Dartmouth MCB

[Delta]

I know that there are at least 3 others who've been accepted from the acceptance results! Congrats and nice to meet you.

[CayBaySea]

Hi Delta,

I was accepted as well (didn't announce it in the results forum, however) and I accepted! What recruitment weekend did you attend?

[Delta]

I attended the first recruitment weekend. I am still waiting to hear back from another graduate school (hopefully today), so I haven't accepted just yet. Excited about moving to NH?

[CayBaySea]

I am originally from NH, so I am thrilled to be returning! Hopefully you will hear back from the other school soon !

[Delta]

I went ahead and accepted for Dartmouth. NH seems like a very nice place to live. I'm excited to be going there!

[PhoenixForce]

Hey guys I am new here and got accepted as well. I'm between this and another program and was hoping maybe you could give me some reasons why you guys fell in love with Dartmouth. Thanks for anything/everything!!!

[Delta]

Hands down the professors. I clicked really well with the ones I interviewed, and I felt that since the labs are small and mostly graduate student run, I'd get very good training from the professors.

Make a list of pros and cons and weigh them. My (and others') reasons most likely won't be the same as yours.

[CayBaySea]

Delta: Glad to hear that you accepted! What profs are you thinking of rotating with?

[Delta]

Usherwood, Turk, and Gerber. (Can you tell that I'm super interested in immunology? ) What about you?

[PhoenixForce]

Delta thank you for your response. I'll be seeing you guys in the fall!

[CayBaySea]

Those are all great picks for immunology! I plan on joining M2P2, so I will hopefully get a chance to rotate with Taylor, Cheung and O'Toole.

Look forward to meeting everyone and getting started!

[Delta]

PhoenixForce: I'm glad you're joining!

CayBaySea: Nice! Cholera, S. aureus, and biofilms, huh? Microbiology and pathogenesis is really interesting to me as well. The only thing turning me away from it is the sheer amount of work you have to do to get published (at least, my impression). I spoke with some people in microbiology at the DOC, and they said that on average, a microbiology student will take about 6 years to graduate vs. 5 years for immunology students.

Look forward to meeting y'all as well. Any idea on picking housing in the area? I'm thinking about purchasing a home (they're expensive up there!) and sharing/renting it out to fellow grad students or undergrads. Maybe is a good idea, maybe too risky. :/

[CayBaySea]

Really? Hmm...I certainly would prefer to get out sooner, rather than later ( I am not of the "life-time academic" variety). I may consider doing a rotation in an immunology lab, for diversity sake. It might also be a wise move to consider my options, if I plan on returning to the company I currently work for (which is attempting to gradually shift research aims over the next few years).

I was initially considering purchasing a home as well, but the property taxes in NH are pretty steep. I would be interested in renting out a room, however, if you do decide to buy and are looking for help with the mortgage...especially if you are cool with the idea of having a pet around the house :-)

I have been checking out craig's list and the Dartmouth housing website: it may be another month or two before we start seeing listings for rentals available in mid-August.

[Delta]

Oh! What company do you currently work for and what type of research do you do (if you can disclose)? I haven't much insight into what working for a biotech/pharmaceutical company would encompass, but you seem to love it, so I'm curious to hear your take. I interviewed with a PI at another institution who went into industry and then came back into academia. He said that he realized that he wanted to go back into academia because, although it was exciting to work in industry, he wanted to further pursue ideas whereas the company may suddenly say, "that's not viable, we'll try something else."

Yes, the prices plus taxes are very high. But... so is the renting. In Sachem Village, a 2 bedroom is $1400+. Some other housing near the Hanover campus are about $800+ for 1 bedroom. The dorms are $800, but you have to share with 3 other random graduate students. Since my girlfriend will move and live with me, it limits the options a bit. Must... save... money! Which reminds me, our class should organize carpools to save on parking fees and gas.

Ooh, what kind of pets do you have? We personally have a cat, some tropical fish, and some mice. Pets are so relaxing to be around... unless they're being bratty and scratching the walls viciously. !

[Delta]

Whoo hoo! Got a house; now to look for a housemate..

[CayBaySea]

Congrats on the house!

I work for Cubist Pharmaceuticals,in novel antibiotic characterization for early stage- lead OP programs. It's a great company and I am sure it will be hard to leave when the time comes.

I don't have any pets yet, but I am leaning towards getting a kitten :-)

[Delta]

Nice. I remember studying everything about different antibiotics back in undergrad... made my head spin! I liked learning about how pathogens evolved to evade certain antibiotics though. Super cool.

Also, I'm getting so much spam after posting my e-mail to the housing listings. Currently, I'm playing around with a scammer. Thank god for the internet: I've already read their conversations with others. I'm hoping to get them to run around after I "wire" money to them.

On that note, are you still interested in renting? PM'ed you my e-mail in case you're interested.

[CayBaySea]

I'm getting spammed too! I posted a listing a couple weeks ago. I think I am all set for housing: I managed to nab one of the sachem village rentals, but I sent you my contact info, just in case my potential roommate falls through and we decide not to take the unit at Sachem village.

[Delta]

Nice! Sachem village was easily my favorite of the housing when I went on the tour. Plus... one of the students (and her sister) gave us freshly baked sweet breads during our tour of SV. Yummy!

Oh! I don't remember if I saw you during the first recruitment weekend; did you attend the 2nd one? If so, what was it like? Did they take you guys out to steak dinner as well?