up some techie skills that I was sorely lacking--the skill sets I discovered I didn't have when I saw the Pixar job posting. After that, my goal has been to make sure that I am marketable both in a library as well as an archive setting (no matter the institution or company). There haven't been any open postings for library or archive work at Pixar, Dreamworks, or other companies at the moment--so it's safe to say that while I will pursue those, I don't expect to have a job with either place right out the gate after graduation. So, I thought to myself, "Hmm... where else would I be happy developing my professional endeavors and where would I feel personally fulfilled?" Don't worry--I didn't go sit on a mountain top or anything. :o) It's taken about three semesters to really get a grip on this question and now that I am beginning my official job hunt I know that I am most intrigued and happiest in a non-traditional library or archive setting. Anything that involves a creative and techie twist keeps me from being bored because there is always something new and different that needs doing. I've been testing that out this year with one of my three jobs at the KNC in the graduate library (see earlier posts to learn about the KNC). To make a long story even longer, what I'm trying to say is that I am currently applying for jobs everywhere from entertainment companies to non-profits to public libraries to special libraries to arts organizations... I have lots of unique skill sets and I point these out to my prospective employers, but always I highlight the base of my qualifications as being my information wielding skills. I like to think of it as being rather like an information cowgirl. I roam the open range, enjoying every minute of it as I lasso up my heard of information professional skills, knowledge, and practical project experiences.
I think the hardest part about being tailored is trying to explain to people who like the structure of a specialization that all who seem to wander are not lost. There are people who look at my choice of classes and just don't get it. But that's ok--because as a tailored student, I am the master of the 30 second elevator speech. :o) However, don't get the wrong impression--there are a lot of people who think what I do is way cool. It's funny how we can pick out "those tailored people" around here. I think we all must stick out like sore thumbs simply because we seem to be in everyone's classes and how could that possibly happen? :o) Some people like the structure of a specialization and for them I say, "Onward, ho!" My ship, however, sails to a different beat and that is how I like it. I have never liked having to deal with structure if I can help it, so having the tailored option at SI was a very big deciding factor for me. I don't think I would be able to pursue the goals that I have right now if it weren't for being tailored. Alright... so that is my tailored story for you. I hope it helps to give you an idea what it's been like for at least one tailored student around here. Be advised though, that some tailored students aren't as diverse in course choices as I am--that's just the way it worked out for me.
In other news, you might have caught the bit about me applying for jobs. I am currently working with our new addition to the Career Services staff who is proofing cover letters upon cover letters for me as I apply for about 5 jobs by Friday this week and at least another 5 before December 30 (multiple deadlines...). Needless to say, I haven't had much of a break since I turned in my last project this semester between baking holiday cookies (yum!) and madly pumping out cover letters to wow someone, somewhere as much as possible. The cool thing is that I've found my portfolio to be coming in awfully handy (see previous blog entry for the portfolio link). I have been referring potential employers to see samples of my work (as they request it) via my online portfolio. Nifty! :o) I'm also working Swiss cheese hours around holiday weekends to help get the new Winter 2007 students ready to start their studies by answering questions over email and planning a student group outing for their orientation.
All-in-all, I think this semester gave me some valuable experiences and skills to fatten up my resume and portfolio even more. I created my own animated graphics catalogue for my library cataloguing class and that was seriously cool in the end. I got to dive deeper into my theory about film profits through a research paper for my intellectual property law class which I'm hoping to get published, if possible. I did lots of library reference skill building in one class; and despite the blood, sweat, and tears for my database backed website project in another class, I can now add yet another object-oriented programming language to my every growing arsenal of tech skills. Next semester I am looking forward to my film department cognate course, a class in which I will be evaluating various systems and online services, and a mini-internship through the archive practicum course. For the latter, I will be doing all sorts of cool archival work on site for things such as photo preservation and helping the Webmaster create online exhibits. I'm still on the fence about an electronic records management course because I might be able to pick up those skills through hands-on work at my archive practicum site and since I did a full-time summer internship, I technically only need to take 9 credits instead of 12 for my last semester.
Well, fearless readers, I think this brings my final blog entry of 2006 to a close. I will return after the New Year with a post mortem report about Fall 2006 and early impressions of Winter 2007. If you celebrate any winter holidays, I wish you a merry time and lots of cheer; and to everyone, I wish you a fantastic New Year! (Hahahaha! I just rhymed... had to point that out. :o) I think that's a good luck sign, right?) Until next time...
-maw :o)
Posted by maryaw on December 20, 2006 at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)
a whole bunch of things
Welcome to another blog entry! So, what's on the agenda today? Well, my fearless grasshoppers, I thought I'd start this one off by pointing folks in the right direction for dual degrees. I've been getting some emails and questions regarding this nifty option and I also got to tell some folks about it at the UM dual degree fair that happened this past week. So, if you're interested in combining an MSI with something like an MBA or MSW, for example--well, you're in luck! A really good place to start looking at the current available options is here:
http://www.si.umich.edu/msi/dual/default.htm
Now, just like I promised, I will touch on portfolios. You can actually read a bit about portfolios in my career services blog this week:
http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/sicareers/
So, what does this magical word mean to you if you are looking at the options here at SI? Well, the cool thing about portfolios is that you can gain quite a lot of material to put in one within your first year here alone. For example, these are some of the things in my own portfolio:
-my resumes (all of them)
-501 group project deliverable and poster
-summer internship consultation report/deliverable
-ad campaigns from the U of M Ballroom Dance Team (I'm on their executive board)
-marketing materials I've created for SI career services
-sample projects from Java and Design of Complex Websites
-sample web pages I've created for groups like SLA
Some of these are still in progress. In fact, my own portfolio website is still in progress! And that's ok, by the way... Because I'm constantly gaining new skills and have new projects to show for it. So, when did I accumulate all of this stuff? Well, little grasshopper, believe it or not I acquired all of this and more in ONE year. Pretty cool, eh? Well, it's not an uncommon thing here at SI--you'd be amazed at how much you can learn in just one year.
So, what will I do with my portfolio? Well, it will come in handy when I get into the serious part of my job hunting adventures. And how is that going? It's definitely going! I'm still in the early stages--identifying places I'd like to pursue postings and/or networking contacts. It's a bit of a juggling act to figure out how to make time for looking at postings and actually applying for some of them, but I'm starting to get a rhythm in my personal schedule for that. Actually, this whole week has been a big juggling act! We had our annual fall break last weekend which kind of tripped me up in my usual routine, so this weekend is reserved for lots of studying.
Speaking of studying, I should really dive into writing a paper right now so I'll sign off here for now. Tommorrow is the first of SI's two open houses. It should be pretty interesting and in my next entry I will let you know if there were any really cool questions and what the discussion was like.
Until next time, fearless readers!
Posted by maryaw on October 21, 2006 at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
