Extracurriculars

[Kitkat]

Does anyone know how much they matter for geosciences in general?

Along these lines, are there any geosciences honor societies? I have never heard of any, (would not be suprised since it is such a small field in comparison to other subjects) and I know in some other fields that this is a good thing to have on your CV/resume.

Does anyone else have good ideas to get out to meet people in the field, get involved, get more experience? I want to know some of this to increase chances to get in, but also to be more sure of what I want to do for grad school.

[waddle]

Does anyone know how much they matter for geosciences in general?

Along these lines, are there any geosciences honor societies? I have never heard of any, (would not be suprised since it is such a small field in comparison to other subjects) and I know in some other fields that this is a good thing to have on your CV/resume.

Does anyone else have good ideas to get out to meet people in the field, get involved, get more experience? I want to know some of this to increase chances to get in, but also to be more sure of what I want to do for grad school.

I don't know anything about geosciences honor societies for students, but I assume if you're elected as a GSA/AGU fellow, that's a good thing. I also don't know that holding field-specific honor society memberships is actually useful--at least, not in biology (e.g. if you're a member of Beta Beta Beta, great, but that's generally not going to help you much).

I still don't know much about the geosciences, but taking a suggestion from my PI that I consider biogeochemistry for graduate school, I just began reading whatever papers / faculty websites I could get my hands on. After tracing citations and author listings for a few generations of papers, you end up back where you started--it's a small (academic) world (or so it seems).

Sorry for not having much to add to this discussion. I'd love to hear anything the more experienced geochemistry/geobiology folks on this forum deign to share with those of us that are lower on the totem pole of the earth sciences academe.

[katerific]

Yo Kitkat!

My understanding is that extracurriculars don't matter too much. However, there is a geological honor society called Sigma Gamma Epsilon. It's a national society, but it's still pretty small. (If your school doesn't already have a chapter, you'd need to apply for it.) Our chapter functions as a regular ol' geology club, and regardless of whether or not being in a society/club helps your chances, it's a fun way to socialize and go on hikes and whatnot

I'm definitely a fan of conferences, so I can't stress how important I think they are, considering that you're exposed to all sorts of research (a lot of which hasn't been published yet) and you bump in to awesome people. Also, if your school has a weekly seminar, it's always good to go to those (and meet with the speakers if their research really interests you). I met with a seminar speaker for the first time yesterday, and it went super well!

and yes, it is definitely a small academic world. I feel like all the people I'm applying to work for (at different universities) are BFFs

[Kitkat]

Yo Kitkat!

My understanding is that extracurriculars don't matter too much. However, there is a geological honor society called Sigma Gamma Epsilon. It's a national society, but it's still pretty small. (If your school doesn't already have a chapter, you'd need to apply for it.) Our chapter functions as a regular ol' geology club, and regardless of whether or not being in a society/club helps your chances, it's a fun way to socialize and go on hikes and whatnot

I'm definitely a fan of conferences, so I can't stress how important I think they are, considering that you're exposed to all sorts of research (a lot of which hasn't been published yet) and you bump in to awesome people. Also, if your school has a weekly seminar, it's always good to go to those (and meet with the speakers if their research really interests you). I met with a seminar speaker for the first time yesterday, and it went super well!

and yes, it is definitely a small academic world. I feel like all the people I'm applying to work for (at different universities) are BFFs

We don't have the honor society here. :-( But we do have our own geo club which is good, as they are currently looking to have a trip to Hawaii in Jan. which looks interesting, looking at all the volcanoes.

We do also have the weekly seminar, some of which I have gone to, we did get someone from the USGS recently and that was fun.

[Kitkat]

Does anyone here know about Sigma Xi? I know about it from where the school where I am, and I have seen it mentioned by some of the schools that I have looked at for graduate school. But it doesn't seem to be a big thing at my school, or at all of the graduate schools that I am looking at.

[UnlikelyGrad]

I guess I'm the resident "experienced" biogeochemist here...My experience so far has been that you really need two things besides research papers/presentations in order to get ahead...

(1) Know a bunch of people, somehow or another.

(2) Do outreach, dammit.

The reason for (1) is obvious. (2) is necessary when applying for fellowships and stuff (and, eventually, postdoctoral fellowships and then grants...)

(1) can be accomplished through societies/professional organizations, but according to my advisor (who's not a society-joining-type-of-gal if she can avoid it) it's sometimes better done by going drinking with people at conferences. Of course, my advisor is German and beer is a major part of her socializing in any case, so take that with a grain of salt.

(2) can be done through stuff you do with your advisor (I'm helping mine with outreach that's part-and-parcel of her new grant right now), but it's also good to be in a club sometimes...my school requires a certain # of outreach hours for clubs that want the highest level of funding. Also, I've done outreach by myself, just for fun.

[InquilineKea]

Regarding outreach - does outreach on the Internet count? I'm essentially the top answerer for both atmospheric science and planetary science on Quora, and am one of the top two answerers on astronomy, astrophysics, neurobiology, and several other sciences too (profile is at http://www.quora.com/Alex-K-Chen). It certainly isn't traditional media, but it could actually be a big hit in a year or so.

I'm also a panelist on Reddit AskScience and a supporter on Physics Forums (and am quite active on both), though I ask more questions than answer on those.

I even made a thread about it here: http://www.quora.com...-of-Science-Q-A

==

And by (1), how well do you usually get to know such people? Simply by emailing around (and getting them to introduce me to each other), I've gotten myself quite acquainted with all the top scientists in my field surprisingly quickly (perhaps since there are almost no other undergrads in the field)

Edited August 25, 2011 by InquilineKea

[InquilineKea]

^Well, I took the plunge and mentioned my online outreach.

It might have helped with Chicago and it might have hurt with Caltech (even though Quora has lots of connections with Caltech - though this could work in a bad way as well). That's all I'll say for now.

Edited January 27, 2012 by InquilineKea