Tall Chai Latte

Hi everyone. An update on the status of cat identification: I have adopted a cat from a local rescue group! According to her foster mom, she is a very calm kitty who enjoys cuddling every evening. Sounds perfect to me!

I love Simon's cat vids! OMG!

If that's the case, I will be really cautious about it. Even if he wants to coach you well, given what he wants you to do is not his expertise, you will be left to dry when obstacles arise. Unless you are really really lucky to have an outside mentor who is there to help (I highly doubt there will be another PI willing to coach someone else's student), otherwise, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. Don't choose a PI who needs you more than you need him/her.

It's good to try various research disciplines at an early stage. There won't be a problem so feel free to bring it up.

Is this advisor a new faculty who desperately needs people in the lab? Could you ask him what specifically he has in mind for you to work on, and why does he think that you are a good fit? These are important things to know. Also, are you a masters student or PhD student?

Hi everyone. I have visited the cat at the shelter (also all of the cats who are currently there). The orange boy I was really interested in getting to know turns out to be a very energetic cat, in another words he will need a lot of attention and I'm not sure if I am able to provide being in lab 8+ hours a day. I really loved the cat though! Being too active is reason he was surrendered by his previous owner. Looks like I'll have to keep visiting to see which one bonded with me! At this point, shedding is one thing that I'm not sure how to deal with. I know all cats shed, some shed more and some shed less (even I shed lots too!). Hopefully there's a cat out there for me!

You know, I had the same question when I was deciding on which school to attend. I ended up choosing the other school over staying at my undergrad. My experience so far tells me that it doesn't matter. At all. It really doesn't matter, going to different schools for your PhD or staying as long as you do well. If you are staying in academia then your pedigree obviously matters. If you don't, employers only want to see that you can perform the tasks they hire you for. But funding is a illegitimate reason to stay.

So I popped into my boss' office today to ask her a question, also letting her know that the plasmid she handed me last time didn't work. She just went off on me! WTF? It wasn't even a big deal! What a mistake to talk to her today. Seriously, why do we have to be your punching bag whenever something in your life doesn't go well?

Like others pointed out, it's better to meet him in person before you guard yourself up. Some people are very terse in email communication, but once met in person and research becomes the conversation topic, they can light up and talk non-stop. I have a PI on my committee who's like that. He rarely responds to myself but gave me a lot of helpful advice during my committee meeting. You never know.

Wow, this is a lively thread! Thanks everyone. I am looking for young adult cats (between 6 mo-2 year olds) from our local shelters. Hopefully there will be some availabilities. How much is the general expense like for a cat per year? Do you ever have to deal with emergency vet bills?

Any cat owners here? I have never had a cat before. My family had a poodle for 12 years, and we never got another pet after our dog passed away 5 years ago. Now that I'm away from home to go to school, I would really want a pet to keep me company. A cat seems like a good idea. So how much time does one need to devote to a cat in general? I know this depends on the cat's personality, but I am in lab 8+ hours a day and don't want the cat feeling lonely. And taking on two cats is a little too much as I've never had any experience with cats before. Any advice? Do you have just one cat or more than one? What do you look for when you go and adopt cats? Thanks!

I thought your friend had some kind of conflict with his rotation advisor-- at least this was the impression I got from reading the title. It's very common for famous labs to attract a lot of students, and it's good that the said PI actually acknowledges he's reaching his maximal capacity (assuming that's the case) -- unlike some PIs! Taking on students without really considering whether s/he is able to provide adequate attention and guidance to fledgling students. If this PI is someone your friend really really want to work for, s/he would need outside funding sources.

Congratulations! Looking for a place to live in your new city (assuming you are moving there) is definitely a must. Some places have crazy housing competitions, for example, people around where I go to school start looking for a place to live one year ahead of their actual move-in date. How crazy is that!

I was freaking out after accepting my offer, thinking what's going to happen after I started. But hey, it's a sign that you are super excited to get started!

You can apply to the PhD program at your current institution, and simultaneously apply to a couple others. I did that when I was apply for PhD straight out of undergrad; I could tell my ex-boss was somewhat expecting me to stick around for another 5 years, but I eventually got into some of the better choices. He wished me well and said gaining educational experience at another school will be better than staying at the same place for another 5+ years. Just don't outright state that you don't want to stay for PhD. Wait till the results come out, then make your decision. If he's a reasonable person, he would want the best for you after seeing the different places you are accepted to.

Julietmercredi nailed it. I am advised by a somewhat new PI, she was tenured in early 2012 but still very fresh in terms of advising students (I'm only her second student). One thing I want to add is that when it comes to applying for internal and external fellowships, your PI's track record also plays a role. Sometimes it could hurt you more than helping.

Wow this thread is awesome. 1. Just yesterday I got information on my fellowship application status, and it was a negative. I spent my entire Christmas break fretting over this shit, and this is?!?! Gaaaaaaaaaahh!! I WANT MY CHRISTMAS BREAK BACK! 2. Nothing I did at my bench worked this week and last week. I just have not a damn clue what's going on. 3. Two weeks ago on a Tuesday, my boss came to me and asked me to send a huge stock of protein samples out for off-site experiment within the week. The receiving facility does not take Friday shipment deliveries, which means I had to GET READY AND SEND THE PACKAGE WITHIN ONE DAY. Where the heck do I get these samples from? I can't produce samples out of thin air. And no you did not constantly remind me during the entire month of February. In fact, this was the first time I heard about it, sorry.. I can't read minds. 4. There is a visiting student in lab that's asking a bunch of questions on things you can simply just google. Ahh leave me alone!!

FemaleScienceProfessor had a blog entry on this topic. Here it is: http://science-professor.blogspot.com/2009/11/first-foremost.html. From reading the comments, the experience can vary quiet a lot, mostly due to the personality and style of the young professor. Resources available at each department (such as mentoring support coming from outside of the advisor-advisee relationship) also can make a difference.

I'm a fourth year PhD student now. Looking back on my undergrad research experiment and my own PhD progression, I'd say having undergraduate research experience doesn't necessarily prepare you well for grad school. Unless you plan on staying in the same area for grad school (the already existing technical knowledge will help you a bit), the experience itself can only serve as a "feeler" and see whether you like academic research at all. The scene can be very different once you hop over to the other side. My first research experience was back in my sophomore year, where I worked part-time in a betta fish behavior lab. Unfortunately the lab was closing down due to funding crisis, so I did nothing more than feeding fish and cleaning tanks. In my junior year, I switched over to a biochemistry/biophysics lab studying protein structure; I consider this as my first serious research experience, where I was given different projects to work on. I stayed there until I graduated from college (3 years total), finished most of my projects, though the paper wasn't published until I was well into the third year of PhD program. For the concerns you have, I would recommend you read primary research papers and see how they write them. How to read fast and write well is one of the things they teach you in grad school, so don't worry you will definitely learn it there! Is there a major tier-1 academic institute near by for you to get some additional research experience? The experience, as well as the potential recommendation letters, will be key to your graduate school applications.

I think it comes down to how comfortable do you feel being with a certain group -- is positive interaction essential, or all you need is doing good work? It's important to have both, but the ratio various from person to person. I click fine with my PI and lab mates, I also have social circles outside of lab. They complement each other, that way I can always find someone to grab a bite with.

I think it depends which stage you are at, and how much you have published. For applying fellowships I put my undergrad pubs on, but I think once I have more publications from your MS/PhD, I would only leave those on my CV.

Haha I was the same! I didn't really like people in the midwest at first, the first impression they gave me was they seem to drink and party a lot (I'm a non-drinking introvert, the above two really drive me nuts when there are obligated lab parties), and most people find me weird (I'm into running, photography, and just hang out with friends I like at a coffee shop). Cleaning off snow on my car was okay for me, but the bitter coldness and how winter technically doesn't end until the end of May and suddenly everything switches to summer totally didn't sit right with me (still doesn't!).