Genomic Repairman

Your GPA isn't too bad. But what will get your foot in the door is your research experience and your letters of rec. I sit on the AdComm at my institution and you have a hard time getting a spot if you don't have prior research experience. You should do fine.

Bite the bullet and get EndNote X3. I run Office 08 and Snow Leopard and everything works fine. The program is great and if your PI has an endnote library you can copy it to yours. Besides you usually get student discounts.

My boss and I try to keep an arm's length distance away from each other. I do not overly gravitate towards sitting by him in meetings or seminars but afterwards in our weekly meetings we do discuss. Also I have shared a drink with him at social engagements and we make jokes but I know not to be above my station as the Brits would say. This seems to work well for me as I mostly need a mentor to help guide me through my project and impart his old-ass wisdom on me and less of a drinking buddy (I've got enough of those). In my department it seems that students who are clingers to their PI's tend to get a reputation of being needy and not being able to make it on their own without help. While this may not be true unfortunately in a lot of cases perception is reality.

I emailed the DGS and explained that I was waiting for some more offers to come in. If they want you then they will grant it. But these guys made me a little mad they accepted me in March and gave me a two week deadline to accept the offer.

I'm kind of with you on this, its a really slippery slope. If you ban this then why not ban any research sponsored by big pharma, or food research sponsored by food companies. It feels a little too heavy handed and downright preachy to me. If the science is good and it makes it through the review process then I am fine with whatever. And these studies are probably shouldering extra scrutiny because of who they are funded by.

I asked for an extra month to wait for offers to come in and was granted it. If they honestly want you bad enough then they will grant you the extension.

There is still some suspicion of Looger and a 2003 paper he and Hellinga published. Also is he technically qualified for the position that he achieved the position based upon his work at Duke, work that really doesn't hold up to too much scrutiny. You have to wonder if he is really that naive, that dumb, or willing to go along with whatever to get a top rate publication. http://writedit.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/hellinga-controversy-expands/

Dear (Lesser Institution, Institution Too God Damn Cheap to Fund Me, Horrible Fit For Me, etc.), I would like to decline you offer for admission. Thank you. Nuff Said. No one cares, this usually goes to a secretary or admin office. They simply cross your name off the list and move on to the next backup. Don't waste your time and energy trying to tip toe around you not wanting to be there.

I share a bullpen-style office with a postdoc, another graduate student, and five technicians. So with only a quorum of three people we have STFU rule. We each right it on the board next to our name and folks can see when we need quiet time to get crap done. This way loud conversations and personal phone calls are taken outside of the office area. We all came into agreement when we moved into this space on the rule rather quickly, as I have found that it has worked well in my previous labs.

It sucks but its a fact of life when you are cramped into an office like drunken frat boys into a phone booth. I usually keep my iPod headphones in or I have a special set of earplugs, similar to those used by folks on aircraft carrier decks, when I need absolute silence for manuscript or proposal writing. The leg shakers are the worst, the person next to me shakes their legs so hard that it makes my desk (connected to theirs) rattle.

Janelia has a solid rep, but just please please please stay the hell away from Loren Looger's lab. If you don't know the whole backstory of the controversy with he and Homme Helinga look it up. Turds have a better reputation than Looger or Helinga for that matter right now. But from what I have heard Janelia is a spectacular place with a phenomenal collection of talent.

If you are a hermit, you will probably still be a hermit. If you are a night owl socialite who loves to party, you probably won't make it too long in grad school. But if you manage your time and stress level you can have a social life.

Congrats on making it. I'm wrapping up my second year and last class and getting ready to head into candidacy exams, marriage (not really curricular, but indeed stressfull), and a manuscript. It doesn't get easier but you get more used to it and as a bonus, you are done with class.

I'm a 2nd year grad student who will get married this fall and we are thinking about waiting until 32 to start having kids. Its four years away and I'll be done with school (but in a postdoc) by then.

I regularly use a backpack (hey I can haul more crap in it than a messenger bag) but at conferences or offsite visits with collaborators, I use a messenger bag to look a little more professional.

$65 is a good price for a poster. I usually get charged between $50-100 depending upon size, color, and finish (although my PI picks up the tab). At my undergrad they charged $40 to the PI's for their printing center and those places take a financial loss so the $65 is actually quite reasonable. All told I've got like $1500 worth of posters kicking around in my closet, I just wish I could part with them as they serve me no use anymore but damn that is a chunk of change.

None of us can really help you. Just sit down and compare some of the following factors: -Stipend money -stipend vs cost of living (utilities can be super expensive some places) -Taxes (some states have no income tax) -Location (city vs BFE) -reputation -potential PI's you could work with -other grad students (fun and laid back vs supercompetitive gunners) -Internal fellowships (you need to get if you want to make your applications competitive for a good postdoc) -Moving expenses

My department used to use an online service where you upload, proof, and they print and FedEx it to you in two days. You might want to look online for those services as Kinko's will tear you a new one with the prices they charge to print.

Methinks not exactly boss. Some programs that are vital to some of us are Mac specific. So it honestly just boils down to you what is the best fit (programs, money, the damn thing not dying one year after the warranty, etc.) that should be the main reason you make a choice between the two.

I'd like to confirm what acs said about PC's slowing down a little when flipping between programs when compared to doing the same task on a Mac. And I'd also like to confirm you are a giant asshat. Way to go douche, nice way to destroy a civil and pretty objective discussion (in my opinion).