Sakashi

Does anyone have any advice for what to do when one of the profs you're interviewing with is doing research that isn't exactly your cup of tea? I'm more of a biopsych/behavior kind of person. And one of the people I'll be meeting with is like, protein structure and crystallography and receptors and things that kind of fly right over my head. I'm reading up on abstracts, but it feels like it's just in one ear and out the other. When I see the structure and crystallography things my brain basically makes the old dial-up sound, and starts to go, 'ew, this biology seems too close to chemistry'. Is there any polite way to go in and say something along the lines of "I would be really interested to hear more about your work. I haven't had a ton of experience with this sort of stuff, so it's all a bit confusing to me when I just read about it."? Would it look bad to say something like that? Is there any way to prep for not being super excited about their work? I don't want to seem fake, but I also don't want them to basically hear the dial tone coming out of my head.

Ughhhh, I'm so jealous! They were my #1 school, and I got the e-mail to re-send resume/CV but haven't heard back from them since then. Here's to hoping I might be on a waitlist or something.

So, I'm applying to a program that has one of those annoying SOP/Interests that's 300 to 500 words long. I am used to the semi-formal writing style of " Performing research under Dr. Badoodle Flimflam at the University of Pretendo Fakey ....." (12 words) [look, if I'm gonna obscure stuff I may as well have fun with it]. Is it considered too informal or impersonal to just write "Performing research under Dr. Flimflam at the University of Pretendo Fakey" (11 words) or "Performing research under Dr. Flimflam at UPF" (7 words) to cut down on the word count? One of the schools in question is a large research university, but the other is a smaller liberal arts school that could be confused with a similarly initialed larger school is the only reservation I have to abbreviating the schools.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma in who to ask for a letter of recommendation. I'm currently 1+ years of research in a lab with a PI, Research Associate, and Post-Doc. I did 2 years of research in undergrad with a professor (who I had not taken any classes from). I had been planning on asking for LoRs from 1) my undergrad research prof, 2) the PI of my current lab, and 3) the Research Associate of my current lab. I work a bit more closely with the Research Associate than I do the PI, just due to the fact that the PI is busy doing PI things like writing grants. However, it occurs to me it might seem sketchy to have two LoR from the same lab. Is this the case? I have the sinking feeling it is, especially in a lab as small as this one. My other options are getting a LoR from a professor I had in UG who really liked me and I did well in their course, but that was a year and a half ago (I'm post-grad now). I'm applying for Neuro programs, with a focus on behavioral neuro research. My current lab is not behavioral really, the undergrad researcher was in the psych program but we did biopsych/behavioral neuro research, and the undergrad professor was in the psych program and one of the classes I took from her had to do with animal behavior.

Haha, yeah, I've definitely got a mix of schools. There are a couple reach schools on there just because I figure I've got the money to cover applying, and it won't be any more effort (and the program and faculty research seem a good fit, but that should go without saying). I'll probably narrow it down further than this list (for instance, as much as I like the BB2 program by Carnegie in assoc. W/ Pitt, Pittsburgh as a city isn't top on my list due to distance and cost).

Undergrad Institution: R3 school, I'd say it's more lib-arts focused. IUPMajor(s): Biology (Pre-Veterinary Track)Minor(s): Chemistry and PsychologyGPA in Major: 3.34 Overall GPA: 3.64Position in Class: Magna Cum Laude? Type of Student: Domestic, FemaleGRE Scores: Q:155-59% // V:162-90% // W:5.0-93%Research Experience: Undergrad: 2 school years. Neuroethology of reward and aggression w/lizard model. Essentially became assistant lab manager of the very small lab by my second year. Gave poster presentations at schools symposium, chosen to present poster at state-wide poster thing. (1 unrelated publication, 4th out of 9, from summer research program/course) Post graduation: Research Tech, mechanisms of prenatal effects of alcohol exposure. Little under 2 years total. 2 pubs, 2/5 and 6/8; 1 manuscript in progress where I'm first author out of 4. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans award of excellence for poster presented at university's undergrad forum, chosen by school to go to an annual undergrad research conference at the state capitol. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Tech just under 2 years, volunteered at variety of places like wildlife center (which means I can put the cool phrase "small-to-medium raptor handling techniques" if I so choose) and veterinary clinic.Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of 100 accepted into the university's special honors college. Required attendance in Socratic style classes which emphasized critical thinking, exchange of ideas, civil discussion, open-mindedness, problem-solving and public speaking. Required two end of unit mini-theses per semester, for total of 8 theses total. Topics had to be related to core subject of that unit. Relevant mini-theses included the philosophy surrounding the use of animals in research and the public image of an uncaring scientist. over a decade of experience using photo editing/graphics programs. Was a designated note taker for a giant number of classes, turning notes in on time for them to be photocopied for some other student; included Physics 1&2, Genetics, Virology, Micro and more that I'm forgetting. Special Bonus Points: Female. Any other things that show up on application: 2nd semester chem courses are my downfall. Gen Chem I dropped from an A to a C. Orgo I dropped from a B to a C. Orgo is explainable, I went from a professor who taught via literature. Had his own textbook packet, simple, informative, easy to read, really helped me. Explained the concepts behind the chemistry at work. Orgo 2 I had a different professor, who taught via diagram. Threw equations onto board, verbal and brief explanation of the concept behind the chemistry, just utterly different. Ends up, I need to read to learn things effectively. Even though I took copious notes, it was just a little bit too far out of my grasp. (thinking about)Applying to Where: Gonna be Neuro for all of them, and Research interest is going to be the same for all of them; addiction, reward/motivation, psychiatric disorders, animal models, behavioral neuro. JHU Penn State U. Penn Pitt Carnegie VCU UVA VT U Maryland U Maryland, Baltimore UNC

First post! I'm applying to neuro programs, especially ones that have faculty working with addiction, behavior, or psych disorders. I'm a decent candidate ( I like to think), GPA is okay but not stellar (3.65 I think?), GRE is similar (162-90%/155-59%/5.0-93%). Bio w/Pre-Vet focus degree. How much do publications boost my application, especially if they're in a different topic/field? I've got three that I'm co-author on (one is from a summer program, the other two are from my post-graduation lab tech work) and one manuscript in progress that I'm first author on (also from post-grad work). Only problem is none of them are related to the field. Co-authorships on paper about hormones and lizard sex, two about shh genes and prenatal alcohol exposure. Upcoming first author one is a methods paper on novel method of visually sexing mouse fetuses. Is the application reviewer more likely to think "Wow! Look at this, Sakashi clearly is capable of doing research and contributing to science, how impressive blahblahblah", or is it going to go more like "Lizard sex, genetics and PAE, and baby mouse penis..... this is an unfocused person un-sure of what they want to work on"