Genomic Repairman
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Posts posted by Genomic Repairman
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You better be setting up weekly/monthly pubmed searches based upon keywords or prominent authors in your field and subfields. I do this because it helps me to catch a lot of the science that comes out sometimes in journals that I am not looking at. I don't have time to scan the TOC of ~25 journals a week, I let the NCBI do all the hard work for me. And I get a nice email in my inbox every Monday morning with the results for each search.
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You might find this project or projects frivolous but your PI may be emphasizing them so that he can churn out some published or preliminary data in order to get a grant to study what is going on. You can and should carry more than one project, you can get your name on another paper (wherever in the authorship list it may be) and it allows a project to get wrapped up and not go cold. Plus it will serve as an extra chapter in your thesis.
As far as projects go, remember your PI is your boss and what they say is law. If they tell you to do the project, do the project. If you really feel this isn't a good thing for you, its time to switch labs and do it quick, don't waste even a single day.
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Thanks for the encouraging words! I am hanging in there. On top of academic stress, graduate school is very lonely. There is so much work that I really don't have time to socialize and make good friends. I had a really good group of friends as an undergrad, and despite the pressure of school work, it was okay because I had a really supportive social life. But now if some small thing goes wrong, I totally panic and I keep thinking about it. Moving to a new city, loneliness and academic pressure - all of this is very hard to deal with. I used to eat in dining hall in my undergrad, so there were always people around and it was nice. Now I don't even feel like eating as eating alone is so depressing. I have lost a lot of weight since I joined grad school. I hope things with get better but I feel so helpless. These two month have been really hard. Does grad school get any better after the first year/ after completing course requirements?
You have to make time for some type of friend outside of your classmates, you know normal folks. They help to keep you grounded and give you a sense of perspective that is lost in the lab grind by the rest of us. For instance, I used to drink beer with the night janitor while getting my MS. When 11pm rolled around, I'd stop what I'd be doing and we would walk the halls drinking Bud Lights in koozies, bullshitting, and I'd help him empty the trash. I'd tell him about my problems, he'd tell me his, I'd explain my project to him, and he would ask me why I was doing something. I still miss our evening constitutionals, where we discussed life, science, why the PI down the hall was such a bitch, and whose turn it was to buy beer.
Moral of the Story: Make some damn time for friends. You are never going to have balance all the time in your graduate career. At some points you will feel like you are spending too much time in the lab or too much time on your personal life. That's fine, just let it balance out in the long run. How many scientists were there 200 years ago? A shit ton son! How many can we name? Not too many. Science is not your life, its something you are passionate about and do to live your life. Enjoy the people around you and let them enjoy you.
Now get your ass out of the lab and make friends. Oh and study too.
- ZeChocMoose, waddle, NinjaMermaid and 6 others
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If the teacher isn't going to push the issue, just keep giving them 0's, if it keeps building up, let the prof know at the end of the semester. Hopefully the cheat will self-select themselves out of passing the class by acquiring enough 0's so that you don't have to fail for the issue.
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Yes, we have had a couple of grad students get bounced out for grades. I like to think that grades can only hurt you, not help you. And what I mean by that is in graduate school (in so far as the sciences) you are really gauged on how productive you are, not how good your course work was. You just need to do good enough to get by so far as grades.
If you tank a class and go on academic probation, so what, just repeat it. It sucks, but it is not the end of the world, even though it may seem as much right now. Keep your chin up.
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Dear sir or madam, your noobness is showing. The point of the coursework is to lay a basic foundation of knowledge, you just don't go into the lab and do science with a specious level of understanding of fundamental concepts. As someone who has wrapped up classwork and is post-candidacy, I can tell you need those courses. My belief is without those courses you would probably only have an in depth working knowledge in only your own subfield. I'm not saying saying you have to be an expert in everything but with the transition to interdisciplinary science you have to know a little about a lot.
As far as jumping into grad school because the economy was shit or doing it just to get a job, those are the wrong reasons. Training in a scientific discipline, learning critical thinking, and advanced analytical skill are good reasons.
Sounds like you may be in for all the wrong reasons. And if you don't want to go to class. Maybe its time to get out, before you waste your time and the resources of others.
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Let them know ASAP, your project may need to be modified. Some PhD projects do not make for good MS projects, for example you need a project that is going to generate data in a shorter amount of time. If you don't want to be there long term you don't have time to craft a really intricate story. You just want to learn and do enough to bang out a publication or two to get a reputation for yourself. Plus you don't want to look like it took you 3.5 years to get an MS in biomedical sciences.
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From my good friend and co-blogger Prof-Like Substance...
Go take a look, he is honestly telling you what he looks at to evaluate you, what he thinks matters, and dumb stuff that folks do that drive him up a wall (ex. initiating your personal state with a tale of your bucolic childhood experiences).
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My department/supervisor provides free school supplies
Well then, in that case Montblanc.
- TeaGirl, StrangeLight and Gvh
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I blog with FSP and many other profs over at Scientopia and they routinely bitch about the email form letters that clog their inboxes. Be specific and concise in your email.
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18 months, that's it? Sometimes stories don't develop until year 3 or so. Its not your fault, its the natural evolution of a project.
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Free ones, I don't buy pens.
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Profs hate these form letters, you want a short letter of inquiry and from there you can get down to the nitty gritty. A long form letter will only end up in one place: trashcan.
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I think if anything you are going to have to do an MS before they would let you into the PhD program. Do you have a strong foundation in biochemistry/molecular biology? Have you taken all the required coursework?
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You realize the history of gene therapy is not so good and that maybe gender identity could be controlled by multiple genes or by epigenetics? In my opinion it cannot hurt to bring up your situation. Also, I think you just stereotyped graduate students in science as cold introverts that can't even articulate their projects to the general public. This may not be a good preconceived notion to have.
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If you are going to mention professors by name in your SOP, you may contact them in advance and see if they are taking on students in the future. If they aren't its just a waste of time.
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Thank you so much! You gave me a lot of hope
I have an undergrad GPA of 3.30 and an MS with a GPA of 3.36 (both of which I consider to be on the low side) and wasn't able to get in anywhere this season. I thought maybe because of this. I do have research experience and good LORs. But I still think my app needs to be spiced up a little bit more for next time.
I have a question: I'm currently working on two papers. I don't know if any of them will be published by the time I apply in December, but I'm hoping that at least one of them will be. How do I indicate this in my application? Last time, I mentioned in the SOP that I'm preparing manuscripts for publication. Is that good enough? Or the adcoms won't take it unless it's published already? Should I mention this somewhere else in my app?
And you didn't get into anything? Oh lady we need to chat, something must have gone wrong somewhere (interview faux pas, LOR writer might have tossed you under the bus or some other reason). MS and 2 papers in preparation that should put you over the damn hump.
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Did you compare cost of living versus stipends? Quality of life between the two places (living in the boonies of Long Island vs maybe getting mugged in Houston)? Equipment/lab spaces of potential labs? Neighboring institutions that you can collaborate with easily? Why the hell are you asking us? This is your decision that will determine at least the next 5 years of your life, are you sure you want anyone swaying your decision?
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Based upon the links in your signature me doth think you art a troll Kellyy?
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Tired of searching PubMed every damn day to see what new stuff comes out, why not set up automatic searches so the pertinent literature comes to you...
Check it out on my blog.
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Does your boss already have any affiliations with grad schools/programs/etc? If not this is going to be difficult to swing. Most programs want you to study underneath advisors that work in their programs. Is this a DoD based or funded lab?
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Yeah I moved from LabSpaces because of some issues I had with management and blog my science stuff at Scientopia and my personal crap on Wordpress. I still chat with my LabSpace peeps and troll their sites on a regular basis though.
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I found this thread pretty humorous.
But it got me wondering, is it ever the other way around? Do grad students ever take prospective students out drinking/strip clubs/drug adventures ect?
I'm going to an interview in a couple weeks (at one of the nation's biggest party schools) so I'm a bit worried about this. I'd rather not get busted for drugs because of a grad student social.
I'm pretty sure it would be rare for a grad student to F#ck up your chances at grad school, provided you are responsible and maintain control over yourself. Yes, sometimes we might take you out drinking to our local speakeasy, but to the strip club? I'm a man of class and distinction and wouldn't be caught dead in a strip club, plus I'm a grad student, do you think I can afford the cover? As far as you being complicit in a 4 day ecstasy bender, that's on you.
Watch how much you drink, what you say and what you try to poke and smoke and you should be okay.
- DeeLovely79 and Chrysanthemum
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Keep it going folks, I want to hear some good or horrible stories from the interviews.
Switching Fields, is it worth it?
in Officially Grads
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You can bug out with a masters and make some money but if you really want to run a bioinformatics core or ever hold your own grants and make serious money, you gotta get those three letters after your name not two. So it really just depends on what you want.