Our first Spread the Word Tip was about wearing your RAPP t-shirt.
Today I want to talk about another way to help spread the word about RAPP: Mythbust for us!
In my past four years in RAPP, I've found some common misconceptions people have about RAPP. Let's debunk them now:
Myth #1: Grad students can't do RAPP. Bzzzt! Wrong! I personally know this to be incorrect because I did RAPP while completing my masters. Every year that I've been involved with RAPP, we've had great graduate students amongst our members. We've had people who've completed their bachelors and are completing pre-requisites to enter a masters program. We've had PhD candidates. RAPP is open to all students!
Myth #2: RAPP is only for liberal arts majors. Bzzt again! The last year RAPP members have represented ten different colleges of UC and the year before they represent eight. You can see the majors and colleges of RAPP XXV here. One of the areas of diversity we strive for in recruitment is academic diversity. Last year's RAPP represented 44 majors in fall quarter. While Psychology and Communications were the two most common, they were closely followed by Criminal Justice and Finance.
Myth #3: RAPP is only about race. Bzzt at third time! While race is a large component of what we discuss, I like to say that RAPP is a "race AND" program - meaning we talk about race AND other areas of difference. RAPP has formally included gender in its work since RAPP IX (though the discussion began in RAPP VIII). Sexuality was formally included in the curriculum in 2000 and we've used the concept of intersectionality as a foundation of our work since 2003. We still follow a general race->gender->sexuality format through the three quarters, but we intentionally include other topics and encourage the group to wander through what they're interested in.
By helping break down these three myths, you can help us reach more students because they can see that they're eligible for RAPP and that their interests are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment