We offer individual advising to all graduate students and postdocs at the University.
How to schedule an appointment?
Please see our scheduling page to schedule an appointment with members of the PhD Plus program. If you have previously worked with one of us, you can continue to meet with your previous advisor regardless of your discipline.
If this is your first time scheduling an appointment with our office, you can select one of the following meeting options on our scheduling page:
- Advising for UVA Postdocs
- Career Advising: Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences
- Career Advising: STEM or Social Sciences
- Faculty/Postdoc Job Application Review
- Fellowship & Grant Writing
- Information on the PhD Plus Internship Program
- Mock Interview
- Non-Faculty Job Application Review
- Research Communication
See below for further information about each of these options.
After you sign up for one of the meeting options, a member of the PhD Plus team will email you to confirm your appointment and provide a calendar invitation with a Zoom link and/or office location.
SUPPORT FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS
- Anne-Charlotte Mecklenburg: UVA graduate students and postdocs can meet with me to discuss any of the above topics. I provide specific support to students and postdocs interested in arts, humanities, and qualitative social science careers, as well as research communication support, but I am happy to meet with graduate students and postdocs from any discipline.
- Eniola Afolayan: Graduate students can meet with me to discuss the PhD Plus Internship Program.
- Elizabeth Swallow: UVA graduate students and postdocs can meet with me to discuss career and development questions. I provide specific support to students and postdocs interested in STEM and quantitative social science careers and those who are applying to non-academic positions. However, I am happy to meet with graduate students and postdocs from any discipline.
Sam Lake: UVA graduate students and postdocs can meet with me to discuss any of the above topics. I provide specific support to students and postdocs interested in STEM and quantitative social science careers, or to students who have questions about science policy, but I am happy to meet with graduate students and postdocs from any discipline.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR POSTDOCS
- Fatima Saldaña Morales: UVA Postdocs can request an appointment with any of the team members above or me to discuss career and/or professional development questions.
Further Information:
Graduate students and postdocs at all stages of training can connect with us to discuss any of the following areas:
- Setting goals and managing time
- Career interests and possibilities, and strategies to explore and plan
- Strategies to build and expand your professional network
- Developing skills and experiences in careers of interest through PhD Plus offerings and other avenues
- Specific guidance to international trainees for U.S.-based and global careers
- Job search strategies, guidance on tailored applications, and polishing interview and negotiation skills for a wide variety of careers
We encourage you first to explore this detailed resource page we created for PhD students and postdocs, and bring your questions to the appointment for targeted advice.
If you would like to request feedback on your materials for academic positions, including faculty and postdoc job applications, please submit the following materials at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment:
- The job post that you used to tailor your materials (a web link or saved content that speaks to the job description and qualifications).
- Any documents for review (CV, cover letter, teaching statement, research statement, mentoring statement, etc.).
- For multiple documents, please understand that a scheduled reviewer may need additional time to review in order to give thoughtful feedback. Please submit your documents as soon as possible after your review request.
Graduate students and postdocs at all stages of training can connect with us to discuss any of the following areas:
- Advice for seeking fellowship and grant opportunities.
- Feedback on specific fellowship application or grant proposal materials, including postdoc funding. Please email any materials you would like to have reviewed and/or discuss at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.
Advanced PhD students who have completed all degree requirements, with the exception of the dissertation by the time the internship would begin, can connect with us to discuss: student eligibility or process clarification, selecting an internship, understanding an internship posting, exploring your ideas for a Propose Your Own internship, and more.
If you would like to request a mock interview, please submit all your application materials along with the position description at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment. Please also share any information that you received regarding the format, hiring process, and selection committee with us to help us determine the questions.
We will conduct a 30-minute mock interview, with 15 minutes at the end to debrief.
If you would like to request a resume and/or cover letter review for non-faculty positions, please first review these resources and make changes to your materials based on these recommendations.
Please submit the following materials at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment:
- The job post that you used to tailor your materials (a web link or saved content that speaks to the job description and qualifications).
- Your resume/CV, updated based on the strategies you learned from the resources above.
- Your drafted cover letter tailored to the job.
Graduate students and postdocs at all stages of training can seek support for any type of communication, including but not limited to:
- Oral presentations (conferences, Grad Thesis SLAM, 3MT, etc.)
- Posters (design, presentation, etc.)
- Dissertations or publications
- Public scholarship (public-facing outreach and communication)
Please email any materials you would like to have reviewed and/or discuss at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Please share a maximum of 10 pages double-spaced.