ion_exchanger
-
Posts
458 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Posts posted by ion_exchanger
-
-
I'm a huge fan of messenger bags. They are more comfy than backpacks. Also I am not a fan of the way that totes need to be carried, even though I have had my eye on a few Calvin Klein and Michael Kors totes. I carry a Solo messenger bag. It's medium heavy and comfortably fits my iPad, notebook, small umbrella, and other school essentials. Plenty of pockets for everything. It even fits my big dell laptop. It has one of those shoulder pads for comfort. I love it!
-
Trifectase is pretty awesome!
-
Whatever it is should end in triase, no?
-
Do the functions occur at the same time? Is one reaction more favored than the others? I hope to name a novel protein/gene. I'll take into account the function(s) and name it in such a way that it has a cool acronym.
-
I did two and a half postbac years before grad school. There is one straight from undergrad in my cohort and the rest of them earned masters degrees from our institution.
I'm really happy I decided to pursue the fourth rotation. I almost decided not to, but did not want "what if" feelings. I'm glad I did because I haven't been able to stop thinking about my potential project, and the mentor is amazing.
-
Oh gosh, recruitment. So much tasty free food. I'm in a special program so I actually have to do two recruitments. Yummy. I noticed a lot of applicants this year are seniors in undergrad. There is only one person fresh out of undergrad in my cohort.
-
My fourth rotation is the one that I'm most excited about. I can't stop thinking/reading about it, even while in my current rotation, which is terrible. If it doesn't work out, I'll be going back to my first rotation, which will be almost a year ago at that point. New students will be coming in! Wow, things just got real.
-
Congrats LMac! I am insisting on doing a 4th rotation and will probably be the last to join a lab. One of my fellow first years is already talking about aims! Head in hands.
-
For a lot of schools that I have visited, you can only rotate with one lab if you like. It's actually better, you don't waste time, can begin immediately on potential projects, and won't take space from someone who doesn't know what lab they want to join. Beware that some PI's will outright ask due to funding. They don't want to use time/resources training a student who already knows that they won't want to join their lab.
-
I have a degree in biology, and am in a biochem phd program. I also took a year of biochem in undergrad, but those courses weren't required for my program.
-
-
-
For those worrying about schools that don't reply within a week, try to relax. One of my schools waited five weeks until I was accepted. The only people who learned of their acceptance were those who called ahead because they were in the running for another department.
-
I took 2.5 years for a postbac and I'm certainly glad I did. I also cannot say enough great things about the experience. I applied to and was accepted to programs that i would have not gotten into if it weren't for my postbac research experience.
A postbac is a confidence booster both for you and admissions committees that you are serious that research is something that you truly are interested in pursuing as a career. Being in the lab full time, working on a project, you will be sure that this life is for you, or that you would rather find something else to do. For me, my postbac was at NIH. They have a graduate school where I was able to take classes, so I wasn't too shocked after so much time out of school. Some of those classes can even be paid by your lab if they are relevant to your research. The price is also extremely affordable.
Another invaluable resource of a postbac experience is the networking. The people in your lab come from universities, they have connections. I went on so many pre-interviews to meet with POI's before application season was even underway. With my mentors able to vouch for me, and the POI's already having met me, I already had people on the inside looking out for my application and talking me up. When I met them for the actual interview, it was much more relaxing. Also, in your specialized research area, science is a small world. There was not a place where I interviewed that someone didn't know at least one of my mentors, and at a few places people knew many of my mentors. When they see that you had a letter of recommendation from them, they were happy.
A postbac year also makes you more marketable as a graduate student. I had time to learn many techniques that would come from a rotation, both from my lab and as a result of collaborations. As a result, I am able to fit nicely in a variety of labs, and bring skills that the lab may not already have.
My undergrad GPA was 3.5. I did not complete a postbac to strengthen that, or any numbers. I did that to strengthen my research resume. I highly doubt that I would have even been given a second glance if I had only applied with the research experience that I had from undergrad. I agree with some of the other posters though. In an applicant pool where everyone has tons of experience, sometimes it comes down to numbers, and then there's nothing you can do about that. For programs who are less strict with the numbers and care more about actual experience, a postbac is your best option.
-
I went three for three on my interviews, and did not send thank you notes.
-
I'm currently looking for a textbook to accompany my molecular cell biology course. The text recommended is molecular biology of the cell by alberts, but in undergrad I had cell and molec bio by Karp and enjoyed that book. Similarly, biochemistry by lehinger was preferred but I preferred berg. What book do you recommend for cell biology? Similarly, which books do you prefer for subjects?
-
In my interviews, an empty slot was free time for me, it happened at two of my interviews. They'll have a place for you to sit and relax.
-
Umd was actually my favorite interview. It's short, sweet, to the point, and fun. Michelle brooks, from what I can remember, was extremely nice and pleasant, she smiles a lot. I had no problems with anyone there, but I was a local candidate. All of the faculty were great, and the phd students are really nice. The students interviewing were also really nice. For dinner they took us to a nice restaurant downtown. Overall, a pretty nice place to be.
-
In regards to the umd question, I didn't know that they could choose which trip you can take based on price. Shouldn't it be that if you are granted an interview, they will pay anyway, no matter the cost?
I will say that for umd, they grouped the interviews based on concentration, so not going with your concentration group is not as fun/informative.
-
Sorry for replying so late, just seeing this message. Yes it was just for my field, I don't know about the other departments.
-
Just a sidenote: It was funny and sad at the same time that I was interviewing in a pants suit with PI's who were wearing ripped jeans and no shoes.
- biotechie, pyrocide, braaaaaiinnns and 1 other
-
4
-
They certainly don't, but unfortunately this still makes people nervous , and at the welcome dinners there were always a few people who were uncomfortably dressed up for pizza and beer.
-
I interviewed and live on the east coast. For anything other than the interview that said casual, I opted for corduroys and a simple sweater. I found that the outfit blended in either way, if people were more on the casual (jeans) side I didn't look too dressed up, and if people were still formal, at least I wasn't wearing jeans and still fit in. Worked for me, I'm a female btw.
-
Noooo, I'll have to wait until I leave the lab at a time where a pizza place is still open!
How often do you meet with your adviser?
in Coursework, Advising, and Exams
Posted
I've had a mixed bag. When I was a postbac, we never really had a formal meeting, I would just go to her when I had significant data. I guess that had to do with the kind of lab I was in, we weren't getting results weekly, it was a slower lab where you had to wait for a lot of the results. She was very accessible though, I could always go to her with ideas or problems. This was the norm for me for 2.5 years. My first rotation in graduate school was very different, the advisor wanted to meet about once a week or so to go over data and overall direction of the project. It was funny to me, sometimes she would walk past me and then double back and say, should we meet up? As if she hadn't spoken to me in a while. My second rotation, the PI met with everyone for an hour every week, there were scheduled meeting times. I feel like these two PIs are the kinds that make sure you are always doing work, all the time, you know that you have a meeting looming so you better have something to show me! My final rotation was/is a lot like my postbac experience, where there is no meeting time but I am always able to go to the PI and discuss my latest results and ideas. For me, this is the best format. I know that graduate school has definite deadlines and such, but I work a lot harder and smarter when I'm more relaxed rather than rushing to put something together just because a meeting is coming, or rushing a failed experiment only to have it fail again because a meeting is coming up. I had that problem with my first two rotations.