mockturtle

I don't think postponing graduation by a semester would reflect poorly on you at all, especially if your academics are decent. I think the only way it even possibly *could* be a negative would be if it was the clear result of some failure on your part, which it won't be. If an employer asked, I don't think this would be a poor justification, either. Especially considering that this is a place you'd like to work post-grad, the opportunity to make a good impression with an internship could be super valuable. I say go for it, and congrats!

West wing

Says the person already accepted by both Stanford and Harvard??? (I kid, I kid. I'm only a tiny bit bitter, I promise.) (Oh and congrats!!!!!)

The first reminder was face-to-face, actually (she promised she'd submit in the next couple days), and when I didn't hear back I emailed her (and she said she "forgot", but would submit that night). That was yesterday, so I'd feel like a jerk for approaching her so soon to ask if she's gotten it done...... but maybe I should. I gave her 6 weeks notice and everything...

Talk show

How much research experience did you have at the time? I know what I want, but I don't think that's all I need. Best case scenario, by graduation I'll have a senior thesis, a summer research project, and an additional 1.5 years of lab experience where I wasn't doing the research myself (this and the senior thesis will both be more neuropsych than my liking and not all that relevant to my hopeful career path). I know programs sometimes just want to see "oh, this person is capable of research" without the particular subject mattering, but my sense of the matter is that an EEG study on humans in a dry lab isn't going to prepare me that well for much else. Don't programs care about relevant training?

Death Star

Just found out that one of my recommenders for REU programs still hasn't sent in her letter.... a whopping 11 days after the deadline and after two reminders/follow-ups. I wonder if she could see my soul dying in real time

I'm applying to 9, which I would assume to be enough... I'm still nervous though Here's hoping I get in somewhere. To be completely honest, I'm more than a little hopeful that that's how it works out for me. A couple of these sites are places I'd like to work, well, forever? Unfortunately I'm mortal, but at the very least it'd be amazing to work there post-undergrad.

I'm working on REU applications as we speak, actually

My friends are getting angry when I say I can't hang out this week, but I have 5 REU applications due from Friday to Sunday, which equals out to a whopping 12 essays to write. Short essays.... but still. More essays than a person should ever write in a few days (why did I do this to myself).

Dinner party

(whoa) ...Pizza pie

Lifealive, I would +1 every last one of your posts, if I hadn't run out of positive votes "+1"ing the first half of them. Keep fighting the good fight

Thanks funkydays! Yeah, I expect I won't be in too great of a position to be picky, but since my biggest worry about PhD acceptance is lack of relevant experience/background in relevant lab techniques I'd hope for a position to fill at least one of those boxes. I don't really know anyone doing post-bacc academic research, specifically, but I've never been much of a networker, admittedly (not that I won't try to reach out!). I don't even know what resources people use to find these kinds of jobs... I've seen mention of the PREP program but not of any non-biomedical equivalents.

Oh boy, definitely seconding (thirding? 'n'th-ing?) Doctor Who. Actually I'll just say self-congratulatory geek culture in general, to avoid stretching this page beyond repair.

@Vene: Well, for the time being I just kind of want to know the situation for academic research jobs out of undergrad, specifically... I'm sure the job availability situation is different between industry and academia, which makes it all the more important to figure out exactly how rough that job search is going to be, ahead of time. @bellwera: Yeahhh that was my impression of the process. That's why I'm so afraid of ending up a graduating senior with no job acceptances and no backup. I'm sure I could get into *some* school or other next year, but I'm a dreamer, damn it!

@ballwera: Thanks! What was the process like, getting said position? @vene: That's my feeling, too. I've had some masters students try to sell me on the idea and it's like... I don't think I'm in the same place they were in undergrad & I'd reeeeally like to avoid paying for that. I'm planning on a career in research, and I should know if that's a good plan after my senior thesis, and certainly after a gap year.

***Can anyone comment on the work situation for a neuro/bio-researcher straight out of undergrad?*** ***Which path did you take, and what influenced your decision?*** ***Exactly how clueless am I, scale of 1 to 10?*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm a junior in undergrad, planning on a PhD in neuro at some point in the future, and it's getting to be the time that I should really figure out whether I'm going through the grad-school application process next fall. (Though I'm sure this all largely depends on individual factors, I'd really appreciate some insight into the relative wisdom of each option.) If I could be somehow guaranteed relevant research-based employment straight out of undergrad, I'd choose a gap year (or two, or three) with no hesitation. Nearly every grad student I've spoken to has *heavily* recommended taking them to accrue experience, and I see why. If nothing else I'm sure it would do a world of good for my PhD-admissions prospects, as while my academics are strong, my research experience by graduation will almost definitely be too little and/or too irrelevant for a good PhD program's liking. And I'd rather not pay for masters-level schooling if I can avoid it. However, this obviously depends entirely on my likelihood of finding that relevant post-bacc employment! The last thing I want is a year of barista-ing after having put all my chicks in this basket. I could try applying to a little of each, but I don't want to waste my time on reaches that won't happen or on safeties that I could surpass with a little more experience. I also don't know if I'm just being overly biased against masters programs, after seeing so many of my peers go straight to PhD. Thoughts?

One time, one of my classmates approached me in the cafeteria with a petition to strongarm the professor into raising everyone's grades. This was a psych major in a neuro class (and *not* a difficult one), for perspective. And there was already a curve. In retrospect think the look of sheer horror on my face scared him off. I also once overheard a conversation in the library that went about like this: "I'm just dying in this class, you know? I hate biology so much." "So, wait, what are your future plans?" "...Med school" At least everyone else he was sitting with had the sense to laugh at him...

Ooh, no kidding! Okay, that's also really good to know. I just feel like I occupy an awkward middling zone, where I've got more experience than the people they want to recruit for their first research/lab opportunity, but less experience than the people they may want to recruit who can jump right in w/o much training. But hopefully in a month or two this will all just be a fond memory of unfounded worry... fingers crossed

Thanks, that's good to hear! To be honest, bsharpe, that's exactly what I'm concerned about: how to prove that an REU isn't a waste (given my opportunities for home institution research), without coming off whiny or putting down my school. The shortish version of my situation is that I'm currently working in a very psych-oriented neuro lab (and am pretty locked in with them as my senior-thesis lab, which is the longer story) but would rather follow a more bio-oriented neuro route. So I don't know how much I can say that my EEG and psych-software background, and experience with human subjects in a dry lab, is going to prepare me for these REU sites It's also the issue of how to discuss all this without making the application committee say "Wait, so what in the world is she doing in this neuropsych lab, exactly?". Not to try and make you all write my statements for me, it's just the question of whether this is even as important as I'm making it out to be, or if coming in with a moderately different research background (and the "wrong" technique skillset) is normal.

Hey now, questions don't kill, do they? The issue is how heavily I should attempt to address this in my personal statement, and whether I should try hard to "validate" my reasons for seeking an REU or if that would be unnecessary (no research school is all-encompassing and the specific projects I can take part in at these sites aren't ones I could take part in on my home turf). I hope that's fair enough

I'm a junior at Brandeis University, and am applying to some bio/neuro REUs this summer. Looking through the archives of past participants at most sites, however, they nearly all seem to come from less-prestigious, large public schools, or relatively obscure, small liberal arts schools. I respect the REU program's goal of extending research opportunities to students who wouldn't otherwise have access to them, so I'm not here to criticize that practice. But I am wondering whether I should worry about the effect the name "Brandeis University" will have on my application? I'm sure every site must place different value on different application elements, so I naturally don't expect any hard-set universal answer. But I'd still like to hear your input! Thanks a bunch!

I'm a Junior, with prospective double majors in biology and neuroscience, and hopes for a PhD and career in research. I transferred to my current university as a sophomore, from a school with no neuro program and almost no opportunities for lab research, and it left me a little behind. As per my current school's policy I won't have an advisor until next spring, so forgive me if I sound like I have no idea what I'm doing (I sort of don't). I took a technician job in a genetics lab this past spring and summer, not exactly planning on completing my eventual senior thesis with them, but unsure of my path and desperate for experience of any kind in the meantime. As it became increasingly apparent that my stronger interests lie with neuro, I've spent this past two months shifting over to a neuro lab whose research would better reflect my personal plans, and have heard back from two labs. ****So here is my conundrum:**** Lab #1 hired me a week before I'd even heard back from lab #2. They study human social psych with EEG, which is far more soft-science than my hopeful path of research and wouldn't seem to give me any techniques or methods I'd be likely to use again (I'd like to study cephalopods). It *would* at least give me a thesis closer to my interests than the lab I left, and it's possible I could supplement it with more relevant summer work (an REU, ideally). They are also a very young lab, the professor only having arrived last year, and have yet to actually support an undergraduate thesis, to my knowledge. Lab #2 studies visual system development in ferrets, interests me much more, and seems more helpful in preparing me for future study. However, the professor has told me that the only opportunity available is with a grad student who won't be able to meet with me until October, and that he finds it unlikely that I'd be able to complete a thesis in such little time as most students he works with accumulate all of their data by the end of their junior year. However, I could theoretically help out with said grad student's project instead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't know whether I have any chance of a thesis in lab #2, and I don't know whether it'd be worth anything to complete a thesis in lab #1. I don't know if begging and pleading with lab #2 to let me try for a thesis and committing my summer over to them would be any better than sticking with lab #1, and allotting my summer to something more relevant to my interests than either lab. I don't know if having so little research experience has already sealed my fate and my only chance at admission to a decent PhD program will be to take several years off in between, anyway. I don't know if I'm making mountains out of molehills and that translating a thesis in human neuropsych to a more-strongly-neuro grad program will be more doable than I realize. I'm sorry for the wall of words and my general cluelessness, and thank you for your feedback.