ion_exchanger

I'm an introvert as well, and I will most likely find myself in isimilar situations. The fact that you have her CV is a great start, and I agree with all the advice given before. Is the speaker part of any professional societies that seem interesting? You can ask them about that. My go to move is to read a paper and pick out techniques that we both do, but differently. Since you do the same things, it is a bit easier for you. For me, I express proteins in E.coli, so whenever I see someone who doesn't, just to get the conversation started I ask about their expression system and why they think it's better than any others. Another one of my recent favorite questions is where they see the field going in the next couple of years. People seem to like that.

Hmm, that's tough. Without seeing the outfit, I would say wear the pants over the boots, but it really depends on how the pants taper at the end. I think that you should err on the side of caution, and I think that pants over boots is just a bit more professional than boots over the pants, at least for an interview.

Living in the north, I am used to wearing dressy clothes when it snows. This is the time where you can take advantage of those pants that you have that are just a little to short for all of your shoes, but will work perfectly with boots. No one will blame you if you have to wear boots to avoid busting your rump on snowy payment. if you wear a nice sweater and nice pants, you will be dressy in the midst of undesirable weather. My go to outfit for snowy walking weather was solid black boots, nice black corduroys, and a nice argyle sweater that had those dressy collars, earrings, and a necklace. For males, you can wear nice pants and a sweater as well. I'm also seconding tall chai latte with bringing a hat, scarf, and mittens. If you were like me and didn't want to mess up your hair, bring earmuffs. They have some that go over the head, and around the back of the head. You can also dress in layers. I'm always hot, so just my sweater was perfect for me. Good luck!

With the first semester of grad school, I would be dealing with TA'ing, rotation in a research lab, as well as classes. Another concern I had with TA'ing is the amount of work and time that is required, it seems overwhelming when I hear about it. I know it can be done, since all the graduate students were required to go through it, but it seems exhausting.

I think that you bring up a valid point, but in the end you have to do what's best for you. We have to remember, this is something that affects curent students, prospective students, as well as alumni. When alumni share their alma mater as Penn State, whether they graduated 2 years or 20 years ago, they are met with the same response. No matter where you go, there can always be a scandal that happens after you graduate, that can elicit the same response. 3 years after I graduated from my college, a sophomore was murdered in the dorm by a roommate. That's something that is now associated with my University. Maybe this is easier for me because I am not considering enrolling in the program, but if the academics were a great fit for me, I would push past the unfortunate incidents of those who are in no way affiliated with my academic department. I think that on some level everyone knows that you can't make it a reflection on the students that attend the school, that would be extremely unfair. You have the benefit of not being affiliated with the University when the scandal broke, so you are not as personally affected by it, so you can enroll more focused. If your POI or department are still that affected by it, and you think it will hinder your educational career, then absolutely I believe that it is a serious cause for concern and you should look elsewhere.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I would basically be teaching an introductory lab class, where I would teach things like how to use a microscope, how to streak plates, etc. There is a class that is required for all TA's to take, so that helps as well. I do not have any plans to go into teaching, I would I agreee with all the points of being able to explain a subject shows mastery of that subject.

I am admittedly not an expert in technology, but there are many cheaper tablets on the market. Is it possible that one of these has the PDF reader and annotater? Is it specifically the iPad that is appealing, or the features that it has?

I believe you will be fine. At my first interview weekend, there were not only interviewees with beards, but first year graduate students with beards. As long as it isn't braided or beaded, you will be fine. I can't see them turning away an otherwise qualified candidate for facial hair. Go on their website and take a look at the picutres of current students and see if any of them have beards.

I haven't purchased an iPad, for a few reasons. For one, I already have an iPhone, laptop, and kindle, not the fire. If I were to get the iPad, I would mostly use it to read or surf the internet. The problem with that is that wherever I go, I have internet access, be it work, home, campus, etc. If I don't, I can always use my phone, which has a full browser. For reading, I have my kindle. It is not the fire, it's the one with the newspaper like screen, that does not hurt my eyes when I read, which the iPad would after some time. If I were to use it to take notes in class, the typing would hurt my hands. I'd rather type on a full keyboard. I prefer to save the money and purchase an iMac for when school starts.

I honestly and unfortunately believe that it varies. For the programs that I've seen, the post interveriew acceptances and rejections have been sent at the same time. May not be the case for all schools. For my first interview, I was notified 6 days later, at 7:30pm. Then the email from the school came the next afternoon, email to check website. My 2nd interview was 8 days ago, and they told us that we would have to wait up until a month, as they still have another interview weekend at the end of this month, even though in prior years they notified within a week. Check the results page to see if there are any relevant past trends.

This is an excellent idea! Thank you! I will contact a graduate student and try to set this up. I know how you feel. My very first undergraduate biology course, not just the lab, was taught by a guy who was either a graduate student or a new grad in chemistry and not biology. While he knew the material, he was not the best teacher. I excelled in AP biology in high school, but struggled in his chemically based biology class, and ended up having to take the course over with an actual biologist.

Congrats MicroB2012!

Hello all. I am a prospective graduate student starting in the fall. While deciding on a school, one deciding factor is the requirement to be a TA. Most of my schools don't require it or it is optional, but at one school I am considering, it's required. I have spent over a year tutoring students, but they were all students in my major and cared somewhat about the subject and their class grade. I will be teaching a lab class to non-majors, who may or may not have an interest in science or even doing well in the course. I don't feel as if I will be a good instructor or enforcer, and am worried I will be so nervous that they will see through me. I don't want to rule out an otherwise good fit because the TA requirement has me worried. During the interview I asked the students if they had any problems with TA'ing. Obviously there were some concerns, but they all said that it wasn't as bad as they thought, and some even liked it. I felt better, but was also skeptical that they were holding back just because the whole point of the weekend is to convince me to attend, not to scare me away! Any outside opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This is a great question. I am going to have to make this decision very soon. 1. Advisor/research fit - These two are hand in hand for me. I want to go somewhere that if something doesn't work out with my number one advisor, I am still able to pursue similar research interests. The more opportunities to stay in my intended field, the better. 2. Funding/location - These two are also hand in hand for me, because no matter where I decide to go, local or out of state, I have to able to move out of the house and afford to live there, and I would like to save a bit of money. Safety is also a big factor. As of right now, the offers/potential offers are not equal. 3. Potential lab environment - As of right now, I prefer a smaller, more personal lab. I am very easy to get a long with and willing to help others, but I have learned very fast that sometimes scientists are not that way. I spent a lot of times talking to students and gauging their personalities to see if they are potential matches. I know that it won't be perfect, but I don't want to spend the next 5-7 years tiptoeing around snarky people. I've already had that problem. 4. Resources - I like that someone included this on their list, it's a big deal for me. As a potential graduate student, I will be bursting with ideas! I want to make sure that our lab is well funded, and the equipment is there. 5. Academic rank - Kaputzing, I don't think you were being shallow. People have applied to schools based on this. I see it more as how successful grad programs are at preparing competent future scientists. Higher ranked programs tend to be well funded, have great resources, and have excellent academic credentials and connections. That's not to say lower ranked programs don't. Take a look at faculty at lower ranked schools, and you'll see that they attended these higher ranked schools. Something that I don't like is people encouraging me to select based on this alone. This is lower on my list. I'm so nervous and excited to make this decision!

Congrats mrmolecularbiology!! Hope you are feeling better about having to decline UW Madison.

Agreed 100% I spent about a month researching schools and deciding where to apply, only to become addicted to this site and see choices that I wish I would have had the chance to consider. Oh well. Also, I look back at my SOP and cringe now. I wish more than anything that I had taken more time to work on it. Start early. What helps me is to write a full draft, and not look at it for a long time. You'll come back to it with a fresher eye and can edit accordingly. The longer you have to edit it, the better the statement.

Hang in there bio hopeful, I see you have an interview on Friday. We've waited this long, and we know the end is very near. We can do it! My first interview took 6 days to get back to me. Tomorrow will be 6 days from the 2nd.

Congratulations to the new acceptances! I have one more interview next week and then the season is over, can't wait to decide and start making plans for next year!

I'll be 26 at the start of graduate school. I feel like the older one because a lot of the prospective students at my first interview weekend were senior undergrads, but during my 2nd interview most of us had been out of school for at least a year, but I still believe I was one of the oldest. There were a few who clearly had a couple years on me.

As soon as I received an acceptance, this was all I heard. Apparently it is really popular among medical schools, because all my friends applying to medical schools say that people do this all the time while interviewing. I didn't bring up an acceptance unless it was asked, and then I could see the reactions. This was even recommended by a PI, not mine, that I work with. I just can't see myself doing that. It might actually turn out to work in my favor. Let's see.

Has anyone ever had an interview with a professor and more than one applicant? They are officially my new favorite types of interview. I had one with two people, and it was literally just a research presentation, and one with three people, where we were each asked about our research briefly and then given a chalk talk. These interviews are fun, but they get pretty tiring after a bit.

Telling my job goodbye. .Plan on moving to my new city in May, getting everything situated. Then going on some vacation towards the end of May, and then starting a summer rotation in June/July!

Yes, I meant a panel of admissions committee members, I'm sorry. Does anyone have experience with these types of interviews? Were they better or worse than one on one interviews? Were other graduate students being interviewed alongside you?