Have you ever seen ‘private reading’ or ‘independent study’ listed on Oberlin’s courses and wondered what that even means? I am here to tell you!
In the spring of my first year, I took a course called Music and the Mind. This course was all about music cognition--a kind of psychology/music hybrid subject that’s a dream come true for my psych major yet music-loving self. We covered things like how expectation fulfillment relates to musical preference, how the brain processes tonal sound, and how music and emotion interact. It was one of my favorite courses--not only was the content incredibly enriching, it was also really well-structured, which I find can make or break even the most interesting syllabi. The final was really enjoyable, and people worked on topics anywhere from analyzing the soundtrack of “Howl’s Moving Castle” to how embodied gestures change a performer’s vocal tone.
After the class ended, it stuck in my mind as a favorite. In the following year, I attended some psychology major talks which touched on the importance of conducting research for those of us planning on graduate school. Finally, in a research methods class, someone mentioned that the professor from Music and the Mind was conducting research and open to taking on new students. This culminated in my sending a very out-of-the-blue email asking to work in this professor’s lab. After a few meetings, we decided to work on a private reading course with the end goal of conducting a new research project. A private reading is essentially a personalized mini-class, and in my opinion one of the best things you can do at Oberlin. Everyone’s experience probably differs, but here is what mine has been like.
The professor and I first sat down and had a talk about what I want to learn, and how to help me get where I’m going (which, for me, is a counseling master’s program). From there we started on a course which is essentially reading a few articles per week, and a once-weekly meeting to go over them. After about a semester, we started applying what we’d discussed to a research idea. We developed a rough outline of a research design, which would entail studying musical signifiers of gender and emotion. Then, of course, I got super busy with other things. We’re setting aside that project for now, but the work we’ve done on it so far is really exciting and it’s definitely something I want to revisit. For now, we’ve switched tracks to focus on one of the professor’s studies that’s already further along. This is a much better fit for what I have going on this semester, and is also a perfect stepping-stone on my way to doing more independent research! This way, I get to be in a lab and working on a project, but with significantly more guidance and direction than, say, leading my own project right off the bat.
Aside from the stellar research opportunity, one of the biggest pros of doing an independent study is getting to know one professor really well, over a long period of time. Not only is this really nice in an interpersonal sense, but it’s great for things like recommendation letters. For me, it’s also sort of like having an unofficial second advisor/mentor to support and advise you with all things academia and college life. It’s a really wonderful connection and source of guidance.
I haven't met a ton of other people who have done or know about independent studies, but it’s truly been one of the most helpful and cool things I’ve experienced at Oberlin. It’s definitely something I would recommend trying if you ever get the chance.
