soobak

I already found an apartment but I'm down to join a chat!

Yes of course, feel free to DM me whenever!

Thanks so much for sending! I ended up finding a great place but it took EFFORT. I went in person to do apartment tours and thank god I did because 50% of them were not the same as the photos in the listing. Maybe I'll see you around, good luck to you as well!

Hi!! I'm not from Iowa either (from Michigan but have lived in CA for a long time) but wanted to say Hi since I'm also starting at U Iowa this fall! I don't really have anything to add but I have been scouring apartments religiously and it seems like Aspire is nice in that it's new, modern, and convenient (bus shuttles, car parking, animal friendly) but that it's overpriced in terms of square footage. But also I'm not from there so this is just what I've read online!

I was told from my PI that all offers went out last week. That doesn’t mean you’re not on the waitlist though so keep the faith!

I have not gotten mine yet either but my interview is not on the 12th. I hate when they send them out so late!

Thanks!! I was leaning towards that (I met with so many people that it might come across weird if I did people in other labs as well) but I think I'll just send it to the grad students in his lab plus the PI. Good to know this is what other people are doing, thank you both!!

After an interview, are you guys sending thank you emails to everyone you met with (all the grad students in the lab you met, other random pis you met, AND your pi)? Or are you just sending it to the PI? I don’t know how these things work and don’t want to seem insane for sending everyone an email but also don’t want to be rude if most people do that.

I know it's common knowledge, but for all the current RAs getting into school this year their positions will be open probably sometime around May. I would look hard during that time at the different schools you want to work in (this is of course assuming you're willing/able to move). In my lab if we get in (fingers crossed) we will have 3 full-time RA positions for a couple R01 studies - so keep an eye out now for which labs you may want to work in!

My first "in" to research was a CRC in clinical psychopharmaceutic trials (with big Pharma) and now I currently work as a RA in a university lab with non-clinical trials. I learned a ton in the clinical trial job, but there are some very big differences. For the clinical trials - you have a lot more exposure to different populations. We worked with PTSD, MCI, MDD, Schizophrenia, BD, chronic migraines, etc. basically it was a wider net of exposure than a lab only working on a few studies - likely all with the same population. I also had a wide exposure to different clinical assessments because of this. HOWEVER because clinical trials are super strict with who can do what, I wasn't able to administer 90% of the scales with only a BA and my job was actually to just coordinate who does what when and where. I also got more experience in different skills (taking blood pressure, blood slides and centrifuging, doing EKGs) but the biggest downside is you collect the data, enter it into their database and never see it again. There is basically no work to be done on creating, managing, cleaning, analyzing a dataset or for any of the other assessments. I also wasn't able to contribute to any posters/papers during this time since big Pharma doesn't let you see the data (understandably?). All in all, if you are having trouble finding a university RA job I think it would be fine to do, but for me it did feel like a long "intro to research" type of job and I was already several years out of undergrad at that point and didn't want to waste more time. I think they are good jobs and definitely won't HURT your chances but honestly I think my current lab experience heavily outweighs the prior experience. BUT I have friends who worked alongside me in clinical trials who are now in Counseling PhD programs so in any place it depends on the actual lab and what you are willing to get out of it. Also this was just my experience and I know other clinical trials are done WITHIN university labs too so this may be different than this job!

Sorry to hear this :(. I think I also applied to this PI and just want to say, and I know this gets repeated over and over, but that getting rejected doesn't say anything about us or our abilities. Sometimes its funding, sometimes it's match, sometimes it's because we don't have a specific skill they are looking for but we WILL find someone eventually who sees our potential! I believe in all of us here and we'll get there even if it's not on the timeline we had originally imagined.

I haven't heard anything and I applied as well! I haven't even seen any official interviews posted anywhere (here, reddit, etc.) so I'm not sure if they did it sneakily or just really late to the party? Hope it's the latter!

Hi guys, posting again here! I prefer posting here than the general page so I can answer more questions if people are interested via DM! OFFICIAL INTERVIEWS School: University of Rochester Type: PhD Date of invite: 1/8/21 Type of invite: Invite from POI after prelim in Dec. Interview date(s): Jan 29 & 30 DM for POI: Yes School: University of Southern Mississippi Type: PhD Date of invite: 1/7/21 Type of invite: Invite from POI Interview date(s): Choice of: Feb 11th, Feb 12th, or Feb 15th DM for POI: Yes

I appreciate the advice! I would hate to be difficult though just because it's earlier than my usual wake up time. It'll be okay, I have a lot of sympathy for all the international applicants having to do zooms at 2-3am their time!

Same! I am hoping it'll be the introduction to the school in the morning but this is my first year applying so I have no idea how these things work. That's a great idea though, I should try to adjust my schedule so I don't look unenthusiastic about the interview, haha!