scientist410

Hello all, I have been admitted into the grad school of my choice! However, right now I am in a bit of a mess as to what exactly I should start preparing for. Off the top of my head I know - housing and awards. But what else should I start looking into now so as to be fully ready to be settled by September? Thanks

Hello everyone, For the first time this summer I am holding a research position in an actual research lab! I am excited but at the same time a little bit leery because it will be the first time I am venturing outside of conventional classroom/wet lab lessons. My field is in the biological sciences (in this particular case - cell/molecular biology). I wanted to you guys if you had any particular tips and/or advice about how to make the best out of this experience as well as in general conduct with working in the lab?

Hello, I am a third year undergraduate student applying to a studentship when I came across a section asking about "Relevant Experience". Seeing as it will be my first time working in a laboratory setting I don't really have any "relevant experience" other than wet labs, papers, presentations from course work in school. My supervisor said to talk about a course that I did well in and another professor stated that I should mention an extracurricular that I did. What sort of things do you guys think should go in this section and you don't have a lot of meaningful experience? Thanks in advance!

Yeah I understand that the purpose of research was not to get a good LoR that was just me planning ahead. Sometimes I overthink and go too ahead of myself - things to work on for the new year haha. Thank you everybody for your input!

As an addendum I will be taking another class with the third "generic letter" prof making it my third class with him (I got an A in one and a B in another so hopefully I can make the A again in this third class). And yes I suppose you and PI#1 are right I guess I just needed to see it in words to synthesize it. Thanks!

Hello all, Lately I've been grappling with a dilemma as to what lab I will find myself in for the summer. I just came from a meeting with a potential PI (first time we met, let's say PI#1). He probed my interests in his lab/ why I want to get summer research experience and it came up that I was looking around with a variety of labs as it would help out a lot when it comes to graduate school applications because some need 3 reference letters. I also mentioned that the PI (PI#2) for this particular lab is already interested in taking me for the summer as well as being my thesis supervisor for my final year. The work PI#2 does also aligns with my grad school interests. After some more discussion he immediately advised that I should basically forget his lab and go for the lab in which I was most interested in working. Now don't get me wrong, I met this professor because his work was something that also interested me as well. I get where he's coming from that I should go for the lab in which the topic is something I that I am most passionate about. But what's working against me going into PI#2's lab is that when it comes to applying to the grad school I'm shooting for, I might be short a reference letter. PI#1's workaround for that was to ask a professor in which I got an A in the class (and in this case I have taken a class in which I got an A and PI#1 is buddy's with and basically gave me a confirmation that he'd be down to give sort of a generic LoR). That brings me to another conundrum: I thought sort of generic LoRs from profs with which you simply took a class with are looked down on? So working with the advice PI#1 gave me I find these pros/cons with going to PI#2 instead: -Pros: lab is doing work in which something I am really interested in, I'll have a head start in working in this lab when I am going to do my thesis project -Cons: I run the risk of being short reference letters, perhaps not have the opportunity to PI#1's type of work It's okay if some of you comment and tell me that I'm crazy and probably overthinking it all and to go with your gut instinct - PI#1 basically told me the same thing haha. Sometimes I feel like I might be answering my own questions but I think I just need some external opinions to help solidify my feelings about this so all opinions/ advice are welcome!

Hello all, I realize how generic the title sounds but I needed some clarification on this question: When asking for a LoR I know that the PI/ Professor is the best to ask however for many Grad Schools you need three LoRs and I was wondering if asking a Post-Doc or Research Associate (with a PhD) you have worked with is okay to ask for a LoR (assuming they're willing)? I should be able to (hopefully) land a lab position this summer making one LoR and I will be doing both a semester/year-long project in my last year (two LoRs hopefully). However given my possible choices for summer labs I may end up in the same lab for either of the semester/year-long project (hopefully this doesn't sound as bad as I think but I like the work they do). So overall, if I should end up in the same labs for either my semester project or year-long thesis project would it be okay to ask a PhD Research Associate or Post-Doc in the lab (if there is one) for a LoR as a means of getting an additional third LoR (apart from the PIs)? Or I might be lucky and be able to find my way into three different labs for summer, semester-project and year-long thesis project. Thanks for reading!

Yeah talking to professors is how its done. If I was unclear, Internships/Co-ops are meant for fields that can have direct industry jobs out of university to say (ie. Ecology, Computer Science, Applied Chemistry).

Yup, GPA was always a clear goal to fix although I wasn't aware the "last two years rule" could also apply to schools in the United States, I thought it was just cumulative GPA. This may sound slightly redundant but do school research courses count as research experience? Also at UofC doesn't officially support any Co-op/ Internships for my field so looking outwards I found a bunch of things in the States I'm not eligible for (because not a citizen) or international ones where I don't have much competitiveness, any further ideas that may help broaden the search? Edit: also take the GRE right?

Hello everyone, Before I start my question I just want to clarify the title. When I say I'm " 'dreaming' of wanting to go to a top ranking graduate school" what I really mean is that it's a nice thought to hypothetically explore but practicality/ reality would dictate it to be seriously unlikely for me. So really it's just a thought experiment and can even be a guiding motivator for myself. Anyways on to the point - the field that I want to do graduate school for is Immunology & Infectious Disease. The two websites that I've used to gather what the best schools in the USA are: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/infectious-disease-rankings, and http://www.phds.org/rankings/immunology. I used the phds.org for a Top 10 List because I couldn't find one (I don't even fully understand their ranking to be honest). As for my stats I currently have a cumulative GPA of 3.27, going into my third year of university and no laboratory experience yet. If you're reading this and thinking "yikes", trust me I know, I already have my work cut out for me to try and get into a Canadian grad school. Regardless I thought it would be nice to explore the question: what could I do to turn myself around for my last two undergraduate years to potentially make myself competitive to be a graduate student at these schools? I was hoping some of you may be able to help me answer that. If you've read this and are thinking "yeah he's basically got not chance anyhow" go ahead and put it anyways because that's how I really see it anyways. In all seriousness though I know how important this is to other people and I don't want this post to sound like an entire joke, it was just meant to help my pondering about how such a pipe dream can be achieved. Thanks! Edit: I just realized that my question was geared towards getting in straight out of undergrad but for the sake of argument the idea that I've done a Master's degree in Canada can also be considered as a possible launch point for getting in.

I've been trying to pinpoint where I'm going wrong - I mean for classes I generally make notes after lecture, make flash cards and review but I still feel like I'm not doing enough despite all this work I'm putting in and it brings me down. I don't know perhaps its the test anxiety which really stems from not having studied hard enough so it looks like that's where I need to improve.

Hey all, I just finished my second year of Biological Sciences and moving into my degree major of Cellular, Molecular and Microbiology. However (despite my current best efforts) I was still under my goals for the semester and will finish second year with cumulative 3.14 GPA (projected, depending on how I do regarding two more classes). This isn't nearly good enough to be competitive for Grad Schools in Canada and I've started to get down on my future prospects for Grad School because I'm starting to feel like I've done myself over. However I do still have a couple more years, do you think its possible to turn myself around in time to get into Grad School? My dream schools are McGill or UofT. PS. In case some ask about the low GPA, my first semester I basically tanked out of not being used to University (GPA 2.9) and after that I started to get better but as of 3 semesters later its just a wad of B's and B+'s.

Hello, I wanted some advice on how to approach my next year. I was planning to take four courses with the fourth course being my option. However I recently learned that my option choices have been restricted to first-years only and I'm unable to find any options that will satisfy me (I don't want to invest money into a class that will bore me out my mind to pass a requirement that can be put off for the time being). So the way I see it here are my options: 1) Take only the three science class (Molecular Genetics, Microbial Physiology and Metabolism & Basic Nucleic Acid Biochemistry). The last one, the Metabolism course I hear is a real killer and with my original plan my option would have been an online terminology class (which is very easy which is why I think there would have been a balance). 2) Take the four recommended major stream courses (so the three science classes above plus Virology). I mean I guess this would be the recommended course of action anyways from the school. The only thing is I'm also currently taking four heavy science courses no options (Organic Chemistry II, Intro to Cell Bio, Intro to Microbiology, Intro to Biochemistry). It's hard and makes life hellish at times but I'm getting through it (I think...). The reputation of the Metabolism class is what scares me into taking four science courses this time around. 3) I would take the option in the Spring semester (assuming it could rationalize taking the 3 courses in the Fall). Now on top of all this is of course the grades. I have average grades (pulling ~3.14, even then I'm pretty sure that's below average for Second Year Science). I want to get into Grad School so I really need to focus these last 3 or so years (taking five years to finish my degree) to pull up my grades enough to get into a good grad school (the dream is McGill but it all depends). So being able to streamline my courses into three sciences per semester plus the option requirement would be great but I'm worried about people looking at my transcript when I start applying to Grad Schools thinking I'm lazy for only taking 3 science courses per semester through the remainder of my degree. Help please! Edit: I thought I should mention I only have 2 Elective arts options to finish my degree plus 2 Geo courses which is what my fifth year is for.

Yeah that's what I wanted to do anyways, worry about options last and focus on my major/ core subjects. I have a question for you though? I mentioned earlier that I had OK grades (about 3.13 or 3.16 depending on my last deferred final but its not like it really matters, this might not even count as 'OK' ") if I clean my act up do you think there's still a chance of me getting into Grad School? (I say my words with a heavy emphasis on the work that lies ahead of me)

Hello, I wanted to hear some opinions on taking four classes per semester but all of them being science courses and then taking a fifth year to finish off options? The fifth year is something that will already happen because of a schedule mishap and I'm missing some classes that are graduate requirements so there isn't really much to avoid there. But what I wanted to do was just do the rest of my options in that fifth year as well, my program only allows 4 options from this point on (I'm in second year of a BSc aimed towards microbiology) so my schedule is always packed with core science classes plus that option. However the only thing that stops me is grad school opinions, will they think less of me for taking four courses (but likely better grades, currently only okay grades) and graduating in five years? Opinions?