poeticlife

Dear all, I am editing my SOP and feeling very insure. I started my biology research (regarding tissue regeneration) last year and it lasted till this summer. I was interactive, passionate, and willing to correct my mistakes asap in experiments. Also, I could learn lab skills faster than PHD candidate in my team. You know, I used to be a blank sheet of this field. I felt very very happy and peaceful in lab. My research mentor was a smart European professor, kinda strict yet very smart. She knew what my progress was and what mistakes I made. All went well. Yet in February, I experienced a car crash accident. My TMJ had some problem before it, and this accident apparently made it worse. I could not show up regularly for 3 weeks. At the beginning of March, a university sent her a final notice concerning recommendation letter submission (she was one of my recommenders last year before I changed my direction of research). She then contacted me and said she would not write LOR since I was not showing up (before this accident, I put all my extracurricular time into research, almost). My mother educated me that I should show up, for instance, 2-3 days a week. The problem was, I was in pain and dizziness all time. I did not wanna screw up the experiment, wasting reagents for nothing and, yes, I said I could not go. After sincere apologies, she let me continue my project. I finished it up this summer and wrote a dissertation. At this time, I am pursuing a different, quantitative and interdisciplinary field of biology. And surely I am not gonna beg for a potentially bad LOR. Oh, for supplement, she said in April that I did very well before Feb. Later it was just bad. I have to admit that later my efficiency was not high. I became literally dumb for a couple of months and later only pain and dizziness bothered me. But I kept my grade in course works. I was upset for more than half year. It seemed that later mistakes were no longer tolerable. No compensation counted. I showed up, attended the lab meetings, worked my ass off on the dissertation. Yet I can no longer feel the pure happiness as what I had last year. This issue, the denial of recommendation seemed like an entire denial for my work, my potential, and my personality. I have learned a lot from this research project, gradually building up skills and the recognition of what my potential weaknesses which might prevent me from being a good researcher. This is s treasure for me, indeed. Yet I also face such a dilemma: how could I prove that I am a good candidate, if my research mentor does not write a LOR for me, proving what my reliability is? I do have good letters from other lecturing professors, yet how about my research? Yes, I could say what I did not do well were: 1 Last Feb., I could not tell her in advance that I could not show up (I tried too hard to prove that I could do it, yet I JUST COULD NOT.) 2 I should tell her how my disease had interfered my life. I could even show AdCom letter from my doctor. But, but, but, I do not think it is meaningful or persuadable. Nor do I wanna earn the attention in such way. Yet, here comes the question: How do I prove that I would be a quality candidate without recommendation from research mentor?

Thank you guys! Thank you all! I called him and he said he would be willing to do so for me!!! Your advice really gave me courage. Cheers!!!

Hello Guys, I am really frustrated because one of my potential recommenders did not reply to my email. I asked him in Mid-November concerning recommendation, yet no email was replied. Several days later, I asked him about a journal and he sent me the journal without replying my recommendation question. We used to have good connection and very interactive communication in his class in Spring 2013. He taught a 4000 level class while me and another (we are only undergrads) undergrad student turned out to be more motivated. His previous school was Purdue which I am planning to apply for. So I really want his rec. In September I left for Seattle. Before departure, I scheduled an appointment with him talking about the possibility of getting to grad school. My biggest regret is not to ask for rec at that time: it might be because I trusted him and our relationship so much that I am confident in this one, almost 70% sure that he would write one. Now it turns out to be a tragedy or so? OK, I will illustrate the timeline: Spring 2013, class, interactive Summer, asked him for a meeting with classmates, he was abroad and could not attend; September, appointment concerning grad application; November 10, ask for letter, not replied; November 15th, ask for journal, replied, no reply for previous email regarding rec; November 26th, ask again with journal questions (feedback), asked him "by the way, how do you think of the recommendation?" at the end, informal question not to be offensive-No reply by tonight. Yet he used to reply to my emails, for once after one week. But not too long later. His recommendation is really important for me because my mentor to research project cannot write me one due to family issue. That means I lose the strong one for research and need one from academia as compensation. It is so weird for me not getting any response. At least a "no" could tell me something. My roommate said profs would not mind writing rec to good students because it's no big deal. Yet now I am totally lost. Well..... Could you guys give me some hints and suggestions? If possible, I still wanna try to get his. At least I don't wanna die without a reason. Yet waiting is def not a solution. I am thinking of calling him, or his secretory? The biggest issue is I am not on campus. If I am, I would simply go by, say hi, and throw out my question or request. Now it's totally out of my control. Thank you very much!!!

Thanks guys! How about me talking to him directly after the conference? I feel like it's more secure because this is a season for email floods haha.

Hey All! I am attending a conference this Sunday. One of the presenters (not in our univ.) is working on a field of my interest. However unfortunately, I am planning to transfer from genetics and cell biology to biostatistics or bioinformatics in grad school. He is the department head of bioinformatics and a professor of biostatistics. His researches are highly relevant to what I want to work on as grad. Yet I do not see many of overlaps between my past project and his recent ones. My plan is to read his recent publications of my interests and his written chapters for textbooks. He also has a publication which is directly related to his topic in the conference. So I probably will also take it. My question is: how could I communicate with him after his lecture? I plan to send him an email prior to his lecture about what questions I have regarding his other researches and ask him face to face right after conference with questions about his lecture. However, I really wanna work on his projects as a phd or master student. Does anyone know if there is any reasonable way for me to interact with him in the following month without any offense? How should I communicate with an info of "I wanna work with you, can you take me into consideration"? This is the first time for me to communicate with an out-of-own-school professor under a not-taking-course-or-doing-research condition. I feel very unsure and anxious. Thanks a lot!