Jump to content

EatBread

Members
  • Posts

    4
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Location
    CA
  • Application Season
    Not Applicable
  • Program
    Biology

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

EatBread's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

0

Reputation

  1. Backstory: My professor is very reputable in the field. When I started out in his lab as a third-year undergraduate, however, I realized that our personalities were not a good fit. I actually joined his lab a little bit later into the quarter, but when I visited him many times to ask for his assistance in learning about the literature and concepts, for example, he took more of a hands-off approach and would not provide much guidance. I felt flung into a dark forest to fend for myself, and as an undergraduate with no knowledge at the time on any of the topics as well as no knowledge of how research even worked, I was completely lost. Fast forward a couple of years and I've worked under him and a couple of doctoral candidates/postdocs of his for 2 years, and when it came time for me to ask him for a LOR, he declined, saying I hadn't enough to show for him. I felt that this was an unfair assumption, even though I went to lab and did painstaking work for many hours and for two years, but I could only accept his decision. Despite that, under him, I never felt that I picked up my stride in research. Afterwards, I decided to leave his lab unannounced, as I already felt disappointed that there seemed to be little chance (and little time left) for me to earn his positive LOR. I've since come to regret not giving my "two weeks notice" so to speak, as my doctoral (candidate at the time) supervisor took notice of this as well and when I reached out to her, she did not reply back. However, my largest regret was not seeking a different professor to work under, one with a more hands-on approach/personality towards his students, as I have always felt that I would've performed even better under those theoretical circumstances. My PI actually also had a reputation of writing negative letter recommendations for students in the past, so I am now unwilling to ask him again, after not contacting him for several years. The situation I face now is this: A few schools have contacted me to ask for a LOR from my PI/supervisor, but I was not on great terms with the only lab I was in. Currently, I've got enough letters from a work supervisor in industry research and lecturer professors (also well-known in the field), but now that schools are beginning to review applications, they want my professor's recommendation, whose respect I do not think I have. I am aware that it looks rather strange for me not to have a letter of recommendation from my research supervisor or principal investigator, but I needed to leave the environment that I put myself in and realized, too late, that I should have at least given fair warning to my then-supervisor before leaving abruptly. As of now, I am unsure as to how to proceed. Asking my professor for a LOR is not even a consideration at this point, for he may just not answer, but he may actually put in a negative word on my behalf, thus using his name to effectively shred my application/chance to pieces. I do not feel that my story is entirely unique, as I'm sure there are many people who've not been in labs that were good fits on their first (and only for me) try. My biggest mistake was to stay with mine and not find another. Now I'm faced with the difficult task of answering a few schools requests on providing them a LOR from a professor who I have no intention of asking. Thanks for listening and would appreciate some feedback on my situation.
  2. I received a formal notification of waitlist status from my top school about 2 weeks ago. However, like many of you, I'm feel the anxiety creeping up as the deadline draws closer. When is it appropriate to directly call the program division coordinator/councilor about your application status? Would it be considered rude/irritating?
  3. Hey that's awesome! Glad to hear you tried and succeeded! Gives me some hope as well. I e-mailed them just now to restate my interest as well as update them on what I've been up to since I've applied. Just hoping admissions actually will see/read it.
  4. I'm waitlisted for my top school at the moment. I've heard from a couple sources that you can e-mail the program to keep in contact and re-state your interest as well as what you've been doing to enhance your success as a student enrolled in the program. I've also read that you can keep contact brief, but polite. Recently, I talked to another professor from the school I'm waitlisted at about his research and the program. I'm wondering if writing a letter to the program division coordinator about the work I've been doing since I submitted application will benefit my chances of being noticed in anyway (which I know won't matter if all seats fill up anyway). Not sure if this does anything but just want to hear if this is a good idea or not.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use