Getting Field Experience

[Pony]

Hey guys. I recently switched career goals from medicine to Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD, which means I have very little to no relevant experience and need to make up for it. I've been appying to internships and jobs and anything that I can find, mostly related to primates because that's what I'm into currently and I want to see if that's what I'd like to do.

 

Most things require previous experience, so my current tentative plan is to do one or two volunteer/field class experiences, which generally last a few weeks and seem to be more of a just sign-up-and-your-in type thing. I'm currently looking at a research assistantship in Peru and a volunteer experience in South Africa. The problem there is obviously that I'll run out of money really fast, since these are either unpaid or actually require a fee, and I have to cover travel costs. I'd be totally okay with spending the money on this if it means finding the thing that I want to do and preparing myself for grad school, as long as I can get something paid afterwards. Basically as long as I have enough money to not die over the next year I'm fine with that. And I figure even if my experience afterwards isn't directly related to what I want to do, like if it's in a lab, having 4-8 weeks field experience from volunteer work/classes plus a year's worth of semi-related research probably isn't a terrible situation to be in when applying to EEB programs?

 

 I feel like I'm kinda rambling, but does this sound like a decent plan or does anyone else have a better one? Has anyone been in a similar situation with needing to get experience, or does anyone have suggestions for where to find entry field experiences? Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[expandyourmind]

http://www.evobio.eu/

 

try that. i'm doing an erasmus mundus masters for morphology. you get paid to travel and study, and itll probably get you great field experience!

[rising_star]

I would look for opportunities on the TAMU Wildlife & Fisheries Job Board. Unpaid volunteer experiences may or may not actually give you the experience you're looking for.

[Tuanis]

You should sign up for the ECOLOG listserv. There new are postings for field tech jobs every day.

[Adelantero]

I agree with the Texas A&M wildlife job board and Ecolog. Primate stuff is hard to come by unfortunately, and I've seen the South Africa and Peru positions I think you're considering. In general any internship that I have to pay for makes me suspicious. An alternative potentially would be to work with other taxa that have qualities that are in line with your general research interests. Other highly social species for example. When you write your SoP for admissions, or when you contact potential advisers, you can draw on this experience. Having one field experience in the bag may help you net other primate-related projects. While some project leaders like their interns to come in with a lot of knowledge of the species or regions in question, others really just want to see that you have the skills necessary to work in the field in general. Having worked on completely unrelated projects but in remote areas or in difficult conditions with small groups/long hours/detail-oriented tasks might be enough to get you a future internship that is exactly what you're looking for.