Genomic Repairman
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Posts posted by Genomic Repairman
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I agree with liszt, pick the school that seems to jive best with you rather than worrying if they are number 7 or 8 on the list. Where you go to school makes a difference but you make your own reputation through your work.
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They make the marine Bio grad students teach intro biology lab downtown.
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To answer your questions. No and No. Medievalmaniac brings up great points but also Adjuncts hold no sway and have no wait to through around like a TT or tenured professor. They might be nice as an accessory on your supervisory committee provided they have appropriate experience. And lets face it LOR's from adjuncts do not carry as much weight as those from regular professors.
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Most of the candidates that have come through have been bright, articulate folks that I think would be a great fit for the department and make a great contribution but there are always some rotten eggs in the basket. They provide for much humor and great stories to tell. And PI's have been known to notify their bad behaivor other departments that the candidate is applying to as well (as was the case of the wrong hypothesis professor).
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After dealing with candidates (n=15) these past two weeks here are some helpful hints of things not to say or do:
1. Do not ask me where you can buy drugs. I'm am not shitting you. I am here to get you from point A to point B and take you dinner, not here to help you find your next weed supplier.
2. Slag off on PI's that you have not yet met. Especially when their trainees are sitting across the table from you. As their trainee was fuming about your lack of brain to mouth filter, I will egg you on to say more and more dumb stuff that is going to bite you in the butt later.
3. Tell a graduate student that there research is boring and contributes nothing to field of science. This pisses the student off especially when she has a fellowship, multiple papers in C/N/S (the top dog journals), and some crazy groundbreaking research going on.
4. Get drunk at dinner. It sucks to have to make a pit stop and drop the lush off at the hotel when taking the rest of the candidates out on the town.
5. Lie to us about your GPA/accomplishments. Some of us do sit on the admissions committee and do actually look at you apps.
6. Oversleep on interview day. I will/did leave you at the hotel after waiting an extra half hour.
7. Update your Twitter while a professor is talking to you.
8. #7 also commits the heinous act of telling professor his hypothesis is wrong and that someone from her institution is doing it the right way. The professors that she speaks of works on a completely different project and have nowhere near similar research interests and do completely different things. Candidate then look strangely when the professor tells her to sit outside the door and wait for the next person to fetch her for the following interview after only interviewing with them for fifteen minutes of the hour.
Just some helpful hints folks. Watch your actions and more importantly your words.
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Its not easy but you can bike over the JI connector to get to the main campus downtown if you had too, but you better have a good bike and be in great shape. Have you thought about maybe investing in a scooter, cheaper than a car?
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Most programs have a predefined set of courses that you must take but they usually give you some space for some electives. But depending upon your program getting the bioengineering classes may be tough, if at all possible. You might be able to take extra electives than what you need to gain the experience you want but Program directors, and your boss usually want you to get done with classes ASAP and not dilly dally around. They want you producing results and you cannot do that sitting in on extra classes. And honestly you learn a lot about subjects when you approach those subjects through your research. I've picked up more knowledge through my research than I ever got sitting through a 3 hour lecture.
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Impossible to be a professor mom?
I'm calling bullshit on that right away. I work in a department that has like 6 profs who are mothers. They rock at what they do and from what I have seem are great moms. I think if you are going to juggle it you must have tremendous time management skills. Is it more difficult to balance the two things, oh yeah, but it can be done. And I have 6 perfect examples down the hall from me.
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Also, don't listen to people who say the east side is "the ghetto." After living here for a year and a half I've come to conclude that such attitudes are just snobbery, pure and simple, perhaps with a little sprinkling of racism. The bad part of the east side is literally a two block stretch of one street. The rest is fine. Most of my favorite spots in Austin are on the east side.
Um maybe I said the east side is ghetto because I have had friends get their apartments and cars broken into multiple time and oh yeah two of the ten that I know have also been mugged. So I'm basing my judgement off of reality, not snobbery or racism. I'm also not saying that there are not nice places on the east side (which is a hell of a lot larger than just a two block stretch), it is just not as safe as other parts of Austin.
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Why do you give a crap about the guy getting in? If he is as bad as you say he will probably end up getting thrown out on his ear. Just be glad for your own acceptance and work hard. Grow up and stop worrying about everyone else and focus on your work, you know the stuff that will make you successful. And yes you do come off snobby.
- yoshimoshi, mudlark, Genomic Repairman and 1 other
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Believe me, you don't have to be concerned about me. I simply strive to do my best in whatever I do. I realize that for some people, doing "just average" is cause for celebration. I try to set the bar a little higher for myself.
Pulling out a step ladder for whenever you decide to come off that high horse of yours.
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My fiancee went to Baylor for undergrad and I have visited there before and can honestly say there is not crap to do in Waco. Other than the university it is really a poor town and there is some lingering resentment for Baylor students from the townies. Now if you dig small towns this might be the place for you, but if not, stay away.
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Bryan makes a good point. We (I sit as a student member on admin committee) ask so we know if you have other schools you might be waiting to hear back from and time tables you have to work with. If anything else it might increase your chances of fielding an offer from us if we want you since we know about competition. Also just answer the question, don't be a slippery eel. As your lack of candor can negatively affect your current interview.
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Apartments, the decent ones are around 600-800 for 1 bedrooms depending upon size, location, and how nice. A $500 apartment is probably over in the ghetto (East side). Luckily UT has buses that run around a fair amount of the city. Bars vary in cost based upon where you go, I tend to like West 6th St. because you deal with less of the undergrads but drinks might be a $1 or 2 more. Let me know if y'all have any other questions.
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I am pretty sure most if not all grad schools require LOR's. They have to rely on some outside form of evaluation about you besides your grades, GRE scores, and your SOP. I have honestly never heard of a school that does not require one. I'm sure it would look really bad if you didn't submit one even if they are not required.
- newms, dant.gwyrdd, schoolpsych_hopeful and 1 other
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Snow someone people just have an inability to let things go in life, whether it be someone cutting them off in traffic or arguments about GRE scores on a message board. It could be application-related stress like Jerry pointed out, or maybe its their character to grasp at straws and argue. Either way its pretty sad.
- Genomic Repairman and HansK2012
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Lol..wow.
Did you finally admit that if you get rejected it will be because of your Q score? After all that effort you put into trying to be funny?
Sure, it seems a bit silly that someone of your caliber may be rejected because of your performance in a graduate entrance exam. But life is unfair in many ways. This is one of those ways.
Let's face it. AdComs look at the GRE both as a measurement of how committed you are to studying for an exam as well as how academically capable you are. Your excuse is that you took a refresher course in math? So what? Does that qualify you to do horribly in the Q section? I don't get it.
Uh I've sat on admin committee for a while and we pretty much consider the GRE just a test. Not a measure of commitment or intestinal fortitude. Predications of academic capability on a standardize test are not always certain nor does anyone except those who choose to wax nostalgic over their own score. Actually for a lot of us the GRE is the last time that we will be taking a standardized test, as graduate school and life for that matter is anything but standardized. I know folks with crap GRE scores that are more intelligent, verbose, and greater successes than their counterparts who had more elevated scores While the GRE is a metric to see knowledge, it is just that, a metric and one of many that an admissions committee uses to make their decision. We tend to judge folks more off on interest, experience, positive attitude, and how well they will be a fit with the department and its culture (you know passing on pricks who ramble on about how GRE score correlates with success).
- Genomic Repairman, ecg1810, eggr8 and 1 other
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Professors have to document deficiencies of trainees in case the situation gets so bad that they need to cut them loose. Not that this is what your PI is doing, but maybe he is just documenting a deficiency that he sees in you. I know most professors have to fill out periodic evaluations of their trainees, sometimes you get a copy of these and sometimes they are confidential, but they are always evaluating you. Him expressing his disappointment is negative reinforcement of bad behavior, he is not going to pat you on the head and tell you good job if you are moving to slow. You have to work to get better and then you might get some affirmation. And honestly if you want to be a scientist you have to develop a thick skin, and that means being able to take a semi-severe ass chewing session with a PI. Have you broached the topic of what you can do to speed up this particular task? And besides this is not like a long term thing, you only have a year to a year and a half left on your masters right? Just put your head down, get your work done, and get the hell out of there.
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If everything is better at Cincy go there, but there might be a stigma cast upon you for leaving your current place. It is pretty uncommon and considered a bad thing when a grad student leaves a program after the 1st year even on good terms. And to get on my soapbox for a minute in reference to rankings. Its all good and well but it is who you work with and more importantly what you do in grad school that determines your future than some number in on list. Another big question is will your coursework transfer or will you have to start back at square one?
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Hey guys, I'm in the process of posting an old (circa 1997) BBC documentary on my YouTube channel. Its filmed in a kind of crappy film noir style way but its pretty good. It details the history of the cells, contamination issues, the failed War on Cancer campaign, and the ethical issues of the cell line. Its got some good interviews with good scientists and unfortunately with one shitty one, an evolutionary biologist (and before you bust on me, I've got nothing against evolutionary biologists, just speak on the topic in which you are an expert) who has no experience with molecular or cancer biology rambling about how genetics will never create a solution to cancer. Apparently he has never heard of Gleevec and I surmise that they chose him for the documentary because he would make some controversial statements. Sorry I had to break it into 8 parts but YouTube would only let me post so much at a time. Full run time is 59 minutes.
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Sadly my friend even cheating occurs in the hallowed halls of MIT. Granted that case is with undergrads, but it just drives the point home that it can happen at any institution. And don't forget the case of what happened in Baltimore Laboratory at MIT, there are few institutions that do not have some scandal associated with their name. There will always be cheaters and liars, but as long as you are honest and have integrity your words and work will stand up to even the most scrutiny.
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I'm glad someone else is doing this. I'm doing the same and as someone else said, Raleigh and the surrounding cities appear to be very gay-friendly. I haven't really seen much about the other areas I'm looking at. If anyone has info on Wilmington, NC or Columbia and Charleston, SC, that'd be awesome. Good luck with your search OP
Out of the three places you listed, Charleston is by far the most friendly to folks with alternative lifestyles. I'm straight as an arrow, but had many gay friends in Charleston when I was an undergrad and everyone seemed pretty hospitable to them. There are very gay-friendly bars (Dudley's, Vickery's) and even a gay nightclub (Pantheon). I would say a good second choice would be Wilmington but stay the hell out of Columbia.
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In most cases that I know of this is done informally. Because your first year are two are spent on course work at your institution and you need those classes to graduate. Some grad schools get pissy with other ones about coursework from other institutions so this may be contributing to the decline in this. From my colleagues and my own perspective here is how it usually goes: Summoned to boss's office at end of the day. Boss tells you to pack your stuff you are headed off to Jamaica State University (fictional place, I think, if not my apologies, go fighting Rastafari!) to work with Prof. X. Usually you are either learning a technique to bring back to your lab or headed off to teach a technique (as was my case) to get them producing data for a collaborative project. Since I was working on such a short time frame, I was putting in 15 hour days, 7 days a week for those 3 months as the technique I bringing into the lab was labor intensive to set up and took a fair amount of time for just the experimental validations. Also you have to be concerned with living arrangements, you can be treated like a pasha like I was and put up in the faculty house (quite the swanky appointments), relegated to a unused dorm room, stay with Prof. X, or worse have to crash on the couch of Prof. X.'s grad student. So simple things like food, laundry, transportation (in some cases) can quickly become an issue. But luckily I visited a place that had a pretty solid night life so it was fairly common for the postdoc and that lab and I to go down to his local for a few pints after we knocked off work in the lab for the night.
6% Quant, 80% Verbal
in GRE/GMAT/etc
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For someone who espouses the virtues of the GRE your reading comprehension must suck as you obviously did not see that I prefaced my comments with the word sometimes. Once again flat on your face.