7. Individual Development Plan (IDP)

From the series "Applying to Graduate School and Summer Research Experiences"

This is the 7th mini-course in the series "Applying to Graduate School and Summer Research Experiences."

The purpose of this series of mini-courses is to provide students from historically underrepresented groups the training, support, and resources necessary to successfully apply to Ph.D. programs in health-related research fields. 

About this Course

This mini-course introduces students to the Individual Development Plan (IDP). Topics include: what is an IDP; the difference between short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals; the importance of setting goals and re-visiting/up-dating them; how to identify and assess skills; tips for bridging gaps in desired skills; how to get input from mentors, peers, and family members; and an example template for an IDP.

About this Series

Applying to Graduate School and Summer Research Experiences was developed by the California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Program with support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers; UL1GM118979; TL4GM118980; RL5GM118978. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. 

Course Authors

  • "The Graduate School Application Process," Chi-Ah Chun, Jesse Dillon and Enri’que Flores
  • "Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Statement of Purpose (SOP)," Niloo Bavarian and Amber Johnson
  • "Letters of Recommendation," Chi-Ah Chun
  • "GRE Preparation and Expectations," Bill Ackerman and Chi-Ah Chun
  • "Seeking Financial Support for Graduate Schools," Bryan Rodriguez
  • "How to Interview Successfully for Graduate School," Arturo Zavala
  • "Individual Development Plan," Keisha Chin Goosby
  • "Summer Research Experience," Perla Ayala and Young-Hee Cho

CSULB BUILD Program Editors

  • Chi-Ah Chun
  • Panadda Marayong
  • Kim-Phuong L. Vu

CSULB Academic Technology Services Instructional Designers/Producers:

  • Maria Aceituno
  • Afifa Alawi
  • Sabrina Dean
  • Mariza Hernandez
  • Jennifer Lares
  • Mark Lim
  • Marvin Mayo
  • Adam Mitchell
  • Francisco Romero
  • Preston Wingrove

Instrumental Persons

We would also like to recognize the contributions of the following people who shared in the implementation of this course on MyNRMN:

  • Jamboor K. Vishwanatha, PhD, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center
  • Toufeeq Ahmed, PhD, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center
  • Damaris Javier, MA, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center
  • Aidan Hoyal, MSIS, MA, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center 
  • Zainab Latif, MCS, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center
  • Katie Stinson, MLIS, National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center 

This course licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Unported License.



Course materials licensed via Creative Commons: 
Attribution-NonCommercial--NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)