Shamrock_Frog

One of the students accused of doing little work has a low grade, the only C in the class (It was actually a D before the group project and paper grades were added into the gradebook). The other student has an A and is actually the 2nd or 3rd highest grade in the class. I think student I is aware that the A student does have a higher grade, and this is partly why the student is upset. She didn't actually ask for a regrade, of which there is a firm policy (in writing, can't be submitted until after 24 hours after test/project grades were handed back). Plus it's the friday before grades are due, which is my boss/PI's job to turn in letter grades, not mine. I think she just wants to understand why they all got the same grade.

Yeah, reading the review sheets the members wrote about each other, this one member really tore into the other group members (in a "i'm a control freak and people weren't responsive enough for me" sort of way). That's another reason why my boss/PI and I decided we couldn't really do anything about it, student complains about all group members but says "Student II and myself told student III and student IV what to do for their parts" but student II did not corroborate this on his own review sheet. The students did have a rubric though, and the presentation itself wasn't bad, but it just wasn't A quality either. It also seemed like this student expects to get an A because s/he put a lot of work and time and effort into the presentation. But sorry, I don't grade on effort. I think part of the complaint on this student (student I) is that one of the group members (student III) has a (much) higher grade than Student I despite not spending as much time and effort on the assignments. Sorry student I, but student III just tests better and that's just the hard truth.

I started off the semester having set hours for office hours. But no one ever came by so I set it up as an "email me 3 times you are available and we can set something up" situation. And I used the set hours for when I knew my students had upcoming projects and papers due. It seemed to work pretty well.

Hey all, First year TA here, obviously. How do you deal with pre-meds who aren't happy with their course grade? Student who got a B+ overall in an intro class. Student got the same grade on a group project (each member received the same grade) which is why the grade stayed the same (grade was 30% of overall grade). Student is unhappy and freaking out about a B+ because student wants to go to medical school. Also group work did not go well, terrible communication amongst group members, etc. One group member (the student in question) reports doing a large share of the work but other three said it was distributed equally. I cannot do anything about the grading since there was no corroboration between group members about one person doing the majority of the work. I also discussed this with the professor/my boss and due to university policy, b/c there was no corroboration I cannot change the grade. I am meeting with this student at the end of the week to discuss the situation. Has anyone had to deal with something like this? This student is a good student overall, and a B+ isn't going to screw up everything. (I used to work at a medical school so...)

I'm still trying to find a first rotation. Everyone I've talked to has agreed to either a 2nd or 3rd rotation. I have 2 or 3 labs to choose each for those, but I'm still looking for a first rotation. Frustrating. I have a lot more free reign for the class I'm TA'ing and I'm both excited and terrified by that prospect. My undergrad TAs are veterans so that's definitely helpful.

I agree with the above poster about not having an academic reference from your masters or undergrad. That is definitely a red flag. You will not be having any academic references and you've got both a BA/BS and a masters. My uGPA was slightly higher than yours, with some post-bacc classes that had a much higher GPA (~3.7 from one institution and 4.0 from another, around 20 hours total). Your masters GPA being so low might be worrisome as well. Most applicants that I've seen on here that have a low uGPA have a 3.8+ masters GPA. But they also don't have the research experience you have. Do you have a list of programs you are looking at? That will help you determine if you need the Bio GRE. I got into a PhD program with low GRE scores (higher verbal and higher writing, but quant about the same) but I had a lot of research experience (5 years post-bacc, no masters). No publications, but a couple of posters and a lot of varied experience in techniques. Just be smart about which universities you apply to.

Try contacting current students at the institutions you mentioned and see if they will share some information with you. You might be surprised by the GRE scores some people are accepted with. They are not really the most important piece of your application. Mine sucked and I got in, but I'm in a different field.

That's interesting. Will you be going to school part-time or full-time? If it's part-time, they may want to know what kind of pay you take home.

I will be starting in the fall. I have been working for the past five years. Anyone else in a similar position? Anyone here that's older that went the same route? Do you have any advice? Thanks!

My university requires 9 hours a semester. I have not enrolled in classes yet, that comes later this summer, but what are the requirements for your department/university?

I would dress business causal to be on the safe side. If it's a multi-day orientation, you could just ask around or see what everyone else is wearing the first day.

Sadly I never watched Buffy when it was on the air. My friend/roommate got me hooked on it in college. Watched it all the way through! I started watching it again but had issues with my netflix account and had to stop. Buffy is a great show, cheesy 90s dialogue in the first season notwithstanding.

I always asked the current grad students if there is anything they wished they had known about before starting at X University. I always had a great discussion afterwards.

The most important part is research fit, so be sure and pick universities that do research in the area in which you want to do research.

I watched the first two seasons of Orphan Black last weekend. I LOVE this show. The acting is pretty incredible.